The 1950s
1950
- An electronic organ is installed in the auditorium to provide background
music at events.
- Stout begins master's degree program in Clothing, Textiles and Related
Art,* and bachelor's degree program in Dietetics.*
- Stout enrollment is 846.
- Sen. Joseph McCarthy claims that State Department is riddled with Communists.
- North Korean forces invade South Korea.
1951
- A television set earned by collecting 8,000 stickers in a Midwest coffee
firm's promotion is installed in the student union.
- 2,000 people including students from 80 area high schools attend Stout
Institute open house.
- Julius and Ethel Rosenberg sentenced to death for espionage.
- Electric power produced from atomic energy at Acron, Idaho.
- Color television introduced.
- J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" published.
1952
- Presidential candidates Harold Stassen, Robert Taft and Sen. Estes Kefauver
each make stops at Stout.
- Library adds new titles "describing the dangers of communism to
the American way of life."
- King George VI of England dies, succeeded by his daughter, Queen Elizabeth
II.
- Albert Schweitzer receives Nobel Peace Prize.
- Hank Williams sings "Jambalaya" and "Your Cheatin' Heart."
1953
- The athletic department receives a whirlpool bath through donations
from the "S" Club and the SSA.
- Eisenhower inaugurated president.
- Stalin dies.
- Korean armistice signed.
- Hillary, Tenzing climb Mt. Everest.
1954
- Collection is moved into the new library (now the Stout Vocational Rehabilitation
Institute).
- Supreme Court rules that segregation in public schools violates 14th
Amendment.
- Dr. Jonas Salk develops anti-polio serum.
- Roger Bannister runs a mile in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds.
1955
- The Stout Institute transferred to the jurisdiction of the Board of
Regents of the State Colleges and becomes Stout State College.
- New synchronized swimming group performs to music at the Stout pool.
- A.F.L. and C.I.O. merge.
- Blacks in Montgomery, Alabama boycott segregated city bus lines.
- Disneyland opens.
- James Dean dies in a car crash.
1956
- Stout initiates bachelor's degree program in Industrial Technology.
- Eisenhower re-elected president.
- Martin Luther King emerges as civil rights leader.
- Elvis Presley gains in popularity.
1957
- A carillon fund drive is begun to replace the clock tower bell.
- The 19-room mansion of lumber baron T.B. Wilson becomes the home of
Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity.
- Soviet Union launches Sputnik I.
- President Eisenhower sends paratroopers to Little Rock, Arkansas during
desegregation crisis.
- The Edsel and the Frisbee are introduced.
- Jack Kerouac writes "On the Road"
1958
- Stoutonia reports that graduates are averaging $4,133 for first-year
salaries.
- Master's degree program in Guidance and Counseling,* and bachelor's
degree programs in Home Economics General,* and American Industry initiated.
- Fidel Castro begins "total war" against Batista government
in Cuba.
- Alaska becomes 49th state.
- Tension grows in United States over desegregation of schools in the
South.
- U.S. satellite Explorer I launched.
- Stamps cost 4 cents.
1959
- Stout begins master's degree program in A-V Instruction (now Media Technology).
- Graduating seniors are honored by a reception, the first social event
held in the new Memorial Student Center (now the Communication Technologies
Building).
- Castro becomes Premier of Cuba.
- Hawaii becomes 50th state.
- Barbie dolls first appear on the market.
- Postmaster general bans D.H. Lawrence's "Lady Chatterley's Lover"
from the mails for obscenity.
