MON SIX

The 1950s were a decade of enormous change. Rock and roll exploded onto the music scene, Hollywood created timeless classics, and major scientific breakthroughs reshaped the modern world. At the same time, Cold War tensions and technological milestones were redefining global politics.

This quiz will take you through some of the most memorable moments of the 1950s. Some questions will feel easy, and others might be tricky. From iconic stars like Elvis Presley and James Dean to world-changing events like the launch of Sputnik 1, the decade left a lasting mark on history.

Ready to go back to the 1950s? Begin!

🚀 💡 Want more or looking for something else? Head over to theBored Panda Quizzesand explore our full collection of quizzes and trivia designed to test your knowledge, reveal hidden insights, and spark your curiosity.💡 🚀

What 1955 film made James Dean a cultural icon?

◯ East of Eden◯ Rebel Without a Cause◯ Giant◯ The Wild One

Which television show, starring Lucille Ball, became one of the most-watched programs of the 1950s?

◯ I Love Lucy◯ The Honeymooners◯ Father Knows Best◯ The Ed Sullivan Show

What board game involving property trading surged in popularity during the 1950s?

The coronation of which monarch was the first major royal coronation to be widely televised in 1953?

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Which actress starred in Roman Holiday (1953) and became a defining style icon of the decade?

Who was known as "The King of Rock and Roll" and released his debut single That's All Right in 1954?

What did Watson and Crick famously describe the structure of in 1953?

◯ The human genome◯ A protein molecule◯ DNA◯ The atom

Which country launched Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite, in 1957?

◯ Soviet Union◯ United States of America◯ Germany◯ China

🧠 Curious to see the rest? Take the full quiz here 🧠

NEW YORK (AP) — The COVID-19 pandemic's early death toll was much higher than the official U.S. count, according to a new study that spotlights dramatic disparities in the uncounted deaths.

About 840,000 COVID-19 deaths were reported on death certificates in 2020 and 2021. But a group of researchers — using a form ofartificial intelligence— estimate that as many as 155,000 unrecognized additional deaths likely occurred in that time outside of hospitals. That would mean about 16% of COVID-19 deaths went uncounted in those years.

The overall findings,published Wednesdayby the journal Science Advances, were close to estimates from other studies of pandemic deaths during that time. But the authors of the new study tried to determine exactly which deaths were more likely to be missing from the official tallies.

The answer: The undiagnosed dead were more likely to be Hispanic people and other people of color, who had died in the first few months of the pandemic, and who had been in certain states in the South and Southwest — including Alabama, Oklahoma and South Carolina.

Six years after the coronavirus swept through the U.S., barriers remain for many of thesame people, said Steven Woolf, a Virginia Commonwealth University researcher not involved in the study.

"People on the margins continue to die at disproportionate rates because they can't access care," he said in an email.

Access to care wasn't the only challenge

While hospital patients were routinely tested for COVID-19, many who grew sick and died outside of hospitals were not tested — often because at-home testing was not readily available early in the pandemic, said one of the study's authors, the University of Minnesota's Elizabeth Wrigley-Field.

In some parts of the country, death investigations are handled by elected coroners who don't necessarily have the specialized training that medical examiners do.Some researchhas suggested partisan opinions could affect whether a sick person or their family members sought COVID-19 testing, and whether coroners pursued postmortem coronavirus testing. Indeed, some coroners said families had pressed them not to list COVID-19 as a cause of death.

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"Our antiquated death investigation system is one key reason why we fell short of accurate counts, particularly outside of big metropolitan areas," said Andrew Stokes of Boston University, the senior author on the paper.

Death counts were swept up in COVID politics

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data countmore than 1.2 millionCOVID-19 deaths since the pandemic erupted in early 2020. More than two-thirds of those reported deaths occurred in 2020 and 2021.

The count has long been debated, asfalse claimson social media said the number of COVID-19 deaths was inflated. Adding to the rancor was President Donald Trump, who in August 2020 retweeted a post claiming only 6% of reported deaths were actually from COVID-19 — a post Twitter later removed.

To be sure, there were other kinds ofpandemic deaths. For example, uninfected people died from other medical conditions because they could not get care at hospitals overloaded with COVID-19 patients. People with drug addictions died of overdoses as a result of social isolation and losing access to treatment. Other studies that have estimated the actual number of pandemic deaths have taken those deaths into account.

But Stokes and his collaborators wanted to focus on the deaths of people infected by the coronavirus. They used machine learning to sift through the death certificates of infected patients who died in hospitals and then used patterns observed in those records to evaluate death certificates of people who died outside hospitals and whose deaths were attributed to things like pneumonia or diabetes.

Scientists' understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of machine learning-reliant research is still evolving, but Woolf called this team's use of it "intriguing."

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

A suspicious package found outside a gate at a U.S. Air Force base in Florida earlier this week contained "possible energetic materials," the Federal Bureau of Investigation said Wednesday, March 18.

The suspicious package was reported at the MacDill Air Force Base's visitor center near a gate at around 11:20 a.m. local time on Monday, March 16, the base said ina statement. First responders established a cordon and diverted traffic to another gate "out of an abundance of caution," according to the statement.

By about 5 p.m., the base said the "incident was terminated and the scene was declared safe." Normal gate operations resumed, and the package was cleared from the scene by special agent bomb technicians from theFBI's Tampa field office.

FBI Director Kash Patel in photos

Following a preliminary investigation, the FBI said that field screening was conducted on the package's contents and identified "possible energetic materials." The FBI did not provide further details on the material found in the package.

Energetic materials are substances that store large amounts of chemical energy and rapidly release it when triggered by heat, shock, or friction, according toSafety Management Services. Common energetic materials include explosives, propellants, and fuel.

"Final lab analysis is not yet complete," the FBI said ina statementon March 18. "The investigation remains active and ongoing. No further details can be shared at this time."

MacDill Air Force Base under heightened alert amid war in Iran

The MacDill Air Force Base is located in Tampa, Florida, on the southwestern tip of the interbay peninsula. The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) is headquartered at the base and is responsible for military operations in 20 nations across the Middle East, Central Asia, and parts of South Asia.

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Since the war in Iran began on Feb. 28, U.S. military bases, including the MacDill Air Force Base, and federal counterterrorism agencies have been onhigh alertfor a potential retaliatory attack in the United States. Several military bases have been placed on lockdown in response to potential threats, includingJoint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurstin New Jersey andBarksdale Air Force Basein Louisiana.

Iran war updates:Oil prices jump after major Iran gas field is attacked

On Tuesday, March 17, the MacDill Air Force Base announced that it was operating under Force Protection Charlie, which is referred to as "FPCON CHARLIE." The FPCON level is the second-highest alert level and indicates that a threat is likely, according to theDefense Logistics Agency.

"This posture allows us to implement deliberate security measures proactively," the base said ina statement. "All personnel should remain vigilant, follow the direction of security forces, and report any suspicious activity immediately. Everyone plays a role in base defense – if you see something, say something."

'We take all threats seriously'

Earlier on March 18, the MacDill Air Force Base was placed under a shelter-in-place order after a threat was received. The order was later lifted, but the base said it was still operating under FPCON CHARLIE.

"We take all threats seriously and are taking appropriate measures to prioritize the safety and security of our installation," the base said ina statement. "As a matter of policy, we will not release specifics on what security measures have been implemented."

Last week, CENTCOM confirmed thatsix U.S. service members were killedwhen theirKC-135 refueling tanker aircraft crashedfollowing a mid-air collision over western Iraq. Three of the service members were assigned to the 6th Air Refueling Wing atMacDill Air Force Base.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Package found at Florida base contained 'possible energetic materials'

Dozens of streets, schools and parks bear his name. Public libraries and state offices close to honor his birthday in the three large states where it's a holiday. American presidents honored him with the Medal of Freedom and a National Monument in Keene, California.

For decades,Cesar Chavez, the revered late leader of the United Farm Workers union, was heralded as a labor and civil rights icon, even more so after his death over three decades ago. He came to personify Mexican American and Latino identity.

Yet this week, Chavez is in the spotlight for an array of horrifying allegations. His legacy faces a reckoning after several women, including union cofounder Dolores Huerta, said he sexually assaulted them, including some who were children at the time. Most kept the dark secrets hidden. Others were purged from UFW ranks when they spoke out, aNew York Times investigation published March 18 found.

Some labor advocates and scholars said the revelations could provide a much-needed opportunity to reconsider the importance of female workers and activists, rather than attributing the movement's collective successes to one man.

"The farmworker movement has always been bigger and far more important than any one individual," Huerta, now 95, said in a statement that detailed her sexual assault by Chavez, which resulted in two children she said she gave up for adoption. "Cesar's actions do not diminish the permanent improvements achieved for farmworkers with the help of thousands of people. We must continue to engage and support our community, which needs advocacy and activism now more than ever."

Chavez became the face of a national farm labor movement in the 1960s, pushing for better wages and working conditions for agricultural workers and leading consumer boycotts of grapes and lettuce to give workers leverage. The union is now a shadow of what it was at its peak decades ago, when it landed historic victories against abusive practices.

But that heyday was also, Times reporting found, when several sexual assaults by Chavez allegedly took place.

Calls to rename holiday, streets

As groups who championed Chavez reckon with years of his alleged abuse in their ranks, the country is now reconsidering markers that honor Chavez. The union he founded has tried this week to distance itself from him, canceling its participation in events marking his March 31 birthday, which would have been his 99th.

That day is a state holiday in California, where much of the UFW's historic victories took place, along with Minnesota and Washington. It's a commemorative holiday for the federal government and an optional holiday for state government departments in Texas.

While the union-aligned Democratic Party has led the embrace of Chavez, Democratic elected officials − who tend to support women's rights and more strongly oppose sexual violence − have also been among the first to drop the celebrations of his legacy.

In Arizona, Gov. Katie Hobbs' office announced thestate won't honor Chavez this year. Milwaukee Alderperson JoCasta Zamarripa announced the cancelationthe city's annual celebration.

In Los Angeles, a major avenue through the historic heart of the city's Mexican American community, in Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles, bears his name. Elementary, middle and high schools are named after him. At the University of California, Los Angeles, the Cesar E. Chavez Department of Chicana/o and Central American studies bears his name.

"I think it's time to change the name of our March public holiday to 'Farmworker Day' in Los Angeles County," County Supervisor Janice Hahn said in a statement.

Democratic presidents have also honored Chavez. Bill Clinton in 1994 awarded Chavez the Presidential Medal of Freedom a year after his death. In 2012, Barack Obama established the Cesar Chavez National Monument at the UFW headquarters, where alleged abuse took place, near Bakersfield, California; the same year,Obama awarded Huertathe Presidential Medal of Freedom. Joe Biden placed a bust of Chavez in the Oval Office upon taking office in 2021.

U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, the first Latino elected to represent California in the Senate, supported removing Chavez's name from landmarks and institutions, according to spokesman Edgar Rodríguez. In 2025,Padilla introduced legislationto create the César E. Chávez and the Farmworker Movement National Park across Arizona and California. Rodríguez said Padilla would instead work to rename the legislation to honor farmworkers.

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"Confronting painful truths and ensuring accountability is essential to honoring the very values the greater farm worker movement stands for – values rooted in dignity and justice for all," Padilla said in a statement.

What happens to this legacy and how history is reshaped by these allegations remains to be seen, although experts and labor leaders noted that Chavez's centralized power came at the expense of women, immigrants and others who made significant achievements for farmworkers nationwide.

"It's unfortunate that Cesar's legacy hangs over all of the really important work they did," said Matt Garcia, a Dartmouth College professor who wrote the 2012 history "From the Jaws of Victory: The Triumph and Tragedy of Cesar Chavez and the Farm Worker Movement," which chronicled some of Chavez's abuses as a leader. "But it is the case he almost singlehandedly submerged what was an amazing movement in its time."

Garcia said the union facilitated Chavez's unchecked power, failing to build democratic processes that could have protected those who were at odds with him.

In light of the allegations, the UFW and the Cesar Chavez Foundation said they are establishing a "safe and confidential process for those who wish to share their experiences of historic harm." Garcia questioned how organizations with people by Chavez's side when the abuse occurred could collect and investigate the incidents.Huerta's statementdirected people who may have experienced sexual assault to a list of state and nonprofit resources that didn't include the union.

Even before allegations of sexual abuse, some Latino and farmworker advocacy groupscriticized Chavez's anti-immigrant stances. He once supported hard-line immigration enforcement against undocumented immigrants, believing they were used as strikebreakers who undermined American workers. Some conservatives whoadvocate for immigration restrictionhave argued that the left should learn from his immigration positions.

Today, over two-thirds of crop farmworkers are immigrants, including an estimated 40% who are undocumented, according toU.S. Department of Agriculture data.

UFW membership peaked at around 60,000 in the 1970s. Today, it hasfewer than 5,000 members.University of California, Davis data showsless than 1% of farmworkers are unionized, compared with about 1 in 10 American workers overall.

But some of the movement's victories remain intact. The Times noted California vineyard workers who once earned $1.20 an hour − less than $11 today − now make between $17 and $25 an hour in peak season, with health benefits and overtime pay.

In farm country, movement goes beyond Chavez

In California's farm country, where theUFW launched strikes for better working and living conditions, California Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, a Democrat representing the Salinas Valley, traced his political rise in part to his Mexican American family's connections to the UFW, including with Chavez and Huerta, according to hisofficial biography.

In a March 18 statement, Rivas said his first priority is to listen to survivors and their families "with humility and compassion."

"The farmworker movement has never been about one man; it is bigger than any one person, and its values of dignity and justice are more important now than ever," Rivas said in a statement. "To those who have found the courage to come forward, my heart is with you."

Beyond Chavez, Garcia said the movement's success, such as the creation and execution of boycotts and strikes, and subsequent contract negotiations, were done in a group effort, not just one person. That understanding may help further farmworker advocacy that continues today.

Contributing: Paris Barraza, USA TODAY Network; Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:What happens to Cesar Chavez holidays, naming amid assault allegations