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U.S. History
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Cold War Begins
Following World War 2, the United States and Soviet Union entered an era of high tension known as the Cold War. The roots of The Cold War reached back many years, As far back the 1920s and 1930s, the United States had viewed the Soviet Union as a potential enemy. Americans were hostile to the ideas of communism and had at times feared its spread to the United States. President Roosevelt met with Allied leaders at the Yalta CDonference to discuss postwar issues. -
Iron Curtain Speech
in 1946 former british prime minister winston churchill traveled to the united states. On March 5 he delivered a speech in Fulton, Missouri, in which he sharply attacked the Soviet Union for creating what he called an Iron Curtain. the term reflected churchill's belief that communism had created a sharp division in Europe. -
Berlin Blockade
Soviets were not pleased by the idea of a western style government and economy in the middle of the soviet zone of occupation. On June 1948 they decided to take drastic action. the soviets announced that they would block any road, rail or river traffic into West Berlin. Suddenly, West Berlin's 2.1 million residents had been cut off from sources of food, coal and other basic necessities. within days of the Soviet Blockade american airplanes began making deliveries to the people of west berlin. -
The Start of The Korean War
More than 100,000 North korean troops crossed the 38th parallel and invaded South Korea. Kim Sung had ordered the invasion, hoping to reunify all of Korea under his rule. American soilders had entered the battle in South Korea. Unfortunately, North Korean troops greatly outnumbered and outgunned South Korea's defenders. -
First Computer on Market
The U.S. Census Bureau dedicates UNIVAC, the world's first commercially produced electronic digital computer. UNIVAC, which stood for Universal Automatic Computer, was developed by J. Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, makers of ENIAC, the first general-purpose electronic digital computer. These giant computers, which used thousands of vacuum tubes for computation, were the forerunners of today's digital computers. -
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin died on the 5th of March 1953 after a few agonising days spent on his deathbed. He was believed to have suffered a stroke on the 1st of March before finally succumbing to a brain haemorrhage five days later. -
Television Changes American Life
Scientists had been working on it at least since the 1920s. By the end of World War 2, televison was ready for home use postwar consumers, eager to spend after years of wartime acrafic, purchased the new devices. Between 1945 and 1950, some 5 million TV sets appeared in american homes. -
The Civil Rights Movement
this fight had its start with the opposition to slavery in colonial days. It continued in the 1800s with the abolition movement and the civil war. slavery ended after the civil war, and formerly enslaved people enjoyed some rights for a time during reconstruction. -
Boycott Begins in Montgomery, Alabama
this boycott begun when a NAACP member named, Rosa Parks borarded a montgomery bus after a day of work. she sat in the section reserved for african americans. The white section soon filled, however. Parks was ordered to give up her seat and make her row available to white riders. she refused and was arrested. Some 90% african americans stayed off the bus that exact day, which came to be known as the Montgomery bus boycott. -
Sit-ins and Freedom Rides
in addition to boycotts, such as the one in montgomery, civil rights workers used other nonviolent response from their opponents. On February 1, 1960, four college students in Greensboro, North Carolina, began a sit-in of their own after ordering coffee at a lunch counter in a woolworth's store, denied service because of their race and later were arrested. These tactics frequently provoked a violent response from their opponents. -
John F. Kennedy Assassination
On November 22, President Kennedy rode in an open car of a motorcade through the city of Dallas to the site where he was to deliver a speech. With the First Lady by his side, the president waved to the cheering crowds that lined his route. then shots rang out from the sixth floor of a schoolbook depository building as the motorcade passed by. he slumped over fatally wounded. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
Kennedy believed that moving slowly was the best way to make progress for the Civil Rights Act. Events in Alabama, however, changed his mind. Kennedy announced that he would ask for sweeping legislation in public accomodations- hotels, restaurants, theaters and other places that serve the public. eventually it banned discrimination in employment and in public accommodations. -
Assasination of King
King led a march to city hall on March 28 and then remained in memphis to speak at a rally on April 3. The next day James Earl Ray, a white snipper with a hig-powered rifle, shot and killed King as he stood on the balcony of his motel. within hours, rioting erupted in more than 120 cities as enraged African Americans across the nation responded to the assasination. -
First Educational Program
Sesame Street airs for the first time, breaking new ground in children's educational programming.
