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WWII Begins
"World War II, also called Second World War, conflict that involved virtually every part of the world during the years 1939–45."
-Britannica.com Staff -
End of WWII
"It resulted in the extension of the Soviet Union’s power to nations of eastern Europe, enabled a communist movement to eventually achieve power in China, and marked the decisive shift of power in the world away from the states of western Europe and toward the United States and the Soviet Union."
-Briticanna.com Staff -
Start of Cold War
The Cold War was a multi century "war" that consisted of spying, arms race, and a space race. -
Bay of Pigs Invasion
"On April 15, 1961, a group of Cuban exiles took off from Nicaragua in a squadron of American B-26 bombers, painted to look like stolen Cuban planes, and conducted a strike against Cuban airfields...Almost immediately, the invasion was a disaster."
-History.com Staff -
Beginning of Cuban Missile Crisis
A U.S. U-2 plane photographed the missiles in Cuba and brought them back to President Kennedy. From there Kennedy and ExComm had a life changing decision to make. -
Kennedy Enables a Quarantine
"President Kennedy returns suddenly to Washington and after five hours of discussion with top advisers decides on the quarantine."
-JFK Library Staff -
Kennedy Sends a Letter to Khrushchev
"..I publicly stated that if certain developments in Cuba took place, the United States would do whatever must be done to protect its own security and that of its allies."
-John F. Kennedy(letter to Khrushchev) -
Khrushchev Responds to Kennedy's "Threatening" Letter
"You, Mr. President, are not declaring a quarantine, but rather are setting forth an ultimatum and threatening that if we do not give in to your demands you will use force...You are no longer appealing to reason, but wish to intimidate us."
-Nikita Khrushchev(letter to Kennedy) -
Kennedy Receives a Letter from Khrushchev Presenting a Compromise
"Therefore, if there is no intention of tightening this knot, thereby dooming the world to the catastrophe of thermonuclear war, let us not only relax the forces straining on the ends of the rope, let us take measures for untying this knot."
-Nikita Khrushchev (letter to Kennedy) -
Khrushchev Sends Another Letter to Kennedy
"I therefore make this proposal: We are willing to carry this out and to take make pledge in the United Nations. Your representative will make a declaration to the effect that the United States, for its part, considering the uneasiness and anxiety of the Soviet State, will remove its analogous means from Turkey."
-Nikita Khrushchev(letter to Kennedy) -
End of the Cuban Missile Crisis
"It is my earnest hope that the governments of the world can, with a solution of the Cuban crisis, turn their urgent attention to the compelling necessity for ending the arm's race and reducing world tension."
-Kennedy's speech to the people of America(marks the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis -
End of the Cold War
"On December 25, 1991, U.S. president George Bush (1924–; served 1989–1993) proclaimed the end of the Cold War, calling the occasion a "victory for democracy and freedom."
-Encyclopedia.com Editors
