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The Yalta Conference occurs, deciding the post-war status of Germany. The Allies of World War II (the USA, the USSR, Great Britain and France) divide Germany into four occupation zones. The Allied nations agree that free elections are to be held in all countries occupied by Nazi Germany. In addition, the new United Nations are to replace the failed League of Nations.
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US President Franklin D. Roosevelt suffers a stroke and dies while on vacation in Warm Springs, GA.
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The Japanese surrender unconditionally to the US on board the USS Missouri to representative General Douglas MacArthur.
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The United Nations passes a resolution calling for the withdrawal of foreign soldiers from Korea, free elections in each of the two administrations, and the creation of a UN commission dedicated to the unification of the peninsula.
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Truman signs the Marshall Plan into effect. By the end of the programs, the United States has given $12.4bln in economic assistance to European countries.
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The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb. The test, known to Americans as Joe 1, succeeds, as the Soviet Union becomes the world's second nuclear power.
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President Harry S. Truman signs the Mutual Security Act, announcing to the world, and its communist powers in particular, that the U.S. was prepared to provide military aid to "free peoples."
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The Marshall Plan ends, with European industrial output now well above that of 1938.
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Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes President of the United States.
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The United States launches the world's first nuclear submarine, USS Nautilus. The nuclear submarine would become the ultimate nuclear deterrent.
