1950s: In 1953, 55 percent of American households possess a television set. In 1955, the figure jumps to 67 percent. In this year, 7,421,084 television sets are sold in the United States. NBC is the first network to have a regularly scheduled color program on the air (Bonanza, starting in 1959).

Today: More than 98 percent of households have television sets, and many have more than one. In 1999, 68 percent of households with television have cable television. On average, Americans watch four hours of television a day.

1950s: Support for the death penalty in the United States drops. In the 1940s, there were, on average, nearly 130 executions a year, but in the 1950s this figure falls to an average of 71.5 executions. The most famous cases are those of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who are put to death in New York in 1953 for passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. In New York...