Historical Timeline

1945 End of WWII.

Apr 12 - President Franklin D. Roosevelt died and Harry Truman became President.

May 7 - Fall of Nazi Germany and the end of WWII, which was the final death rattle of the Great Depression.

Jun - First mass production of penicillin.

1946 Birth of the OCHS Class of 1964. Beginning of the Baby Boom.

Jan 1 - ENIAC, first American computer designed by Mauchly & Eckert.

Mar 5 - Winston Churchill used the term "Iron Curtain" in a speech, later symbolized by the building of the Berlin Wall.

Jun 3 - First bikini bathing suit was displayed in Paris. http://youtu.be/bV-gh8FWtCU

Jul 7 - Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini canonized as first American saint.

Jul 14 - Dr. Ben Spock published his Common Sense Book of Baby & Child Care.

Nov 5 - John F. Kennedy (D-Mass) elected to House of Representatives.

Dec 12 - Tide detergent was introduced.

Dec 21 - Frank Capra's movie, "It's a Wonderful Life," premiered.

Dec 26 - Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas opened and started the gambling/entertainment era.

Dec 31 - President Harry Truman officially proclaimed the end of WW II.

Only .5% of U.S. households had television sets in 1946.

1948 Establishment of the Jewish state of Israel.

1949 Formation of Communist China.

Oct 1 - Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China that resulted in an estimated 45 million deaths between 1958 and 1961.

1950 The Korean War and Rise of McCarthyism.

Apr 1 - The 1950 census counted a population in the United States of over 150 million people.

Jun 25 - Beginning of the three year conflict with North Korea.

1952 Class of 1964 entered the First Grade.

Feb 8 - Elizabeth II was proclaimed Queen of the United Kingdom.

May 8 - Mad Magazine debuted.

Dec 8 - First TV acknowledgement of pregnancy on I Love Lucy show.

1953 The Cold War.

Jan 20 - Dwight D. Eisenhower became President (1953-1963).

May 5 - Ernest Hemingway received the Pulitzer Prize for The Old Man and the Sea..

May 17 - First Communion at Saint Stephen Cathedral for Class of '64.

1956 The Highway Decade and Modernization of America.

Jan 8 - Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog," single was #1. http://youtu.be/sGZm7EOamWk

Apr 2 - Soap operas "As the World Turns" & "Edge of Night" premiered on TV.

Jun 29 - National Interstate and Defense Highways Act passed.

Jul 30 - US motto "In God We Trust" authorized.

Sep 9 - Elvis Presley appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show for the first time.

Sep 10 - Louisville Ky public schools were integrated.

Oct 6 - Dr Albert Sabin discovered oral polio vaccine.

1957 The Space Age. http://youtu.be/oTVqjIDTCXY

May 6 - Pulitzer Prize awarded to John F. Kennedy for Profiles in Courage.

Aug 5 - "American Bandstand" began on network TV (ABC). http://youtu.be/cgHGLBMiX5I

Sep 4 - Ford Motor Company introduced the Edsel.

Sep 26 - Bernstein & Sondheim's musical "West Side Story" premiered in NYC.

Oct 10 - Publication of Ayn Ryan's Atlas Shrugged, still today one of Amazon's best selling books.

1958 Invention of the Optical Disc.

Apr 3 - Fidel Castro's communist rebels attacked Havana.

May 13 - The trademark Velcro was registered.

June 1 - Charles de Gaulle was elected premier of France.

July 9 - "Purple People Eater" song by Sheb Wooley hit #1. http://youtu.be/DL1ZH0Ke92A

Sept 12 - US Supreme Court ordered Little Rock, Arkansas high school to integrate.

Oct 26 - Eclipse of the one true Catholic Church. http://www.realnews247.com/An%20Ominous%20Anniversary.pdf

1959 The Vietnam War; first US casualties. http://www.v-prod.com/trailer_vietnam.html

Jan 1 - Formation of the communist Republic of Cuba.

Jan 3 - Alaska became a state.

Mar 9 - Barbie doll debuted and sold over 800 million.

Apr 13 - Vatican edict forbade Catholics to vote for communists.

Aug 21 - Hawaii became a state.

Sep - Class entered the Eight Grade.

Dec 1 - First color photograph of Earth received from outer space.

1960 The Swinging Sixties. http://youtu.be/KU-eOk8msA0

Apr 28 - "The Voice of Mary, Our Hope" pageant at Saint Frances Academy Auditorium.

May 17 - Senior Recital at Saint Frances Academy Auditorium 7:45 pm.

May 25 - Last day of 8th grade at Saint Frances. Teacher was Sister Mary Peter.

May 27 - Graduation day at Saint Frances. Ceremony at 10:30 am. No one was in step when they marched into the auditorium. The class sang three songs: The Spirit of Youth, Let There Be Music, and Jubilate Deo.

Jun 23 - The FDA approved the use of the first birth control "Pill."

Jun 29 - "Ben Hur" was playing at the movies.

July 15 - John F. Kennedy accepted the Democratic nomination for President at Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, CA.

"We stand today on the edge of a new frontier -- the frontier of the 1960s, a frontier of unknown opportunities and perils, a frontier of unfulfilled hopes and threats. The new frontier of which I speak is not a set of promises -- it is a set of challenges." JFK

Sep 6 - First Day of High School for the 10th Freshmen Class since the school opened in 1951. There were 879 students enrolled in the entire school with classes from 9th to 12th grades. At the time, "The Orbit" was the school paper and "Aces" the school logo. Ball teams were known as the "Fighting Aces." Sister Mary Constance was principal. Teachers were Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. The boys and girls were separated in the school by green doors on each floor. To get a pass to go through the doors was a thrill!

Sep 24 - Last episode of Howdy Doody on NBC TV. http://youtu.be/IJ6ybvlsb4s

Sep 25 - Bishop Cotton died.

Oct 22 - "Turn-About Party" Backward Dance at Darnek Club 8-12 pm. $2 a couple. "Autumn Leaves" theme.

Nov 8 - John F. Kennedy elected first Catholic President of the United States.

Dec 3 - The musical Camelot opened on Broadway. http://youtu.be/xqWFbo_ZLUA

Jan 20 - John F. Kennedy became the 35th President of the United States.

Apr 12 - First man in space by the Soviets.

Apr 17 - Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba by the CIA which failed.

Aug 4 - Birth of Barack Hussein Obama, 44th President of the United States.

Sep - Class started Sophomore Year in high school.

Oct 24 - Thanksgiving Dance

Dec 27 - Christmas Dance in the school gym. Dance was boring.

1962 Nuclear War Threat.

Feb 3 - Girl Scout Dance "Dimes for Daisy." Darnek Club 8-11:30 pm. Live band. It was at a time before the Girl Scouts partnered with Planned Parenthood and began promoting abortion; when girls could simply be girls.

Mar 6 - Backward Mardi Gras Dance in the school gym.

Apr 26 - Junior-Senior Prom at the Armory. French theme.

Aug 28 - East Germany completed a barrier, the Berlin Wall, that was a symbol of communist oppression for 28 years. It was officially dismantled in 1990.

Sep - Class started Junior Year in high school.

Oct 11 - Pope John XXIII opened the Second Vatican Council that eventually led to the Novus Ordo Mass, thus destroying the almost 2000 year old Tridentine Rite. Today's modern mass has become more "a community meal", than "The Sacrifice of Calvary." In the last 50 years mass attendance has dropped from 80% to 20%.

Oct 15 - The Cuban Missile Crisis brought the world closer to nuclear war than ever before.

Oct 27 - Backward Dance, "Dutch Treat" theme with a windmill at Gabes. Absolute ball!

Dec 29 - Christmas Dance in school gym. Some students went to the Big Dipper afterwards.

1963 End of Camelot.

Jan 10 - Publication of "45 Communist Goals" in the Congressional Record. Most of the goals have been achieved in the last fifty years. http://www.uhuh.com/nwo/communism/comgoals.htm

Feb 19 - Betty Friedan, the co-founder of NOW and NARAL, and a follower of Marx, published The Feminine Mystique. http://youtu.be/Oe0lRGxqLSI

It was the beginning of the Feminist Movement that has since morphed into the current politically contrived "War Against Women."

Feb 26 - Backward Mardi Gras Dance was held in the school gym. Sarah selected Mardi Gras Queen.

May 27 - Junior-Senior Prom at the Armory. "Some Enchanted Evening" theme.

Jun 10 - Congress passed the Equal Pay Act making it illegal to pay a woman less than a man for the same job.

Jun 17 - The U.S. Supreme Court deemed that any Bible reciting or prayer in Public Schools was unconstitutional. The decision was a tipping point that has led to the moral and social decline of our country.

Jun 4 - JFK signed Executive Order No. 11110 that returned to the U.S. government the power to issue currency, without going through the Federal Reserve. The order gave the Treasury the power "to issue silver certificates against any silver bullion, silver, or standard silver dollars in the Treasury." The only other president that had issued a similar order was Lincoln with his green backs. Both were assassinated. http://john-f-kennedy.net/executiveorder11110.htm

June 21 - After the death of Pope John XXIII, a second liberal, Pope Paul VI, was elected. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_conclave,_1963

Aug 28 - Civil Rights March on Washington, DC where Martin L. King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech. http://youtu.be/fILI6qggDTM

Sep - Class started Senior Year in high school.

Oct 11 - President Kennedy signed NSA Memo 263 which ordered the withdrawal of 1000 military personnel and the CIA from Vietnam by the end of the year.

Oct 20 - "Hawkin's Hog-Caller" Dance at the Darnek Club. 8-12 pm. $2.25 a couple.

Nov 12 - In a speech made at Columbia University, JFK stated "The high office of the President has been used to foment a plot to destroy the American's freedom and before I leave office, I must inform the citizen of this plight." Obviously it was not to be.

Nov 20 - Senior Ring Day.

Nov 22 - At 12:30 pm. on a Friday, President John F. Kennedy was conveniently assassinated - by whom we will never know for sure. A communist was blamed for the murder. Lyndon B. Johnson became President. It was the end of innocence, not only for ourselves, but for our Republic as well. Announcement of Kennedy's death was made over the school PA system. Many of us sat silently at our desks and wept, even though we were too young to understand the significance of it all. http://youtu.be/8X_z6T9u-tw

Dec 19 to 22 - Senior Class Play, "The Family Nobody Wanted," presented in memory of President John F. Kennedy.

1964 A Leap Year. End of the Baby Boom.

Jan 8 - President Johnson announced his failed "War Against Poverty," costing $16 trillion in entitlements for the next fifty years; one trillion in 2013 alone.

Feb 7 - Mardi Gras Dance at the Armory.

Feb 10 - The Beatles landed in New York and went on the Ed Sullivan Show. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" was the No. 1 song.

It sold a million and a half copies in three weeks and was the beginning of the "British Invasion." http://youtu.be/gJxvm5zbeBc

Feb 18 - Martin Edge, classmate, was killed in a car accident.

Mar 10-20 School cancelled because of flooding. Mar 24 - First public issue of the 90% silver Kennedy half dollar coin.

Apr 17 - Ford Mustang first introduced at NY World's Fair.

May 9 - Senior Prom at the Armory. Theme was Roman Holiday.

May 18 - Senior Class Trip. Girls went to Louisville. Boys went to Kentucky Lake.

May 22 - Practice for Baccalaureate Mass at the Cathedral. 11 30 a.m.

May 24 - Baccalaureate Mass at 5 pm. Senior Dinner 6:30 pm. Dance in the Snack Bar.

May 26 - Official group Graduation picture.

May 28 - Palestinian Liberation Organization founded; beginning of organized terrorism.

May 29 - High School Graduation 8 p.m. at the Sportscenter with Bishop Soenneker presiding, followed by a wild party at the Darnek Club.

Jun 25 - The Catholic Church condemned the use of the birth control pill.

Jul 2 - Civil Rights Act enacted. http://youtu.be/ZaRUca7FyAc

Oct 27 - Ronald Reagan gave his eerily prophetic "A Time For Choosing" speech. http://youtu.be/qXBswFfh6AY

1965 Beginning of Adulthood and Reality.

Mar 8 - US combat troops were sent to Vietnam. SEE Military Salute on the Sidebar.