(Peter Putman – PSA) The second year of the fifth decade of the 20th century wasn’t exactly off to a flying start. Just six years after World War II, America was enmeshed in yet another foreign conflict (the Korean War), and we were hearing more and more about the “Red Menace.” The United States opened the Nevada Atomic Test site in January, and tested its first hydrogen bomb in May. A few weeks earlier, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were sentenced to death for delivering atomic energy secrets to the Soviet Union. Fortunately, there were plenty of distractions in 1951, including the first coast-to-coast telecast of a live sporting event (a football game between Pittsburgh and Duke), the first operating computer system (Remington Rand’s $160,000 UNIVAC I, delivered to the US Census Bureau), and the first TV broadcasts of I Love Lucy, Dragnet, and CBS’ longest-running soap opera, Search For Tomorrow. Continue reading the full story on here.
