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End of WWII to the 1970s
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Baby Boom
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Truman Doctrine
Truman Articlean international relations policy set forth by the U.S. President Harry Truman in a speech, which stated that the U.S. would support Greece and Turkey with economic and military aid to prevent them from falling into the Soviet sphere. Historians often consider it as the start of the Cold War, and the start of the containment policy to stop Soviet expansion. -
Marshall Plan
Marshal Plan ArticleThis was the American initiative to aid Europe, in which the US gave economic support to help rebuild European economies after the end of World War II in order to prevent the spread of Soviet Communism. The plan was in operation for four years. The goals of the US were to rebuild war-devastated regions, remove trade barriers, and modernize industry. -
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Berlin Blockade
Berlin BlockadeT
he Berlin Blockade was on of the first major problems of the cold war. In Post WWII Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western allies access to the sectors of Berlin under allied control. -
NATO
The history of NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization constitutes a system of collective defence where its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. NATO's headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium, one of the 28 member states across North America and Europe, the newest of which, Albania and Croatia, joined in April 2009. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the world's defence spending. -
U.S. President Truman orders the construction of the hydrgogen bomb
Hydrogen Bomb VideoDue to a fear of a nuclear attack from the Soviet Union, U.S. President Turman directs The Atomic Agency Commission "To continue with its work on all forms of atomic energy weapons, including the hydrogen/super bomb." -
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Korean War
overview of the Korean warAlso knows as the Korean conflict. It was a war between North Korea (aided by China) and South Korea (aided by the United States). -
Truman signs peace treaty with Japan
News paper article The signing of this treaty officially ended the conflict with japan. On this same day Truman made and opening speech before a confrenece in San Fransisco.This speech was the first speach to ever be broadcasted coast to coast "via state of the art microwave technology". -
US Tests first hydrogen bomb
New York Times
The United States tests the world's first thermonuclear weapon, the hydrogen bomb, on Eniwetok atoll in the Pacific. The test gave the US a short-lived advantage in the nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union exploded a thermonuclear device the following year and by the late 1970s, seven nations had constructed hydrogen bombs. The nuclear arms race had taken a fearful step forward. -
Eisenhower Elected President
IKE for presidentThe US presidential election of 1952 was the 42nd quadrennial presidential election. Republican Dwight Eisenhower was the winner, ending a string of Democratic wins that stretched back to 1932. During this time, Cold War tension between the US and the Soviet Union was at a high level. Foreign policy was a main issue in the race for the Republican nomination. -
First atomic sub launched
Atomic SubThe Uss Nautiluss was the worlds first nuclear powered submarine, and also the first to complete a treck to the north pole (August 3 1958). Nuclear submarines play a significant role in WWII. The Nautilus was authorized in 1951 then launched in 1954 because of the fact that the Nuclear Propulsion aloud it to remain submerged for far longer that other diesel submarines. -
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Civil Rights Movement
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Brown vs. Board of Education
New York Timesthe United States Supreme Court handed down its ruling in the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. The Court’s decision overturned provisions of the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision, which had allowed for “separate but equal” public facilities. Declaring that “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal,” the Brown v. Board decision helped break state-sponsored segregation, and provided a spark to the American civil rights movement. -
Warsaw Pact Signed
Warsaw PactThe warsaw pact was signed and named after the signing of the document in warsaw. This treaty (also known as the Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation, and Mutual Assistance) was a mutual treaty among eight communist states during the cold war. The Warsaw pact was the "militart compiment to the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance". -
Rosa Parks
Biography
In Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to obey bus driver James F. Blake's order that she give up her seat in the colored section to a white passenger, after the white section was filled. Parks was not the first person to resist bus segregation. Others had taken similar steps, including Irene Morgan in 1946, Sarah Louise Keys in 1955, and the members of the Browder v. Gayle lawsuit were arressted months before Parks. -
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Vietnam War
daughter views videos of her Vietnam Veteran father
The Vietnam war was the longest war in american history, and also the most unpopular war of the 20th century. There were more that 47,000 U.S. casualties. The war actually ends in 1975. -
Launch of Sputnik
Launch of Sputnik video
History changed when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a beach ball, weighed 183.9 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path. This launch brought new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. While the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the space age. -
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Space Race
quick look into the space race
The space race was thre competition between the United States and the Soviet Union in the field of space exploration. Russia ended up being the frist to have someone one in space but the U.S. was the first to step foot on the moon. First space race "round" ended in 1960, but the entire space race actually ends in 1972. -
Fidel Castro comes to power in Cuba
All about Fidel Castro-mini bio video
Fidel Castro a Cuban communist revolutionary and politician who was Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976, and President from 1976 to 2008. He also served as the Commander in Chief of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces from 1959 to 2008, and as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from 1961 until 2011. -
Krushchev visits the U.S.
Nikita Khrushchev capped a 12-day visit to the US, the first by a Soviet leader. He met with President Dwight Eisenhower at Camp David. Khrushchev, who came to power after the death of Josef Stalin in 1953, denounced the “excesses” of Stalinism and said he sought “peaceful co-existence” with the United States. -
Greensboro sit-in
plan in place video4 students from the NC Agricultural and Technical State University sat down at the lunch counter inside the Woolworth store in Greensboro. The men, later known as the A&T Four, went to Woolworth's Store, bought toothpaste and other products from a desegregated counter at the store with no problems, and then were refused service from the segregated lunch counter, at the same store. -
Soviets launch first man into space
The Huntsville times
Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, making a 108-minute orbital flight in his Vostok 1 spacecraft. Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in space less than a month later. -
East Germans raise Berlin Wall
Watch video
Exit out of first pop up, then press play button. The communist government of East Germany begins building the Berlin Wall to divide East and West Berlin. Construction of the wall caused a short-term crisis in U.S.-Soviet elations, and the wall came to symbolize the Cold War. -
Escape from Alcatraz
Mystery revisited 50 years later
Alcatraz escape was a prison escape attempt by American criminals Clarence Anglin, John Anglin and Frank Morris to leave Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary on Alcatraz Island using an inflatable raft. The FBI's investigation was unable to determine whether the three men successfully escaped or died in the attempt. -
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Cuban Missle Crisis
Cuban Missile CrisisOne of the most heated moments of the cold war. All started when the Soviet Union moved missiles into Cuba and aimed them at the U.S. The United States found out and threatend to envade Cuba but no real conflict ever occured. -
"I Have A Dream"
I have a dream speech
A public speech delivered by American civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. in which he called for an end to racism in the US. Delivered to over 250,000 civil rights supporters from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington, the speech was a defining moment of the American Civil Rights Movement. -
JFK Assasination
Break down of Kennedy getting shot
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas. He was shot while traveling with his wife in a presidential car. Library and Museum -
Voting Rights Act
New York Times-voting history video
A landmark piece of federal legislation in the US that prohibits discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson during the height of the American Civil Rights Movement, and Congress later amended the Act five times to expand its protections. -
Mao Zedong launches Cultural Revolution
impact on China
This was a social-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China. Set into motion by Mao Zedong, its stated goal was to enforce communism in the country by removing capitalist, traditional and cultural elements from Chinese society, and to impose Maoist orthodoxy within the Party. The Revolution marked the return of Mao Zedong to a position of power after the failed Great Leap Forward. -
Tet Offensive
Tet offensive VideoOne of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War, launched by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army against the forces of South Vietnam, the United States, and their allies. It was a campaign of surprise attacks against military and civilian commands and control centers throughout South Vietnam. -
Martin Luther King assassination
New York TimesJust after 6 p.m. on April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot while standing on the balcony outside his room at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The civil rights leader was in Memphis to support a sanitation workers' strike and was on his way to dinner when the bullet struck him in the jaw and severed his spinal cord. King was pronounced dead after his arrival at a Memphis hospital. He was 39 years old. -
Richard Nixon wins presidency
Presidential Election WonThe United States presidential election of 1968 was the 46th quadrennial presidential election. The Republican nominee, former Vice-President Richard Nixon, won the election over the Democratic nominee, incumbent Vice-President Hubert Humphrey. Nixon ran on a campaign that promised to restore law and order to the nation's cities, torn by riots and crime. -
1st man on the moon
Nasa articleIn 1969 as part of the Apollo 11 mission, Neil Armstrong became the very first to accomplish the dream of walking on the moon, followed only minutes later by Buzz Aldrin. Their accomplishment placed the United States ahead of the Soviets in the Space Race and gave people around the world the hope of future space exploration.
