| 1952 | - Dwight D. Eisenhower elected president.
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| 1953 | - CIA-organized coup against Iranian government.
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| 1954 | - CIA coup against Guatemalan government.
- Geneva accords.
- United States begins aid to South Vietnam.
- Operation Wetback.
- Hernandez v. Texas.
- Brown v. Board of Education.
- Senate condemns Senator Joseph McCarthy.
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| 1955 | - Eisenhower and Khrushchev meet in Geneva.
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| 1955–1956 | - Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott.
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| 1956 | - Interstate Highway and Defense System Act.
- Eisenhower reelected.
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| 1957 | - Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) founded.
- Soviets launch Sputnik.
- Civil Rights Act of 1957.
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| 1958 | - National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) established.
- National Defense Education Act.
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| 1959 | - Kitchen debate between Nixon and Khrushchev.
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| 1960 | - Soviets shoot down U.S. U-2 spy plane.
- One-quarter of Americans live in suburbs.
- Thirty-five percent of women work outside the home.
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