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House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) established
The HUAC was a committee of the U.S. House of
Representatives, that investigated allegations of communist activity in the U.S. It was intimidating and those who refused to help the committee were sent to prison or blacklisted by their employers. -
End of WW1
Germany had surrendered, and all nations agreed to stop fighting while the terms of peace were negotiated. On June 28, 1919, the war formally ended with Germany and the Allied Nations (including Britain, France, Italy and Russia) signing the Treaty of Versailles. -
Greek Civil War
First proxy war between US and USSR; $400,000,000 in aid to Greece and Turkey
based on the Truman Doctrine, anti-communists win. -
HUAC investigates on Hollywood Ten
A group of screenwriters, producers and directors were called to testify but refused to cooperate with the HUAC, denouncing the committee's tactics. They were all cited for contempt of Congress, sent to prison and were blacklisted from working in Hollywood. -
Truman Doctrine
Truman's foreign policy of containing the USSR and preventing the spread of communism. -
Marshall Plan
US provides $13 billions in aid to rebuild Europe. Countries must not go to communism. -
HUAC investigates on Alger Hiss
Self-confessed former member of the American Communist Party
named Whittaker Chambers accuses Alger Hiss of espionage; Hiss is imprisoned, although he declares himself innocent. The HUAC is considered to be giving a valuable service to the nation. -
USSR tests A-Bomb
It was a shock because the world did not know that the USSR was so far along the nuclear development. It was the beginning of the arms race between the US and the USSR. -
NSC-68
Top secret document signed by Truman for a policy of containment (proxy war policy) in
order to contain communism, especially against the USSR. It increased military spending -
Period: to
Korean War
Communist North supported by USSR and eventually China and Capitalist South
supported by the US and the West; US actually sends troops (“boots on the ground”)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxaegqvl4aE -
Rosenbergs convicted of espionage
Julius Rosenberg recruited Ethel Rosenberg's younger brother, David Greenglass, to give information to the Soviets. According to Greenglass, Ethel was an accomplice, taking notes and typing them up for the Soviets. They were accused of giving information that led to the creation of the atomic bomb. -
US detonates H-Bomb
The hydrogen bomb was even more powerful than an atomic bomb, allowing the US to be in the lead of the arms race. -
USSR detonates H-Bomb
Right after the US detonated its first hydrogen bomb, the Soviets responded achieving the same result. -
Rosenbergs executed
The couple kept declaring their innocence, while Greenglass testified against them to the HUAC in exchange for a lesser sentence. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were eventually sentenced to death. -
End of McCarthyism
Senator McCarthy is censured because of his unethical tactics for his anticommunist campaign. -
Laika on Sputnik II
USSR launch Laika on the satellite Sputnik II. The dog was first living thing launched in orbit. -
Sputnik
Launced by the USSR, it was the first satellite in orbit. -
US launch satellite Explorer I
The US launched its own satellite, designed by the US Army. -
Eisenhower orders the creation of NASA
President Dwight Eisenhower ordered the creation the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), as a federal agency dedicated to space exploration. -
Landing of Soviet Luna II on the moon
Luna 2 was the first space probe to hit the moon. -
Construction of the Berlin Wall
It divided Berlin in half, part communist under the USSR and part under the US. -
Russian Yuri Gagarin is the first man in space
The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first person to orbit Earth. He was launched in the
capsule-like spacecraft Vostok 1. -
Start of Apollo Lunar Program
Pres. Kennedy declares US will reach the moon and get back safely by the end of the decade
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwFvJog2dMw) -
Invasion Bay of Pigs
The Bay of Pigs in Cuba was invaded by the CIA; Castro and the Cubans win decimating the American army. -
American Alan Shepard is sent into space
NASA projected a capsule smaller and lighter than Vostok 1; after tests with chimpanzees, Alan Shepard was the first American in space. -
Cuban missile crisis
U2 spy plane photographs missiles in Cuba; JFK blockades Cuba; USSR removes
missiles; US removes its missiles from Turkey -
John Glenn is the first human to orbit the Earth
American John Glenn is the first human to orbit the Earth with NASA. -
Period: to
Vietnam War
boots on the ground, leads Nixon to change policy because of the backlash, the US decides not to send any more troops to proxy wars.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoXySB-WlZE -
Launch of Apollo 8
First manned space mission to orbit the moon, organized by the NASA. -
Apollo 11 lands on the moon, Neil Armstrong is the first man on the moon
After
landing successfully on July 20, Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon’s surface; he famously called
the moment “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgwWycuvx-0 -
Soviet Lunar 15 crashes, US wins the space race
USSR launches Lunar 15 and changes its route to land close to the American landing spot on the moon but it crashes. -
Soviet War in Afghanistan
US arm the Afghan rebels, no army sent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDQLHFBp4aM -
fall of the Berlin Wall
The head of the East German Communist Party announced that citizens of the GDR could cross the border, that night the wall was destroyed by ecstatic crowds.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmRPP2WXX0U -
fall of the USSR
By December 31 most members of the USSR leave, declaring independence as autonome nations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcByVoi0A-o
