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Formation of the United Nations
Four months after the San Francisco Conference ended, the United Nations came into existence after its Charter had been ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and by a majority of other signatories -
Truman Doctrine
President Harry S. Truman presented this address before a joint session of Congress. His message, known as the Truman Doctrine, asked Congress for $400 million in military and economic assistance for Turkey and Greece. It was a plan to help rebuild western europe while also stopping the expansion of communism. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan, named for Secretary of State George Marshall, who in 1947 proposed that the United States provide economic assistance to restore the economic infrastructure of postwar Europe. -
NATO Formed
The North Atlantic Alliance was founded in the aftermath of the Second World War. Its purpose was to secure peace in Europe, to promote cooperation among its members and to guard their freedom – all of this in the context of countering the threat posed at the time by the Soviet Union. -
Hollywood 10
The Hollywood Ten was a group of 10 film industry members that refused to testify to an anti-communist committee hearing during the Second Red Scare era. The Second Red Scare was a time period marked by the fear of a communist takeover during the initial phases of the Cold War Era. -
Korean War
The Korean War was fought between North Korea and South Korea from 1950 to 1953. The war began on 25 June 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea following clashes along the border and rebellions in South Korea. -
U.S. official enters Vietnam War
President Eisenhower deploys the Military Assistance Advisory Group to train the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. This marks the official beginning of American involvement in the war as recognized by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. -
Space Race/Sputnik
The Space Race was a 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between the two nations following World War II. This lasted from August 2 1955- july 17 1975 -
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. This lasted from april 17th-20th. -
Building of the Berlin Wall
To halt the exodus to the West, Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev recommended to East Germany that it close off access between East and West Berlin. Soon after East German soldiers laid down more than 30 miles of barbed wire barrier through the heart of Berlin. -
Soviets invade Afghanistan
The war began after the Soviets, under the command of Leonid Brezhnev, had militarily intervened in, or launched an invasion of, Afghanistan to support the local pro-Soviet government that had been installed during Operation Storm-333. -
Destruction 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. Starting at midnight that day, he said, citizens of the GDR were free to cross the country's borders.