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Operation Overlord
"On 6 June 1944, the Allies began Operation Overlord, the invasion of the European continent that was designed to bring to a close a war that had lasted far too long. The amphibious assault on Normandy in World War II was the key to the Continent" (Fowle, 1994, p.1). -
Franklin Roosevelt Dies
"The political landscape was altered drastically by Franklin Roosevelt’s sudden death in April 1945, just days before the inaugural meeting of the UN. Although Roosevelt was skeptical of Stalin, he always held out hope that the Soviets could be brought into the 'Free World.' Truman, like Churchill, had no such illusions. He committed the United States to a hard-line, anti-Soviet approach" (The Cold War, 2019). -
50 Nations Signed the UN Charter
"There would also be a General Assembly, made up of all nations; an International Court of Justice; and a council for economic and social matters. Dumbarton Oaks was a mixed success—the Soviets especially expressed concern over how the Security Council would work—but the powers agreed to meet again in San Francisco between April and June 1945 for further negotiations. There, on June 26, 1945, fifty nations signed the UN charter" (World War II, 2019). -
Bombing of Hiroshima
"The Americans successfully exploded the world’s first nuclear device, Trinity, in New Mexico in July 1945" (World War II, 2019). "Two more bombs—Fat Man and Little Boy—were built and detonated over two Japanese cities in August. Hiroshima was hit on August 6. Over one hundred thousand civilians were killed" (World War II, 2019). Photo Credit: Records of the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey, 1945 -
Bombing of Nagasaki
"The Americans successfully exploded the world’s first nuclear device, Trinity, in New Mexico in July 1945" (World War II, 2019). "Two more bombs—Fat Man and Little Boy—were built and detonated over two Japanese cities in August. Hiroshima was hit on August 6. Over one hundred thousand civilians were killed. Nagasaki followed on August 9. Perhaps eighty thousand civilians were killed" (World War II, 2019). -
World War II Ends
The war ended after America bombed two Japanese cities. "Hiroshima was hit on August 6. Over one hundred thousand civilians were killed. Nagasaki followed on August 9. Perhaps eighty thousand civilians were killed" (World War II, 2019). "Emperor Hirohito announced the surrender of Japan on August 15. On September 2, aboard the battleship USS Missouri, delegates from the Japanese government formally signed their surrender. World War II was finally over" (World War II, 2019). -
Long Telegram
"On February 22, 1946, less than a year after the end of the war, the chargé d’affaires of the U.S. embassy in Moscow, George Kennan sent a famously lengthy telegram—literally referred to as the Long Telegram—to the State Department denouncing the Soviet Union" (The Cold War, 2019). "There could be no cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union, Kennan wrote. Instead, the Soviets had to be 'contained'" (The Cold War, 2019). -
Executive Order 9835
"Only two years after World War II, President Truman, facing growing anticommunist excitement and with a tough election on the horizon, gave in to pressure in March 1947 and issued his 'loyalty order,' Executive Order 9835, establishing loyalty reviews for federal employees. The FBI conducted closer examinations of all potential 'security risks' among Foreign Service officers" (The Cold War, 2019). -
First Thermonuclear Weapon is Detonated
"The United States detonated the first thermonuclear weapon, or hydrogen bomb (using fusion explosives of theoretically limitless power) on November 1, 1952. The blast measured over ten megatons and generated an inferno five miles wide with a mushroom cloud twenty-five miles high and a hundred miles across. The irradiated debris—fallout—from the blast circled the earth, occasioning international alarm about the effects of nuclear testing on human health and the environment" (The Cold War, 2019).