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United Nations Formed
Franklin D. Roosevelt met with Soviet Primer Joseph Stalin in order to create an international organization compromising an assembly of countries in order to discuss social and economic issues. 51 countries were committed to maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations, and promoting social progress. -
Truman Doctrine
President Harry Truman established that the United States would provide political, military, and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces. -
Hollywood 10
A group of 10 film industry members refused to testify to an anti-communist committee hearing during the Second Red Scare era. They refused to answer questions posed by HIUAC as to whether they were or had ever been members of the Communist party. -
Marshall Plan
Proposed that the United States provide economic assistance to restore the economic infrastructure of postwar Europe. It was mainly intended to rebuild the economies and spirits of western Europe. -
NATO Formed
NATO ensures that the security of its European member countries is inseparably linked to that of its North American member countries. -
Korean War
North Korea invaded South Korea in an attempt to unify the Koreas under the communist North Korean regime. -
Space Race/Sputnik
A competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to achieve the first moon landing of a human. The two countries wanted to develop aerospace capabilities, including artificial satellites, unmanned space probes, and human spaceflight. -
US Official enters Vietnam War
The US entered the Vietnam War because the US was afraid that communism would spread to South Vietnam and then the rest of Asia. The US sent money, supplies, and military advisers to help the South Vietnamese government. -
Bay of Pigs
The Bay of Pigs Invasion was a failed military landing operation on the southwestern coast of Cuba in 1961 by Cuban exiles, covertly financed and directed by the United States. It was aimed at overthrowing Fidel Castro's communist government. -
Berlin Wall Goes Up
A wall separating Eastern and Western Germany. The wall was built in order to keep Western "fascists" from entering East Germany and undermining the socialist state. -
Soviets Invade Afghanistan
The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to try to prop up the communist government and spread communist ideas. At the time the communist government was being attacked by Muslim Mujahideen Fighters so the Soviet Union was trying to stop them. It marked the end of any further negotiations between the superpowers. -
Berlin Wall Goes Down
The Berlin Wall was brought down by political reforms inside the Soviet Bloc, escalating pressure from the people of eastern Europe and ultimately, confusion over an East German directive to open the border. That night the head of the East German Communist Party announced that citizens of the GDR could cross the border whenever they pleased.