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Communist Bloc
Also known as the Eastern Bloc, the Communist Bloc was a group of countries that were aligned militarily, politically, economically, and culturally with the Soviet Union. The group consisted of Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Yugoslavia. -
The Truman Doctrine
The 33rd U.S. President, Harry Truman, kickstarted the Cold War by declaring that the U.S. must counter the growth of the Soviet Union, and therefore communism, into free, independent nations. -
The Hydrogen Bomb
The creation and testing of the Hydrogen Bomb, or H-Bomb, was done by the U.S. only to be followed by the Soviet Union, then the UK, etc. It was made due to repeated military and political provocations by the Soviet Union with the purpose of countering any potential attacks done by the nation. -
The Death of Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union, perished after years of dictatorial rule. This allowed for Malenkov and then Khrushchev to take his place as Prime Minister. -
Brown v. Board of Education
Occurring during President Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidential term, the Brown v. Board of Education case allowed for the Supreme Court to rule that racial segregation in public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. This overruled the existence of segregated schools. -
Rosa Park's Arrest
Rosa Park's arrest after refusing to give up her seat in the back of a city bus in Alabama to a white man led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a 381-day mass protest. This then followed with legislation declaring segregated public transport as unconstitutional. -
The Polio Vaccine
The creation of the first polio vaccine allowed for the prevention of the virus poliomyelitis. It was incredibly infectious and could cause paralysis. -
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The Hungarian Revolution
Also known as the Hungarian Uprising, the Hungarian Revolution was a nationwide revolution against the then-government of the Hungarian People's Republic and the policies set in place by the influence of the Soviet Union. It took placee mostly in Hungary's capital of Budapest. -
Dwight D. Eisenhower: Civil Rights Act of 1957
The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was proposed to Congress by U.S. President Eisenhower and was the first civil rights legislation since Reconstruction. The Act was passed and authorized the prosecution for those who violated the right to vote for United States citizens. One could not prevent citizens of all groups (sex, race, ethnicity, etc.) from voting. -
Little Rock Nine
9 black students entering Little Rock Central High School to desegregate it. -
Sputnik
Russia successfully launched the first artificial satellite in to outer space -
Nikita Khrushchev's Policy
Nikita Khrushchev became the Soviet premier following Malenkov. He practiced de-Stalinization and maintained peaceful relations with Western nations during his term. -
Payola
Revealed by a 1959 federal investigation, the “payola” scandal saw radio deejays taking bribes to promote certain songs and records. -
Space Monkey
Rhesus Monkey and a squirrel monkey were blasted into space and survived the journey back home -
U-2 Spy Planes
Billy Joel wasn’t talking about the band. In 1960 an American U-2 reconnaissance plane was shot down over the Soviet Union, with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev calling the flight an “aggressive act” by the U.S. When the U.S. claimed that the flight hadn’t been authorized—even though its pilot, Francis Gary Powers, admitted to working for the CIA—the incident caused the collapse of a Parisian summit conference between the U.S., the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France. -
Belgians In The Congo
In 1960 the Democratic Republic of the Congo gained independence from Belgium, the country which, under Leopold II, was responsible for widespread atrocities there beginning in the 1880s. -
The Bay of Pigs Invasion
The CIA had planned an invasion of Cuba since 1960, shortly after Fidel Castro came to power and transformed Cuba into a communist state. They executed the plan in 1961, when three U.S. airplanes piloted by Cubans bombed Cuban air bases and, two days later, landed at several sites. But the small force of the Bay of Pigs invasion which contained nothing close to the strength of Castro’s troops. The CIA-directed agents were captured, and the invasion failed. -
Hemmingway
With novels such as The Sun Also Rises (1926) and A Farewell to Arms (1929), Ernest Hemingway became a major voice of the Lost Generation, a group of American writers disillusioned with life after World War I. He committed suicide in 1961. -
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The Berlin Wall
From 1961 to 1989 the Berlin Wall separated West Berlin, a democratic state allied with the West, from East Berlin, a communist state aligned with the Soviet Union. -
John Glenn
In 1962 John Glenn became the first American astronaut to orbit Earth, completing three orbits. (The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had completed a single orbit in 1961, making him the first person in space). -
Lawrence of Arabia
Released in 1962, the historical epic Lawrence of Arabia became an almost-instant classic and made its relatively unknown lead actor Peter O’Toole into a major star. -
Eichman
In 1962 German Nazi official Adolf Eichmann was executed by the State of Israel for his extensive role in the Holocaust, which included organizing the transport of Jewish residents of Nazi-occupied states to death camps. -
Birth Control
Griswold v. State of Connecticut (1965) saw the U.S. Supreme Court rule in favor of married persons’ constitutional right to use birth control, striking down laws that made it a crime to use or recommend contraception in many U.S. states. -
Malcolm X
The revolutionary civil rights leader Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965 while delivering a lecture in Harlem, New York. -
Ho Chi Minh
Ho Chi Minh, who was president of North Vietnam from 1945 to 1969, waged the longest—and most costly—battle against the colonial system of all 20th-century revolutionaries. His death in 1969 damaged chances for an early settlement of tensions between Vietnam and the United States. -
Russians in Afghanistan
In 1979 Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan, intervening in support of the Afghan communist government in its conflict with anti-communist Muslim guerrillas. The Soviets remained there for nearly a decade. -
The Crack Epidemic
A significant increase in the use of crack cocaine, an affordable, highly addictive, and smokable form of cocaine. As Reagan intensified the U.S. government’s “War on Drugs,” defendants in federal crack cocaine cases were penalized more harshly than defendants in cases involving other drugs. “Mandatory minimum” prison sentences for drug offenses meant that possession of 5g of crack gave an automatic 5 year sentence while it took possession of 500g of coke to give the same sentence. -
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Reagan Presidency
In this time, Reagan would implement economic policies that would cripple the american people in the future and would create blatantly racist policies while covering it up as a "war on drugs." -
The AIDS Epidemic
The CDC published a report describing disease affecting five gay men in LA. in the next year, they discovered to affect not only gay men but also drug users and women with male partners, became known as acquired AIDS. Though the epidemic first spread during the Reagan administration, homophobic characterization of AIDS as a “gay plague” meant that Reagan himself kept quiet about it for years. He refused to say the word “AIDS” in public until 1985, when the epidemic had already killed thousands. -
China's Under Martial Law
Following weeks of student-led protests in Tiananmen Square and elsewhere in China demanding democratic reforms, martial law was declared in Beijing. When Chinese troops attempted to reach the square, they were initially thwarted by thousands of Beijing citizens blocking their way to protect the protesters. The military eventually broke through, however, and hundreds were killed and thousands wounded.