Regular TV broadcasting begins in the United States. Jackie Robinson breaks baseball's color barrier. Israel achieves statehood. Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott begins after Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat to a white person. Atomic bomb tested in New Mexico.
American scientists patent the computer chip.
Marconi transmits radio signal across the Atlantic. White House sex scandal leads to impeachment of President William Jefferson Clinton. Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy assassinated in California. The Beatles takes the United States by storm after debut on the Ed Sullivan show. Congress passes Voting Rights Act, outlawing measures used to suppress minority votes.