Main Events of the Eisenhower Presidency, 1953-61

March 12, 1953 The Department of Health, Education and Welfare is created.

July 27, 1953 U.S. and North Korea sign armistice at Panmunjon. The 38th parallel is established as boundary between North and South Korea.

Aug. 19-22, 1953 Leftist government of Premier Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran is ousted and replaced with regime loyal to Shah Pahlevi.

Dec. 8, 1953 Eisenhower delivers his "Atoms for Peace" speech at the United Nations proposing an international atomic energy agency and peaceful development of nuclear energy.

1953-54 Senator Joseph McCarthy, chairman of the Senate Permanent Investigation Subcommittee, conducts hearings on communist subversion in America and investigates communist infiltration of the Armed Forces.

April 26-July 21, 1954 Geneva Conference on Indochina results in Geneva Accords partitioning Vietnarn at the 17th Parallel and provides for unifying elections in two years.

May 7, 1954 French garrison at Dien Bien Phu surrenders to the Viet Minh.

May 17, 1954 Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education, Supreme Court rules that segregated schools are "inherently unequal."

1955 A vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk is introduced to combat the spread of poliomyelitis.

July 1955 Eisenhower attends the Geneva Four Power Conference and submits his "Open Skies" proposal allowing mutual air reconnaissance over military installations.

Dec. 5, 1955 A boycott of city buses led by Martin Luther King, Jr. begins in Montgomery, AL. It lasts for 54 weeks.

June 29, 1956 Federal highway bill is signed authorizing funds for the interstate highway system.

Oct.-Nov. 1956 Suez Canal Crisis. Israel invades Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula, and British and French forces attack Egyptian bases around the Suez Canal.

Oct.-Nov. 1956 Armed revolt in Budapest, Hungary is crushed by Russian armed forces.

Jan. 10-11, 1957 Southern Christian Leadership Conference is formed by Martin Luther King, Jr. and 60 others.

March 20, 1957 Bermuda Conference is held with British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.

July 1, 1957 The opening of the International Geophysical Year, a joint effort by scientists of 60 nations.

Sept. 9, 1957 The President signs the 1957 Civil Rights Act which seeks to protect voting rights.

Sept. 1957 Little Rock, Arkansas desegregation crisis. Federal troops are sent to enforce integration of Little Rock High School.

Oct. 4, 1957 Soviet Union launches first earth satellite, Sputnik, into orbit.

Jan. 31, 1958 First U.S. satellite, Explorer I, is sent into orbit.

July 15, 1958 Eisenhower orders U.S. Marines into Lebanon at the request of President Camille Chamoun.

July 29, 1958 Eisenhower signs bill creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Sept. 2, 1958 President Eisenhower signs the National Defense Education Act, providing loans for college students and funds to encourage young people to enter teaching careers.

Nov. 1958 to early 1959 Khrushchev indicates that he plans to sign an early peace treaty with East Germany and he calls on the western powers to withdraw their forces from West Berlin. The Big Four meet to discuss Berlin and German reunification.

Jan. 1, 1959 Fidel Castro's guerilla forces overthrow the Batista regime in Cuba.

Jan. 3, 1959 Alaska becomes the 49th state.

April 25, 1959 St. Lawrence Seaway opens.

Aug. 21, 1959 Hawaii become the 50th state.

Sept. 15-27, 1959 Premier Khrushchev visits the U.S.

May 1, 1960 A U-2 reconnaissance plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers is shot down over the U.S.S.R.

May 16, 1960 The Paris Summit meeting collapses when Khrushchev demands an apology from President Eisenhower for the U-2 flights.

1960 The Congo (Zaire) becomes independent from Belgium on June 30, 1960 and widespread violence leads to intervention by U.N. troops.

Nov. 8, 1960 Sen. John F. Kennedy defeats Vice President Richard M. Nixon in presidential election.

January 17, 1961 President Eisenhower delivers Farewell Address warning the nation of the "Military- Industrial Complex."