McCarthy
James Dean
Bingo! He’s been mentioned earlier but not as a first choice. I’ve been hoping somebody else would name him. I saw a picture of Liz Taylor from 1956 and it made me think I ought to do this thread. Way to go, notfrommensa! 
I’m feeling a little embarassed to have come up with Arthur Godfrey, but that’s who I thought of.
Milton Berle.
And I never liked him.
Eisenhower
Joe McCarthy, followed quickly by Edward R. Murrow.
The first name that came to mind was Eisenhower.
I wasn’t there. But definitely Elvis.
Churchill, which seems a bit odd to me as he was past his prime by the 50s. I was born in the fifties, in the UK but my first cultural memories were laid down in the sixties. I think I must have interpreted the question as “well known people from just before I was born.” I remember Churchill’s funeral, from 1965, so he fitted the bill.
I can’t explain it at all but the first name to pop into my mind was…
Jack Benny.
I would say in general that he would normally be around the 40th or 50th most prominent person from the era in my mind, but he was first for some reason this time.
James Dean
McCarthy.
Elvis, then Sputnik.
Call me self-centered, but my own name. It’s the decade I was born.
James Dean
Elvis for me.
Joe McCarthy.
Elvis Presley (Without looking at any other responses.)