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The Presidency of Harry S. Truman
Truman's tenure as the 33rd president of the United States began on April 12, 1945, upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and ended on January 20, 1953. He had been vice president for only 82 days. A Democrat from Missouri, he ran for and won a full four–year term in the 1948 election. -
Vietnam Declares independence
japan ousted the French administration in Vietnam and executed numerous French officials. When Japan formally surrendered to the Allies on September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh felt emboldened enough to proclaim the independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam. -
The End of WWII
World War II ended when U.S. General Douglas MacArthur accepted Japan's formal surrender aboard the U.S. battleship Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay along with a flotilla of more than 250 Allied warships. -
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The Cold War
The Cold War was an ongoing political rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies that developed after World War II. This hostility between the two superpowers was first given its name by George Orwell in an article published in 1945. -
The Truman Doctrine was created
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. -
The Marshall Plan was created
President Truman signed the Economic Recovery Act of 1948. It became known as 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. -
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The Berlin Airlift
In response to the Soviet blockade of land routes into West Berlin, the United States begins a massive airlift of food, water, and medicine to the citizens of the besieged city. For nearly a year, supplies from American planes sustained the over 2 million people in West Berlin. -
NATO was created
The foundations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization were officially laid down with the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty, more popularly known as the Washington Treaty. The Washington Treaty – or North Atlantic Treaty – forms the basis of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization – or NATO. -
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The Korean War
After five years of simmering tensions on the Korean peninsula when the Northern Korean People's Army invaded South Korea in a coordinated general attack at several strategic points along the 38th parallel, the line dividing communist North Korea from the non-communist Republic of Korea in the south. -
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warren court
The Warren Court was notably liberal in its ideology, issuing some landmark decisions affecting civil rights, separation of church and state, and police arrest procedures. Notable cases from the Warren Court include Brown v. Board of Education, Gideon v. Wainwright, Reynolds v. -
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The Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower's tenure as the 34th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1953, and ended on January 20, 1961. Eisenhower, a Republican from Kansas, took office following a landslide victory over Democrat Dalai Stevenson in the 1952 presidential election. -
Brown V. Board of Education
the Supreme Court ruled that separating children in public schools on the basis of race was unconstitutional. It signaled the end of legalized racial segregation in the schools of the United States, overruling the "separate but equal" principle set forth in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case. -
The 1954 Geneva Accords signed
As part of the agreement, the French agreed to withdraw their troops from northern Vietnam. Vietnam would be temporarily divided at the 17th parallel, pending elections within two years to choose a president and reunite the country. -
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vietnam war
a long, costly and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of north Vietnam against south Vietnam and its principal ally, the united states. the conflict was intensified by the ongoing cold war between the united states and the soviet union. -
Rosa Parks refuses her seat
She refused on principle to surrender her seat because of her race, which was required by the law in Montgomery at the time. Parks was briefly jailed and paid a fine. But she was also a long-time member of the NAACP and highly respected in her community. -
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counterculture movement
an era of change in identity, family unit, sexuality, dress, and the arts. it was a time when youth rejected social norms and exhibited their disapproval of racial, ethnic, and political injustices through resistance, and for some subgroups, revolt. -
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Bay of pigs invasion
On April 17, the Cuban-exile invasion force, known as Brigade 2506, landed at beaches along the Bay of Pigs and immediately came under heavy fire. Cuban planes strafed the invaders, sank two escort ships, and destroyed half of the exile's air support. -
The building of the Berlin Wall
To halt the exodus to the West, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev recommended to East Germany that it close off access between East and West Berlin.The Berlin Wall was built by the German Democratic Republic during the Cold War to prevent its population from escaping Soviet-controlled East Berlin to West Berlin, which was controlled by the major Western Allies. -
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Cuban Missile Crisis
For thirteen days in October 1962 the world waited—seemingly on the brink of nuclear war—and hoped for a peaceful resolution to the Cuban Missile Crisis. In October 1962, an American U-2 spy plane secretly photographed nuclear missile sites being built by the Soviet Union on the island of Cuba. -
The Limited Test Ban Theory
the Limited Test Ban Treaty was signed by the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union. After Senate approval, the treaty that went into effect on October 10, 1963, banned nuclear weapons testing in the atmosphere, in outer space, and under water. -
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Johnson's Presidency
Lyndon B. Johnson's tenure as the 36th president of the United States began on November 22, 1963 following the assassination of President Kennedy and ended on January 20, 1969. He had been vice president for 1,036 days when he succeeded to the presidency. -
Civil Rights act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Provisions of this civil rights act forbade discrimination on the basis of sex, as well as, race in hiring, promoting, and firing. -
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, authorizing President Johnson to take any measures he believed were necessary to retaliate and to promote the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia. -
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Tet Offensive
North Vietnamese and communist Viet Cong forces launched a coordinated attack against a number of targets in South Vietnam. The U.S. and South Vietnamese militaries sustained heavy losses before finally repelling the communist assault. -
My Lai Massacre
A company of American soldiers brutally killed most of the people—women, children and old men—in the village of My Lai on March 16, 1968. More than 500 people were slaughtered in the My Lai massacre, including young girls and women who were raped and mutilated before being killed. -
Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr
Martin Luther King was shot dead while standing on a balcony outside his second-floor room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. News of King’s assassination prompted major outbreaks of racial violence, resulting in more than 40 deaths nationwide and extensive property damage in over 100 American cities -
Robert Kennedy assassination
Shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, Senator Robert Kennedy is shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after winning the California presidential primary. Immediately after he announced to his cheering supporters that the country was ready to end its fractious divisions, Kennedy was shot several times by 24-year-old Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan. He was pronounced dead a day later, on June 6, 1968. -
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Presidency of Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon's tenure as the 37th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1969, and ended when he resigned on August 9, 1974, in the face of almost certain impeachment and removal from office, the only U.S. president ever to do so. -
Stonewall riots
The Stonewall Riots ignited after a police raid took place at the Stonewall Inn. The tension from ongoing harassment galvanized the LGBTQ community to riot for six days. The protest through the streets of New York City is memorialized as the annual Gay Pride parades that are now celebrated around the world. -
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Stonewall Riots
The Stonewall Riots ignited after a police raid took place at the Stonewall Inn. The tension from ongoing harassment galvanized the LGBTQ community to riot for six days. The protest through the streets of New York City is memorialized as the annual Gay Pride parades that are now celebrated around the world. -
The First man on the Moon
Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin were the first of 12 human beings to walk on the Moon.Armstrong, who described his first steps on the lunar surface as a "giant leap for all mankind," died on Saturday (Aug. 25). He had undergone coronary bypass surgery on Aug. 7, two days after his 82nd birthday. -
Roe V. Wade
Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States generally protects a pregnant individual's liberty to have an abortion. -
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Presidency of Gerald Ford
As president, Ford signed the Helsinki Accords, which marked a move toward detente in the Cold War. With the collapse of South Vietnam nine months into his presidency, U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War essentially ended. -
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Jimmy Carter
Carter reoriented U.S. foreign policy towards an emphasis on human rights. He continued the conciliatory late Cold War policies of his predecessors, normalizing relations with China and pursuing further Strategic Arms Limitation Talks with the Soviet Union. -
Equal Rights Amendment
a proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would invalidate many state and federal laws that discriminate against women; its central underlying principle is that sex should not determine the legal rights of men or women. -
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Presidency of Ronald Reagan
In his first term, Reagan implemented "Reaganomics", which involved economic deregulation and cuts in both taxes and government spending during a period of stagflation. He escalated an arms race with the Soviet Union and transitioned Cold War policy from detente to rollback. -
The tearing down of the Berlin wall
The United States quickly condemned the wall, which divided families and limited freedom of movement. Shortly after the wall was erected, a standoff between U.S. and Soviet troops on either side of the diplomatic checkpoint led to one of the tensest moments of the Cold War in Europe. -
Americans with Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in several areas, including employment, transportation, public accommodations, communications and access to state and local government' programs and services. -
The Soviet Union disbanded
The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the process of internal disintegration within the Soviet Union (USSR) which resulted in the end of the country's and its federal government's existence as a sovereign state, thereby resulting in its constituent republics gaining full independence.