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United Nations formed
50 leaders from different countries gathered in San Fransisco to agree on a national treaty to maintain peace and the equal rights of all people. -
Hollywood 10
A group of 10 film industry members who refused to testify to an anti-communist committee hearing during the Second Red Scare era. -
The Truman Doctrine
President Truman established that the U.S. would provide political, military, and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces. -
Marshall Plan
A program designed to rehabilitate the economies of 17 western and southern European countries to create stable conditions after WW2. -
NATO formed
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was created by the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union. -
Korean War
The conflict between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea) in which at least 2.5 million persons lost their lives. -
U.S. official enters Vietnam War
President Eisenhower deploys the Military Assistance Advisory Group to train the Army of the Republic of Vietnam to prevent a communist takeover of the region. -
Space Race/Sputnik
The first artificial satellite that was successfully placed in orbit around the Earth and launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome at Tyuratam. -
Bay of Pigs
A failed attempt by US-backed Cuban exiles to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro. -
Berlin Wall goes up
The 155-kilometer wall was put up to prevent people from escaping to the West from East Berlin. -
Soviets invade Afghanistan
The Soviet Union sent thousands of troops into Afghanistan and immediately assumed complete military and political control of Kabul and large portions of the country. -
Berlin Wall comes down
After 5 million people gathered in East Berlin in a mass protest the Berlin Wall crumbled.