The Nation 1952

General Dwight D Eisenhower is nominated as the Republican presidential candidate and picks California Senator Richard M. Nixon as his running mate. Ike beats Democratic candidate Adlai Stevenson to become the 34th President of the United States. As president Eisenhower is best remembered for building the Interstate Highway System and playing golf. 1952 Presidential Election

The United States sets off the first H-bomb on Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands. It works well and Eniwetok Atoll ceasing to exist. The end of Eniwetok

President Truman settles 53-day steel strike after seizing the mills and George Meany is appointed as Chairman of the AFL. George Meany AFL

The Korean war keeps going with American bombing and a new offensive by the Chinese. 1952 Korean War.

The Tuskegee Institute reports that 1952 is the first year in 71 consecutive years that there was not a lynching.

Nobel prizes 1952

Physics – Felix Bloch, Edward Mills Purcell
Chemistry – Archer John Porter Martin, Richard Laurence Millington Synge
Medicine – Selman Abraham Waksman
Literature – François Mauriac
Peace – Albert Schweitzer

"In cynical 1952, Britons and Americans alike were often too plagued by doubt to venture beyond the safeties of their past. In Elizabeth II, by God's grace Queen, Defender of the Faith, each might see a reminder of what was old and splendid, and also a fresh, imperative summons to make the present worthy of remembrance." Time Person of the Year - Queen Elizabeth II

The World 1952

Jawaharlal "Pandit" Nehru was the first and longest-serving prime minister of India. Though originally elected in 1947 after independence he was officially re-elected when the Congress Party won India's first general election in 1952. Pandit Nehru

It was called the Great Smog of '52 and the Big Smoke. Due to unique weather conditions polution mostly from coal plants covered London for 5 days causing 10,000 to lose their lives. It brought world attention to air pollution and was the basis of the Clean Air Act 1956. The London Smog.

Increased apartheid laws caused Nelson Mandela - known as the "Black Pimpernal" for the disguises he used - to organize boycotts, strikes, and civil disobedience across South Africa under the banner of the "Campaign for the Defiance of Unjust Laws." He was first arrested in 1952 sentenced to 6 months where he passed his examinations to become a lawyer. Nelson Mandela.

Puerto Rico adopted their Constitution which was ratified by the United States Congress who began to legislate control of the Island. The US oversees Puerto Rican citizenship, currency, postal service, foreign affairs, military defense, communications, labor relations, the environment, commerce, finance, health and welfare, and so on. Puerto Rico

Army enlisted man George Jorgensen Jr from the Bronx went to Sweden for the first sex change operation and became Christine Jorgensen. She became the first American transsexual and went on to become a popular cultural icon, speaker and entertainer until her death in 1989. The Christine Jorgensen Story

The Class of 1952