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United Nations formed
The United Nations came into existence on October 24, 1945, after 29 nations had ratified the Charter. -
Truman Doctrine
President Truman asked Congress for $400 million in military and economic assistance for Turkey and Greece. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was a U.S.-sponsored program designed to rehabilitate the economies of 17 western and southern European countries in order to create stable conditions in which democratic institutions could survive in the aftermath of World War II. -
Nato formed
Sought to create a counterweight to Soviet armies stationed in central and eastern Europe after World War II. -
Hollywood 10
In the film, each member of the Hollywood Ten made a short speech denouncing McCarthyism and the Hollywood blacklisting. -
Korean War
The Korean War was a war fought between North Korea and South Korea from 1950 to 1953. -
Space Race/Sputnik
The Space Race was a competition between the Soviet Union and the United States, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. -
Berlin Wall goes up
East Germany built a barrier to close off East Germans' access to West Berlin and hence West Germany. -
Bay of Pigs
The Bay of Pigs Invasion was a failed landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in 1961 by Cuban exiles who opposed Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution. -
U.S. official enters Vietnam War
On March 8, 1965, the first American combat troops – the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade – waded ashore at China Beach north of Da Nang. -
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
The fall of the Berlin Wall was a pivotal event in world history which marked the falling of the Iron Curtain and the start of the fall of communism in Eastern and Central Europe.