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US & 25 other countries sign a united declaration against the Axis
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American naval victory at Battle of Midway, in June, marks turning point in Pacific War.
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Allies invade France on D-Day.
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F. Roosevelt's fourth inauguration
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President Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin meet at Yalta in the USSR to discuss postwar occupation of Germany
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President Roosevelt dies of a stroke and is succeeded by his vice president, Harry Truman
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Germany surrenders unconditionally.
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First atomic bomb is detonated at Alamogordo, N.M.
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President Truman, Churchill, and Stalin meet at Potsdam, near Berlin, Germany, to demand Japan's unconditional surrender and to discuss plans for postwar Europe.
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U.S. drops atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan.
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Japan agrees to unconditional surrender.
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U.S. drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan.
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United Nations is established.
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Presidential Succession Act is signed into law by President Truman.
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Soviets begin blockade of Berlin in the first major crisis of the cold war.
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Truman's second inauguration.
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North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is established
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The Korean War begins its three year conflict when troops of North Korea, backed with Soviet weaponry, invade South Korea. This act leads to U.S. involvement when two days later, the United States Air Force and Navy are ordered by President Truman to the peninsula. On June 30, ground forces and air strikes are approved against North Korea.
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President Truman authorizes the seizure of United States steel mills in order to avert a strike, but his action is ruled illegal by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 2.
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General Dwight D. Eisenhower, a newcomer to politics, but popular due to his role in winning World War II as European commander, gains an easy victory over Democratic challenger Adlai E. Stevenson. The Electoral College vote was 442 to 89.
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The description of a double helix DNA molecule is published by British physicist Francis Crick and American scientist James D. Watson.
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Fighting ceases in the Korean War. The United Nations Command, including the United States, and the combatants North Korea and the Republic of China sign an armistice agreement.
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The Cold War continues in earnest when President Dwight D. Eisenhower approves a top secret document stating that the U.S. nuclear arsenal must be expanded to combat the communist threat around the world.