In The News:

• President Dwight D. Eisenhower is president as segregation is ruled unconstitutional.

• Senator Joseph McCarthy goes on a Communist witch-hunt, holding congressional hearings that put many on blacklists and out of work.

• Alaska and Hawaii are added to the Union.

• James Dean ushers in a style that is imitated for generations to come.

• Playboy magazine debuts, as does Jet - the first magazine aimed at blacks.

• America finds itself involved in the Korean War

• Sputnik is launched.

• Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsburg launch the Beat Generation

Big Screen Blockbusters:

• My Fair Lady

• West Side Story

• The Music Man

• Rebel Without A Cause

• Guys and Dolls

• A Streetcar Named Desire

Small Screen Sensations:

• I Love Lucy (Repeats of the show get solid ratings in the 90s)

• Leave It To Beaver (Reinvented as a movie in the 90s)

• Milton Bearle is "Mr. Television"

• The Honeymooners (Repeats are in syndication in the 90s)

Chart Toppers:

• Elvis Presley

• Harry Belafonte

• Frank Sinatra

• Perry Cuomo

• Jerry Lee Lewis

• Carl Perkins

• Bobby Darren

• Fats Domino

• Chuck Berry

• Hank Williams Sr.

• Frankie Avalon

• Miles Davis

• Ella Fitzgerald

• Muddy Waters

• Ray Charles

• Peggy Lee

• Louis Prima

In Style:

• Men wear pink

• Bermuda shorts

• Pegged pants

• Hemlines at mid-calf

• Poodle haircuts for women and duck-tail hairstyles for men

• Blue Jeans

• Motorcycle Jackets

• White tee-shirts

• Crew Cuts

• Varsity sweaters and jackets

• Poodle skirts

• Narrow ties

Hot Wheels:

• Plymouth XX500 (1950)

• First plastic-bodied Corvette (1953)

• Chevrolet Bel Air V8 Sports Coup (1955)

• Jaguar XKSS (1957)

• Pontiac Star Chief (1959)

In The News:

• President John F. Kennedy is assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald and the nation's mood dramatically shifts.

• The Vietnam War divides the country.

• Dr. Martin Luther King is shot.

• Sirhan Sirhan assassinates Robert F. Kennedy

• Neil Armstrong is the first man to walk on the moon.

• John H. Glenn is the first person to orbit the Earth.

• Pope John Paul is elected.

• Abortion rights landmark Roe v. Wade case sets precedent.

• The Cuban Missile Crisis brings the U.S. to the brink of war.

• Woodstock displays the power of music amidst the turbulent times.

• The Civil Rights Acts pass.

• Marilyn Monroe rises to stardom.

• Riots in Detroit and Newark fuel the nation's unrest.

Big Screen Blockbusters:

• The Sound of Music

• Dr. Zhivago

• The Graduate (Re-released in 1997)

• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

• James Bond (Sequels continue into the 90s)

Small Screen Sensations:

• The Ed Sullivan Show

• The Beverly Hillbillies (Movie-version released in the 90's)

• Star Trek (Movies continue through the 90s)

• Lost In Space (Movie-version to be released)

Chart Toppers:

• The Beatles

• Bob Dylan

• Jimi Hendrix

• Janis Joplin

• The Doors (Their story was made into a movie in the 90s)

• Rolling Stones (Continued success through the 90s with a new album and a world tour)

• Ray Charles

• The Supremes

• The Beach Boys

• Marvin Gaye

• Simon and Garfunkel

• Aretha Franklin

• The Bassanova/Lounge Music (Revived in the 90s club scene)

In Style:

• Mod minimalism - black jackets, unisex clothing, and euro-fashions (The uncomplicated style of the 90's)

• Hipster pants (Return in the 90s)

• Leather jackets (A fashion cornerstone today)

• Mini skirts (Hemlines hike-up in the 90s)

• Heavy mascara

• Tie dye

• Hippie beads

• Nehru and fringed jackets

• Goatees (Make a comeback in the grunge look of the 90's)

Hot Wheels:

• Chevrolet Corvair (1960)

• Ford Mustang (1965)

• Cadillac Eldorado (1967)

• Pontiac GTO (1967)

• AMC Javelin (1968)

• Volkswagen Beetle (1969)

In The News:

• President Richard Nixon escalates the Vietnam War by ordering the U.S. invasion of Cambodia.

• Anti-war protests erupt across the country, and National Guardsmen kill 4 students at Ohio's Kent State University.

• The Vietnam War ends in 1974.

• President Nixon is brought down by the Watergate scandal.

• Jimmy Carter is elected president.

• Camp David Accords are signed in hope of peace in the Middle East.

• Charles Manson and his 'family' go on a murderous rampage.

• Patty Hearst is abducted.

• Jonestown cult mass suicide takes place in Guyana.

Big Screen Blockbusters:

• Saturday Night Fever

• Star Wars (Re-released in the 90s)

• Grease

• Annie Hall

• The Godfather (The sequels span through the decades)

• All the President's Men

Small Screen Sensations:

• All In the Family (Repeats in syndication today)

• Mary Tyler Moore (Repeats in syndication today)

• Brady Bunch (The movie is made in the 90s)

• Welcome Back Kotter

• Saturday Night Live (Still going strong in the 90s)

• Charlie's Angels

• Gilligan's Island

Chart Toppers:

• Boston

• The Bee Gee's

• Donna Summer

• Peter Frampton

• ABBA

• Eagles (Reunite in the 90s and get inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame)

• Pink Floyd

• Led Zeppelin

• Steely Dan (Reunite to tour in the 90s)

• David Bowie

• KC and the Sunshine Band

• Parliament

• George Clinton

• Rick James

In Style:

• Bell bottoms (The rage for vintage shoppers in the 90s)

• Leisure Suits

• Polyester (Makes a comeback with designers in the 90s)

• Sideburns (Join the goatee revival)

• Gold chains

• Long hair for men.

• Platform shoes (Signature style of the 90s)

Hot Wheels:

• Chevrolet Malibu (1970)

• Chevrolet Chevette (1973)

• Chevrolet Vega (1975)

• Honda Accord (1977)

• Delta 88 (1978)

In The News:

• The Berlin Wall falls.

• The Soviet Union collapses and splinters.

• The Cold War ends.

• AIDS and crack cocaine become front-page issues.

• The Challenger space shuttle explodes.

• Princess Diana and Prince Charles wed.

• Pan Am 103 crashes in Lockerbie, Scotland

• President Ronald Reagan is shot and wounded by John Hinckley

• John Lennon is shot and killed by Mark David Chapman.

• The stock market crashes on Black Monday.

• Oliver North admits he was a key Iran-Contra player.

• San Francisco experiences a devastating earthquake.

• America invades Panama and Grenada.

Big Screen Blockbusters:

• ET

• Raging Bull

• The Elephant Man

• Coal Miner's Daughter

• Back to the Future

• Rambo

• Friday the 13^th

• French Lieutenant's Woman

• Flashdance

• Fatal Attraction

Small Screen Sensations:

• MTV debuts

• Miami Vice

• The Cosby Show (Repeats in syndication today)

• Dallas

• Family Ties

• Johnny Carson (Repeats in syndication today)

• The Golden Girls (Re-runs still in syndication today)

• The Facts of Life

• Diff'rent Strokes

Chart Toppers:

• Madonna

• Prince

• Michael Jackson

• Bruce Springsteen

• Duran Duran (Reunite in the 90s for a world tour)

• Rod Stewart

• U2

• Van Halen

• Run DMC

• Motley Crue

• INXS

• Beastie Boys (Still performing in the 90s)

• Sex Pistols

• Clash

• Depeche Mode

• Smiths

• The Cars

In Style:

• Punk

• Spiked, dyed hair

• Legwarmers

• Parachute pants

• Break-dancing

• Vans sneakers (Back in demand in the 90s)

• Topsiders

• No socks

• Acid washed and designer-ripped jeans

Hot Wheels:

• Buick Regal (1982)

• Chrysler Plymouth Grand Voyager (1987)

• Lexus and Infiniti (1989)

In The News:

• The U.S. invades the Persian Gulf.

• Scientists clone a sheep.

• Princess Diana is killed in car crash in the Paris tunnel with her lover Dodi Fayed.

• OJ Simpson is acquitted of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman.

• Americans Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols bomb a federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people.

• Exxon Valdez oil tank crashes near Alaska causing an oil spill of disastrous proportions.

• TWA 800 mysteriously explodes over Long Island, New York killing all passengers on board.

• The alleged Unibomber, Theodore Kaczynski, goes to trial for 16 bombing attacks over an 18-year period.

• The World Trade Center is bombed by Islamic terrorists.

• Heaven's Gate cult mass-suicide takes place in California.

• David Koresh and members of the Branch Davidians die in their stand-off with the FBI in Waco, Texas.

Big Screen Blockbusters:

• Pulp Fiction

• The English Patient

• Fargo

• Pretty Woman

• Goodfellas

• Silence Of the Lamns

• Thelma and Louise

• Forest Gump

• Braveheart

• Titanic

• Dances with Wolves

• Forrest Gump

• Braveheart

• Schindler's List

Small Screen Sensations:

• Friends

• Melrose Place

• NYPD Blue

• Baywatch

• Mad About You

• Home Improvement

• Roseanne

• Jerry Springer

• ER

• Home Improvement

• Beverly Hills 90210

• Seinfeld

Chart Toppers:

• Celine Dion

• Alanis Morisette

• Beck

• Janet Jackson

• U2

• Nirvana

• Pearl Jam

• Whitney Houston

• Red Hot Chili Peppers

• Green Day

• Hootie and the Blowfish

• Boyz to Men

• Toni Braxton

• Spice Girls

In Style:

• Minimalist

• Boot leg

• Bell bottoms

• Leather jackets

• Knee-high boots

• Platforms (70's)

• Sideburns

• Goatees

• Body Piercing

• Fake fur

• Tattoos

• Tennis shoes

• Cigars

• Vegetarianism

• Recycling

Hot Wheels:

• Saturn (1990)

• BMW (1993)

• Land Rover/Range Rover/Toyota Land Cruiser/Hummer/HumV (1995-96)