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United Nations Formed
The United Nations is a political organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and serve as a center for balancing the actions of nations. -
Truman Doctrine
President Truman established that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authority forces. -
"Hollywood Ten"
A group of 10 film industry members that refused to testify to an anti-communist committee hearing during the Second Red Scare era. -
Marshall Plan
Signed by President Truman, this proposed that the United States provides economic assistance to restore the economic infrastructure of postwar Europe. -
NATO Formed
Created by the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union. NATO was the first peacetime military alliance the United States entered into outside of the Western Hemisphere. -
Korean War
Beginning in June of 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea and came to an end in July of 1953. North Korea was supported by China and the Soviet Union while South Korea was supported by the United States and US-led United Nations Command (UN) forces. -
U.S. official enters Vietnam War
President Eisenhower deploys the Military Assistance Advisory Group to train the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. This marks the official beginning of American involvement in the war as recognized by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. -
Space Race/Sputnik
Sputnik 1 was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union as part of the Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for three weeks before its three silver-zinc batteries became depleted. -
Bay of Pigs
The Bay of Pigs Invasion was a failed military landing from April 17-20 operating on the southwestern coast of Cuba by Cuban Democratic Revolutionary Front, consisting of Cuban exiles who opposed Fidel Castro's Cuban Revolution, secret financed and directed by the U.S. government. -
Berlin Wall Goes Up
The Berlin Wall was built by the German Democratic Republic during the Cold War to prevent its population from escaping Soviet-controlled East Berlin to West Berlin, which was controlled by the major Western Allies. It divided the city of Berlin into two contrasting zones. -
Soviet's invade Afghanistan
The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Soviet-controlled Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. -
Berlin Wall Comes Down
The fall of the Berlin Wall during the Peaceful Revolution, marked the beginning of the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain, as East Berlin transit restrictions were overwhelmed and thrown out.