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Berlin Blockade
During the occupation of post WWII Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control. -
NATO Formed
An intergovernmental military alliance between several North American and European countries based on the North Atlantic Treaty -
China goes red
Mao Zedong declared the creation of the People's Republic of China which ended civil war between the Chinese Communist Party and the Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang -
Korean War Begins
The Korean War began when some 75,000 soldiers from the North Korean People's Army came across the 38th parallel, the boundary between North and South Korea -
United States tests first Hydrogen Bomb
United States detonates the world's first thermonuclear weapon on Eniwetok atoll in the Pacific. -
Dwight Eisenhower is elected
Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower won a landslide victory over Democrat Adlai Stevenson, ending a string of Democratic Party wins -
Nikita Khrushchev replaces Joseph Stalin
Six months after the death of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev succeeds him with his election as first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. -
Sputnik Launched
The first artificial earth satellite that the Soviet Union launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit -
President Kennedy is elected
the youngest man ever to be elected president of the United States, beating Richard Nixon along with being the first Catholic to become president.Also For the first time, presidential candidates engaged in televised debates. -
Russians send the first man into space
Aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1, Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin becomes the first man to travel into space. -
Bay of Pigs invasion fails
A group of some 1,500 Cuban exiles trained and financed by the CIA launched an failed invasion of Cuba from the sea in the Bay of Pigs. -
Berlin Wall is constructed
Two days after sealing off free passage between East and West Berlin with barbed wire, East German authorities begin building a wall close off access to the West. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
A 13-day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union concerning American ballistic missile deployment in Italy and Turkey with Soviet ballistic missile deployment in Cuba. -
Dr.King's "I Have A Dream" Speech
During the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, he made this speech in which he calls for an end to racism in the United States -
John F Kennedy is assassinated
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated as he rode in a motorcade through Dealey Plaza in downtown Dallas, Texas. -
The Beatles arrive in the United States
The start of the Beatles' popularity in the United States, in early 1964, was marked by intense demand for the single "I Want to Hold Your Hand" which sold one-and-a-half million copies in under three weeks -
China explodes atomic bomb
The Republic of China joins the rank of nations with atomic bomb capability, after a successful nuclear test as the fifth member of this exclusive club consisting of the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and France. -
First NFL Football Super Bowl
It was played at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California where The Green Bay Packers defeated The Kansas City Chiefs by the score of 35–10. -
Thurgood Marshall nominated to the Supreme Court
President Lyndon Johnson appoints U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Thurgood Marshall to fill the seat of retiring Supreme Court Associate Justice Tom C. Clark. -
Tet Offensive
one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War fought by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam against the forces of the South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam, the United States Armed Forces, and their allies. -
Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated
He was shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, and was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m. -
Robert Kennedy is assassinated
Senator Robert Kennedy is shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after winning the California presidential primary Immediately after he announced to his cheering supporters that the country was ready to end its fractious divisions. He died a day later after the shooting -
Protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention
In Chicago, tens of thousands of Vietnam War protesters battle police in the streets, while the Democratic Party falls apart over an disagreement concerning its stance on Vietnam. -
American astronauts land on the moon
Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins were the astronauts on Apollo 11 and Four days later, Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon in the Lunar Module. -
Woodstock concert
A music festival in the United States in 1969 which attracted an audience of more than 400,000. -
Watergate burglaries
There were 5 burglars arrested at the Watergate offices of the Democratic National Committee. one of the burglars was James W. McCord, a security co-ordinator for the Republican National Committee and the Committee for the Re-election of the President. -
Paris Peace Accords end the Vietnam War
The Paris Peace Accords to establish peace in Vietnam and end the Vietnam War. -
President Nixon Resigns
the Watergate scandal escalated, costing Nixon much of his political support. He resigned in the face of almost certain impeachment and removal from office. After his resignation, he was issued a controversial pardon by his successor, Gerald Ford. -
Iranian Hostage Crisis
a diplomatic standoff between Iran and the United State where Fifty-two American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for 444 days -
Soviet Union invades Afghanistan
the Soviet Union invaded to support of the Afghan communist government in its conflict with Muslim guerrillas during the Afghan War -
President Reagan is shot
President Ronald Reagan and three others were shot and wounded D.C., as they were leaving a speaking engagement at the Hilton Hotel. -
Chernobyl Disaster
1986 was the result of a flawed reactor design that was operated with inadequately trained personnel. The resulting steam explosion and fires released at least 5% of the radioactive reactor core into the atmosphere and downwind -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
the spokesman for East Berlin's Communist Party announced a change in his city's relations with the West. Starting at midnight that day, he said, citizens of the GDR were free to cross the country's borders. that night, ecstatic crowds swarmed the wall. Some crossed freely into West Berlin, while others brought hammers and picks and began to chip away at the wall. -
Mikhail Gorbachev assumes control in the Soviet Union
He was the eighth and last leader of the Soviet Union, having been General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union -
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
Russia officially granting self-governing independence to the Republics of the Soviet Union. ( a result of the declaration of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union.)
