- Eleven U.S. communists were found guilty of conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. government

- NATO was created

- The three western zones of Germany were merged

- Vietnam state established at Saigon

- The Berlin blockade was lifted

- Independent, Northern Ireland remained part of UK

- Apartheid began in South Africa

- Mutual Defense Assistance Act provided funds for NATO

- USSR detonated its first nuclear weapon

- Mao Tse-tung announced the creation of the People's Republic of China

- Riders in the Sky (Vaughn Monroe)

- Someday (Vaughn Monroe)

- Mule Train (Frankie Laine)

- That Lucky Old Sun (Frankie Laine)

- I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm (Les Brown)

- "A"-You're Adorable (Perry Como)

- Some Enchanted Evening (Perry Como)

- Dear Hearts and Gentle People (Bing Crosby)

- Baby, It's Cold Outside (Sammy Kaye)

- Bewitched (Doris Day)

- Emmy Awards

- Plastic Legos

- Flag Day

- Scrabble

- The board game Candyland

- The board game Clue

- First daytime TV soap opera (These Are My Children, NBC)

- First TV sitcom (The Goldbergs, CBS)

- Volkswagens in the U.S.

- Radial tires (Michelin)

- Cortisone

- 45 rpm records

- Radio Free Europe

- Philadelphia Eagles were NFL champs

- Cleveland Browns were AAFC champs

- Notre dame was college football champ

- Kentucky won the NCAA basketball title

- Leon Hart of Notre Dame won the Heisman Trophy

- Pancho Gonzales won the men's U.S. Open tennis title

- Margaret Osborne DuPont won the women's U.S. Open tennis title

- Cary Middlecoff won the USGA Open

- Sam Snead won the Masters golf tournament

- Louise Suggs won the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament

- Captain Video and His Video Rangers

- Hopalong Cassidy

- Kukla, Fran, and Ollie

- Cavalcade of Stars

- The Quiz Kids

- The Goldbergs

- The Lone Ranger

- Mama

- U.S. Air Force jet flew across the country in less than four hours

- The USSR tested its first atomic bomb

- U.S. Air Force jet Lucky Lady II flew around the world non-stop

- The National Education Association banned Communist Party members

- Battleground

- The Heiress

- A Letter to Three Wives

- Home of the Brave

- Twelve O'clock High

- Champion

- Sands of Iwo Jima

- Pinky

- White Heat

- On the Town

- She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

- Little Women

- The Third Man

- Best Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz (A Letter to Three Wives)

- Best Actress: Olivia de Havilland (The Heiress)

- The Big Fisherman, Lloyd C. Douglas

- Mary, Sholem Asch

- A Rage to Live, John O'Hara

- Point of No Return, John P. Marquand

- Dinner at Antoine's, Frances Parkinson Keyes

- High Towers, Thomas B. Costain

- Cutlass Empire, Van Wyck Mason

- Pride's Castle, Frank Yerby