Introduction -- Postwar prelude: 1945-1949 -- America becomes the world's policeman: 1950 -- The Cold War settles in: 1951 -- "I like Ike": 1952 -- New leadership in Washington and Moscow: 1953 -- Separate is not equal: 1954 -- Self-created annihilation becomes a possibility: 1955 -- Ike and Elvis, Budapest and the Suez: 1956 -- Sputnik and Little Rock: 1957 -- America enters outer space: 1958 -- America expands into the Pacific: 1959.