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Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade was an attempt in 1948 by the Soviet Union to limit the ability of France, Great Britain, and the United States to travel to their sectors of Berlin, which lay within Russian-occupied East Germany. -
NATO forms
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an intergovernmental military alliance between several North American and European countries based on the North Atlantic Treaty -
China goes Red
Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong declared the creation of the People’s Republic of China. It was the culmination of the Chinese Communist Party's drive to power after its founding in 1921 -
Korean War Begins
North Korea invades South Korea with a series of clashes along the border. -
U.S First Hydrogen Bomb Test
It was tested by the United States on the island of Elugelab in Enewetak Atoll. -
Nikita Khrushchev Replaces Stalin
Stalin's death in 1953 caused a power struggle, from which Khrushchev ultimately emerged as leader. -
Dwight Eisenhower is Elected
Eisenhower was an American army general and statesman who served as the 34th President of the United States from 1953 to 1961. -
President Kennedy is Elected
JFK was an American politician and the 35th President of the United States from January 1961 until his assassination. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion Fails
A group of about 1,500 Cuban exiles trained by the CIA launched an ill-fated invasion of Cuba from the sea in the Bay of Pigs. The goal was to overthrow Fidel Castro and his revolution. -
Berlin Wall is Constructed
East German soldiers laid down over 30 miles of barbed wire barrier through Berlin. East Berlin citizens were forbidden to pass into West Berlin, and the number of checkpoints in which Westerners could cross the border was drastically reduced. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
President John Kennedy told American citizens about the presence of the missiles, he explained his decision to enact a naval blockade around Cuba and made it clear the U.S. was prepared to use military force. -
JFK assassination
As the car Kennedy was in was passing the Texas School Book Depository, gunfire went off. Struck Kennedy in the head and neck, he was rushed to the hospital where Kennedy was pronounced dead at 1:00 pm. -
The Beatles Arrive in the USA
The Beatles made their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. It was difficult to hear the performance over the screams of teenage girls in the studio audience. About 73 million U.S. television viewers, or about 40 percent of the U.S. population, tuned in to watch. -
China Explodes Atomic Bomb
The Soviet Union agreed to help China technologically in developing the nuclear industry. But, in June of 1959, the USSR refused to provide relevant information as promised. However, in 1964 China successfully exploded its first atomic bomb and finally developed their own nuclear technology. -
Thurgood Marshall nominated into the Supreme Court
Lyndon Johnson appoints U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Thurgood Marshall to fill the seat of retiring Supreme Court Associate Justice Tom C. Clark. The Senate confirmed Marshall’s nomination by a vote of 69 to 11. He was sworn in by Chief Justice Earl Warren, making Marshall the first African American in history to sit on America’s highest court. -
First NFL Football Super Bowl
The Green Bay Packers vs. the Kansas City Chiefs. Packers win 35-10. -
Tet Offensive
A coordinated series of North Vietnamese attacks on more than 100 cities and outposts in South Vietnam. -
Robert Kennedy Assassination
Sirhan Sirhan fired at Kennedy, the 42-year-old presidential candidate was wounded shortly after midnight at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. -
American Astronaut Moon Landing
Neil Armstrong was the first man on the moon. With more than half a billion people watching on television, he climbs down the ladder and proclaims: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." -
Woodstock
A music festival in the U.S. which attracted an audience of more than 400,000 people. Scheduled for August 15–17 on a dairy farm in the Catskill Mountains of southern New York State -
Watergate Burglaries
There were 5 burglars arrested at the Watergate offices of the Democratic National Committee. Virgilio Gonzalez, Bernard Barker, James McCord, Eugenio Martínez, and Frank Sturgis -
Paris Peace Accords End the Vietnam War
The Paris Peace Accords officially titled the agreement on ending the War and restoring peace in Vietnam. -
President Nixon Resignation
The Watergate scandal escalated, costing Nixon much of his political support. He resigned before he was almost impeached. -
Iranian Hostage Crisis
A diplomatic standoff between Iran and the United States. Fifty-two American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for 444 days -
President Reagan got Shot
President Ronald Reagan and three others were shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr. in Washington, D.C. -
Gorbachev Assumes Control in the Soviet Union
won the presidency, but his domestic critics were pillorying him for the nation's terrible economic performance and faltering control over the Soviet empire. -
Chernobyl Diaster
The Chernobyl accident 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
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. -
Dissolution of the Soviet Union
Granting self-governing independence to the Republics of the Soviet Union.
