-
Truman Doctrine
On this date, President Truman delivered a speech that was the Truman Doctrine, which provided aid to Greece and Turkey to help them not convert to communism. Both countries had civil wars, which the U.S. thought was over communism. -
The Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was a program made by the secretary of state, George C. Marshall, which offered American financial aid for European economic recovery. -
Berlin Airlift
Due to the Berlin Wall surrounding East Berlin, and all the roads into the city were blocked, the U.S. wanted to help without harming anything/anyone and they did this by dropping food, water, coal and other necessities from the Berlin Airlift for 11 months. -
Creation of NATO
NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was formed to create an alliance to protect nations from Soviet aggression. "An attack on one is an attack on all." -
Korean War
Communist North Korea invades South Korea in attempt to rule all of Korea. In order to stop the expansion of communism, the US joined South Korea in the war. An armistice was signed between North and South Korea to end the war, but they were still divided. -
Rosenberg Spy Case
On June 19, 1953, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were executed for allegedly passing American military information to the Soviet Union, and persuading others into telling them top-secret information concerning nuclear weapons. -
Creation of the Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was an organization in reaction to the creation fo NATO. It was formed by the Soviet Union and seven other countries under its rule. It essentially worked the same way as NATO, only for the USSR and their allies. -
Vietnam War
Like the Korean War, North Vietnam was communist, and South Vietnam wasn't. North Vietnam wanted all of Korea to united under communism, while South Vietnam didn't. In a successful effort to end the war, the U.S. aided South Vietnam with troops, weapons and money, which led to the end of the war two years later. -
Sputnik
The USSR launched a sattellite called Sputnik on October 4, 1957, setting the Americans back in the space race against the USSR. The U.S. didn't want their citizens to turn to the Soviet Union's communist ways, so they congress passed the National Defense Education Act, which later became NASA. -
Bay of Pigs
An invasion planned by the US in attempt to overthrow Castro in Cuba. Invasion failed, and Castro continued to gain Soviet aid. -
Berlin Wall Is Built
Ended the Berlin Crisis, but officially divided West and East Berlin. East communist Berlin built the wall to reduce the amount of refugees from East Berlin. -
Cuban Missle Crisis
Rumors and pictures showed that the USSR were building nuclear missle bases on Cuba, and some had missles ready to launch at the US. Tension went on for about a week before Khrushchev offered to remove the missles if the US promised not to invade Cuba. -
First Man on the Moon
American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin went into space in the Apollo 11 Lunar Lander and became the first people on the moon, placing the US in first in the space race again. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
The wall surrounding East Berlin finally came down. This caused a great reunion between not just families, but everyone in East and West Berlin, and Germany alltogether. Germany was not separated anymore, and the wall wall destroyed. -
Fall of the USSR
On this date, the Soviet Union collapsed and formed 15 separate countries. The U.S. viewed this as their victory to the end of the Cold War, and the world viewed capitalism as better than communism and democracy better than totalitarianism. Also, it made America seem more powerful and technologically more advanced than others
