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Marshall plan
A plan to provide American financial support to war-torn Europe. It was drawn up by George C. Marshall (US Secretary of State) in 1947. All countries in Europe were eligible for Marshall aid, but the conditions made it impossible for the communist states of Eastern Europe to apply. Over 17 billion dollars were provided to Europe, and by 1952 Western Europe's economy was experiencing sustained growth. -
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Berlin airlift
The Berlin Airlift was a time period in history in which these three allies were forced by the Soviet Union to feed the city of Berlin by flying in all food and supplies to help Berliners survive. It is considered one of the most remarkable aviation feats of all time, considering that a plane full of food had to touch down every three minutes just to keep up with the food needs of the city. -
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Korean war
World War II divided Korea into a Communist, northern half and an American-occupied southern half, divided at the 38th parallel. The Korean War (1950-1953) began when the North Korean Communist army crossed the 38th Parallel and invaded non-Communist South Korea. -
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Korean war
On June 25, 1950, the Korean War began when some 75,000 soldiers from the North Korean People’s Army poured across the 38th parallel, the boundary between the Soviet-backed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the north and the pro-Western Republic of Korea to the south. -
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Start of Vietnam war
The North Vietnamese government and the Viet Cong were fighting to reunify Vietnam. They viewed the conflict as a colonial war and a continuation of the First Indochina War against forces from France and later on the United States. Beginning in 1950, American military advisors arrived in what was then French Indochina. -
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End of vietnam war
After extensive negotiations and the bombing of North Vietnam in December 1972, the Paris Peace Accords were signed in January 1973. Under the provisions of the Accords, U.S. forces were completely withdrawn. Unfortunately, this did not end the war for the Vietnamese and the fighting continued until April 1975 when Saigon fell to the communists. -
Election of Eisenhower
The popular incumbent President, Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower, successfully ran for re-election. The election was a re-match of 1952, as Eisenhower's opponent in 1956 was Adlai Stevenson, a former Illinois governor whom Eisenhower had defeated four years earlier. -
Election of Kennedy
The United States presidential election of 1960 was the 44th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 1960. In a closely contested election, Democrat John F. Kennedy defeated incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon, the Republican Party nominee. -
Berlin wall
On August 13, 1961, the Communist government of the German Democratic Republic began to build a barbed wire and concrete “Antifascistischer Schutzwall,” or “antifascist bulwark,” between East and West Berlin. The official purpose of this Berlin Wall was to keep Western “fascists” from entering East Germany and undermining the socialist state, but it primarily served the objective of stemming mass defections from East to West. -
Fall of Berlin war
On November 9, 1989, as the Cold War began to thaw across Eastern Europe, 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. East and West Berliners flocked to the wall, drinking beer and champagne and chanting “Tor auf!” (“Open the gate!”). At midnight, they flooded through the checkpoints.
