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Post War Timeline
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The Yalta Conference
The Allied Powers met in Russia with Stalin to get their help in the Pacific. In exchange for Russia's help against Japan, Stalin would get influence over some land that Japan would surrender. They also decided not to include France in postwar governing of Germany. -
The Potsdam Conference
Stalin, Churchill/Attlee, and Truman met in Germany to negotiate the terms of the end of WWII. Truman wanted to keep the Treaty of Versailles from happening again. They decided to completely disarm Germany, it would be ran by the Allied Powers, borders were reestablished, and Nazi's were put on trial. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan restarted industrialization in Europe and brought extensive investments. Stalin worried that the US would gain economic domination. They decided that the Marshall Plan was solely applied to Western Europe. -
Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade was one of the first international crises of the Cold War. The Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railroad, roads, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Allied Power control. -
Berlin Airlift
In response to the Berlin Blockade, the Allied Powers organized an airlift to carry supplies to people in West Berlin. -
Executive Order 9981: Desegregation of the Armed Forces
President Harry Truman signed this executive order that established the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportunity in the Armed Services. This committed the government to integrating the military. -
Soviet Union Atomic Bomb Test
The Soviet Union used it's first atomic bomb. The US didn't expect them to have that nuclear knowledge so soon. President Truman called for the US to build up it's arms in order to halt the spread of Soviet Union influence. -
Communist Revolution in China
Mao Zedong announced the founding of the People's Republic of China. This revolution gave the Chinese Communist Party power to rise up since it was founded in 1921. -
Korean War
North Korea invaded South Korea killing and taking control of their people. By July, America aided South Korea in fighting back. Finally, July 1953, the war came to an end. North and South Korea remain divided today. -
Dwight D. Eisenhower Administration
Dwight D. Eisenhower served two terms starting in 1953 and ended in 1961. He worked to ease the Cold War and obtained a truce in Korea. -
Eisenhower sends troops to Vietnam
In February, Eisenhower said they weren't going to send troops into Vietnam, but in April they revisited the problem and decided to send troops. He authorized military aid to the French, and then he aided Ngo Dinh Diem. -
McCarthy Hearings Begin
McCarthy began calling anyone that disagreed with him a communist starting in 1950. By 1954, he started saying that the US government was too soft on communism. He basically just verbally attacked everyone during the trial of his charges against the army. The Senate voted to censure McCarthy. -
Brown v. Board of Education ruling was handed down
The court's decision overturned the decision from Plessy v. Ferguson "separate but equal". This decision declared that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal". -
Emmett Till Murder
Emmett reportedly flirted with a white woman, and two days later he was kidnapped by two white men. They viciously beat him and shot him in the head. The men were tried for murder, in front of an all-white jury, and were acquitted. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
African Americans refused to ride the bus in Montgomery, Alabama to protest segregated seating. The first large-scale demonstration against segregation. -
Federal Interstate Highway Act
This act created 41,000 miles of "National System of Interstate Defense Highways". This 1956 law decided that this was "essential to the national interest". -
Little Rock Central High School Crisis
Three years after Brown v. Board of Education, nine students were sent to Little Rock Central High School in order to desegregate schools. The governor sent the National Guard to keep the black students from entering the school. -
Sputnik I is launched
This was the world's first artificial satelitte, and it was about the size of a beach ball. After Sputnik I was launched, it started the space race between the US and the USSR. -
JFK elected President
JFK became the youngest president ever, and he was also the first Catholic president. He narrowly defeated Nixon due to televised debates. This was the first time that presidential debates were televised.
