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Pearl Harbor
A Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, which causes the United States to join WWII -
Manhattan Project Begins
The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom (which initiated the original Tube Alloys project) and Canada. -
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Tehran Conference
The Tehran Conference was the first World War II conference of the “Big Three” Allied leaders. Although the leaders arrived with differing objectives, the main outcome of the Tehran Conference was the Western Allies' commitment to open a second front against Nazi Germany, including an invasion on France. -
The Pentagon Is Completed
Pentagon, a large five-sided building in Arlington County, Virginia, near Washington, D.C., that serves as the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense, including all three military services—Army, Navy, and Air Force is completed. -
American Broadcasting Company
(ABC) is founded in New York City. -
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Battle of Leyte
American and Filipino troops begin the Battle of Leyte in the Philippines. -
Battle of Okinawa
The Battle of Okinawa, also known as Operation Iceberg, took place in April-June 1945. It was the largest amphibious landing in the Pacific theater of World War II. It also resulted in the largest casualties with over 100,000 Japanese casualties and 50,000 casualties for the Allies. -
The Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
On the 6th of August, 1945, the United States bombs Hiroshima with a nuclear blast. Three days later, on the 9th, the United States bombs Nagasaki with a nuclear blast as well, which was the main factor in Japan surrendering and exiting WWII. -
United Nations
The United Nations was established by the Charter of the United Nations and Statute of the International Court of Justice. The Charter was signed on 26 June 1945 by the representatives of 50 countries; Poland signed on 15 October 1945. There were 51 Founding Members in 1945. -
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The Cold War
The Cold War was the geopolitical, ideological, and economic struggle between two world superpowers, the USA and the USSR, that started in 1947 at the end of the Second World War and lasted until the dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 26, 1991. It was named the Cold War because it never actually had any battles; instead, it was a typically silent rivalry but also a rivalry of the threat of nuclear use. -
Truman Doctrine
Truman established that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces. ... Truman asked Congress to support the Greek Government against the Communists. -
CIA Creation
The Central Intelligence Agency was created on July 26, 1947, when Harry S. Truman signed the National Security Act into law. A major impetus for the creation of the agency was growing tensions with the USSR following the end of World War II. -
Berlin Blockade
An international crisis that arose from an attempt by the Soviet Union, in 1948–49, to force the Western Allied powers (the United States, the United Kingdom, and France) to abandon their post. -
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Korean War
On June 27, 1950, the United States officially entered the Korean War. The U.S. supported the Republic of Korea (commonly called South Korea), in repelling an invasion from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (commonly called North Korea). ... The Korean War was a proxy war for the Cold War. -
Puerto Rico
On July 25, 1952, after final ratification by the constitutional convention to accept the constitution as approved by the Congress, the Governor of Puerto Rico proclaimed the establishment of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico under the new constitution. -
Explorer I
The primary science instrument on Explorer 1 was a cosmic ray detector designed to measure the radiation environment in Earth orbit. Once in space, this experiment, provided by Dr. James Van Allen of the State University of Iowa, revealed a much lower cosmic ray count than expected. -
Alaska Becomes The 49th State
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Hawaii Becomes The 50th State
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Bay of Pigs Invasion
The Bay of Pigs invasion begins when a CIA-financed and -trained group of Cuban refugees lands in Cuba and attempts to topple the communist government of Fidel Castro. The attack was an utter failure. ... Eisenhower ordered the CIA to train and arm a force of Cuban exiles for an armed attack on Cuba. -
Freedom Riders
The first of more than 400 volunteered to travel throughout the South on regularly scheduled buses for seven months in 1961 to test a 1960 Supreme Court decision that declared segregated facilities for interstate passengers illegal. -
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Vietnam War.
The Vietnam War was a long, costly and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The conflict was intensified by the ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. The United States, being arrogant and idiotic, lost the war. -
U.S. Severs Diplomatic Relations With Cuba
In 1961, the U.S. severed diplomatic ties with Cuba and engaged in a campaign of terrorism and covert operations in an attempt to bring down the Cuban government. -
John F. Kennedy Is Inaugurated As The 35th President
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Cuban Missile Crisis
During the Cuban Missile Crisis, leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged in a tense, 13-day political and military standoff in October 1962 over the installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba, just 90 miles from U.S. shores. ... Kennedy also secretly agreed to remove U.S. missiles from Turkey. -
Lt. Col. John Glenn Becomes First U.S. Astronaut To Orbit Earth
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Martin Luther King Jr. Delivers His Famous Speech, 'I Have A Dream'
Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his "I Have A Dream" speech on August 28, 1963, during the March on Washington, a major civil rights demonstration. King references the US Constitution and Declaration of Independence, which declared that America would be a land of freedom where all men are created equal. -
President Kennedy Is Assassinated
JFK is assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald while traveling through Dallas, Texas. -
President Johnson Signs The Civil Rights Act
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Voting Rights Act Signed By President Johnson
It outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting. This “act to enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution” was signed into law 95 years after the amendment was ratified. -
President Johnson Proposes His Great Society Program
The Great Society was a set of domestic programs in the United States launched by Democratic President Lyndon B. ... It was coined during a 1964 speech by President Lyndon B. Johnson at Ohio University and came to represent his domestic agenda. The main goal was the total elimination of poverty and racial injustice. -
Martin Luther King, Jr. Is Assassinated
Martin Luther King Jr., an African-American clergyman and civil rights leader, was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968 -
Astronauts Neil Armstrong And Edwin Aldrin, Jr. Become The First Men To Land On The Moon
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President Nixon Makes Historic Visit To Communist China
On July 15, 1971, the President shocked the world by announcing on live television that he would visit the PRC the following year. The week-long visit, from February 21 to 28, 1972, allowed the American public to view images of China for the first time in over two decades. -
Watergate Scandal
On June 17, 1972, police arrested burglars in the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. Evidence linked the break-in to President Richard Nixon's re-election campaign. -
Nixon Resigns
By late 1973, Watergate escalated, costing Nixon much of his political support. On August 9, 1974, facing almost certain impeachment and removal from office, he became the first American president to resign. Afterwards, he was issued a pardon by his successor, Gerald Ford. -
United States Diplomatic Ties With China
The U.S. establishes diplomatic ties with mainland China for the first time since Communist takeover in 1949. -
Hostage Situation In Teheran.
Iranian students storm U.S. embassy in Teheran and hold 66 people
hostage. -
United States Mission To Rescue Hostages Fails
U.S. mission to rescue hostages in Iran is aborted after a helicopter and cargo plane collide at the staging site in a remote part of Iran
and 8 servicemen are killed. -
Ronald Reagan Is Inaugurated As The 40th President
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Hostages That Were Held For 444 Days Are Finally Released
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President Reagan Is Shot
On March 30, 1981, United States President Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr. in Washington, D.C. as he was returning to his limousine after a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton Hotel. Hinckley believed the attack would impress actress Jodie Foster, with whom he had become obsessed. -
U.S. Invades Caribbean Island of Grenada After A Coup By Marxist Faction In The Government
President Ronald Reagan, citing the threat posed to American nationals on the Caribbean nation of Grenada by that nation's Marxist regime, orders the Marines to invade and secure their safety. In little more than a week, Grenada's government was overthrown. -
Reagan's Second Inauguration
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Space Shuttle 'Challenger' Explodes
The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster occurred on January 28, 1986, when the NASA's Space Shuttle Challenger broke up 73 seconds after liftoff. All seven crew members were killed. It was the 25th flight of a Space Shuttle. ... During the flight, hot gases escaped from the O-ring and made it break apart. -
Reagan's Berlin Speech
Reagan called for the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open the Berlin Wall, which had separated West and East Berlin since 1961. The name is derived from a key line in the middle of the speech: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" -
Reagan And Gorbachev Sign INF Treaty
The treaty incorporating these commitments was signed in Washington, D.C., on December 8, 1987, by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. It was ratified by the U.S. Senate and the Supreme Soviet the following year. -
George H. W. Bush Is Inaugurated As The 41st President
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Signing of START
Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) I was signed July 31, 1991, by the United States and the Soviet Union. Five months later, the Soviet Union dissolved, leaving four independent states in possession of strategic nuclear weapons: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. -
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Persian Gulf War
Iraqi president Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion and occupation of neighboring Kuwait in early August 1990. ... Hussein defied United Nations Security Council demands to withdraw from Kuwait by mid-January 1991, and the Persian Gulf War began with a massive U.S.-led air offensive known as Operation Desert Storm. -
End of Cold War
During 1989 and 1990, the Berlin Wall came down, borders opened, and free elections ousted Communist regimes everywhere in eastern Europe. In late 1991 the Soviet Union itself dissolved into its component republics. With stunning speed, the Iron Curtain was lifted and the Cold War came to an end. -
World Trade Center Bomb
On February 26, 1993, a bomb exploded in a parking garage of the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York City. This event was the first indication for the Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) that terrorism was evolving from a regional phenomenon outside of the United States to a transnational phenomenon. -
Bill Clinton Is Inaugurated As The 42nd President
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President Clinton Missile Attack
President Clinton orders missile attack against Iraq in retaliation for alleged plot to assassinate former President Bush. -
Bosnia Peacekeeping Mission
President Clinton sends the first 8,000 of 20,000 U.S. troops to Bosnia for a 12-month peacekeeping mission. -
Oklahoma City Bombing
The bombing of a federal office building in Oklahoma City kills 168 people. -
U.S. Establishes Full Diplomatic Relations With Vietnam
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Temporary U.S Government Shut Down
The United States federal government shutdowns of 1995 and 1995–96 were the result of conflicts between Democratic President Bill Clinton and the Republican Congress over funding for education, the environment, and public health in the 1996 federal budget. -
U.S. and Britain launch air strikes against weapons sites in Iraq
According to U.S. President George W. Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, the coalition aimed "to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein's support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people." -
Monica Lewinsky Sexual Relationship Denial
After numerous allegations, President Clinton says, "I'm going to say this again: I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time; never. These allegations are false." -
President Clinton Releases 1999 Federal Budget Plan
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President Clinton Admits To Having A Sexual Relationship With Monica Lewinsky
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U.S Missile Launch On Sudan and Afghanistan
The United States government launches missiles into Sudan and Afghanistan in the late 1990s because they thought there were chemical weapons factories there. A chemical weapons factory would have to be destroyed because it would allow the terrorists ways to make bombs. -
Bill Clinton Impeachment
Although proceedings were delayed due to the bombing of Iraq, on the passage of H. Res. 611, Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives on December 19, 1998, on grounds of perjury to a grand jury (first article, 228–206) and obstruction of justice (third article, 221–212). -
U.S. And China Sign Historic Trade Agreement
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U.S Population Reaches More Than 280 Million
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George W. Bush Is Inaugurated As The 43rd President
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9/11
Two hijacked jetliners ram twin towers of World Trade Center in the worst terrorist attack against the U.S.; a third hijacked plane flies into the Pentagon, and a fourth crashes in rural Pennsylvania. More than 3,000 people die in the attacks. -
U.S And Britain Air Attacks On Afghanistan
U.S. and Britain launch air attacks against targets in
Afghanistan after Taliban government fails to hand over Saudi
terrorist Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks. -
Tailban Defeat
Following air campaign and ground assault by Afghani
opposition troops, the Taliban regime topples; however, the hunt
for bin Laden and other members of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization continues.