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Joseph Stalin in office
USSR
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Chinese Civil War
War between communist Mao Zse Tong and nationalist Chaing-Kai Shek. The communists took over and forced the nationalists to retreat to Taiwan
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Yalta Conference
Meeting between FDR, Winston Churchill, and Stalin during WWII to plan for post war, it was agreed that zones of occupation in Germany would be used (Feb 4-11)
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Cold War
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Iron Curtain speech
Made by Churchill, described the growing East-West divide in postwar Europe between communist and democratic nations
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First Indochina War
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Berlin Blockade
USSR blocked off all ground routes to West Berlin
Led to the Berlin Airlift: joint effort by the US and Britian to fly food and supplies into W Berlin
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NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organization; an alliance made to defend one another if they were attacked by any other country; US, England, France, Canada, Western European countries
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Ho Chi Minh in office
Communist leader of North Vietnam; used geurilla warfare to fight anti-comunist, American-funded attacks under the Truman Doctrine; brilliant strategy drew out war and made it unwinnable
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Battle of Dien Bien Phu
(March 13-May 7) Dien Bien Phu is a town of northwest Vietnam near the Laos border. The French military base here fell to Vietminh troops after a 56-day siege, leading to the end of France's involvement in Indochina.
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Brown v. Board of Education
Court declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional. Unanimously decided.
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Warsaw Pact
An alliance between the Soviet Union and other Eastern European nations. This was in response to NATO
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Ngo Dinh Diem in office
South Vietnamese president that was catholic and strongly opposed communism thus the US supported him. His poor leadership and corrupt government spelled doom.
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Vietnam War
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Marshall Plan
Gave $13 billion to Western European nations to recover from their war ravaged state in an effort to strengthen Europe so that it would be able to withstand the expansion of communist East European countries
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Sputnik launch
First artificial Earth satellite, it was launched by Moscow in 1957 and sparked U.S. fears of Soviet dominance in technology and outer space. It led to the creation of NASA and the space race.
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Nikita Khrushchev in office
USSR
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Francis G Powers captured
American pilot Francis Gary Powers shot down in his U-2 spy plane, captured and convicted of spying
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Cuba embargo start
When Castro nationalized foreign properties , the United States suspended imports of Cuban Sugar and then forbade US exports to the island. This began the Cuban embargo that continues to today
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Bay of Pigs Invasion
CIA agents trained Cuban exiles to revolt against Communism in Cuba. It failed and damaged America's prestige in the world.
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Fidel Castro in office
Cuba
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Cuban missile crisis
(Oct 14-28) U.S. discovered Soviet nuclear missiles on Cuba, President John F. Kennedy demanded their removal and announced a naval blockade of the island; the Soviet leader Khrushchev acceded to the U.S. demands a week later, on condition that US doesn't invade Cuba
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Thích Quảng Đức self-immolation
Buddhist monk that self-immolates, began protests of 1963 by Buddhists against Ngo Dinh Diem
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JFK assassination
JFK killed by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dealey Plaza in the west end of Dallas out of window of his workplace, the Texas School Book Depository
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Lee H Oswald murder
Jack Ruby, a night club owner assassinated Lee Harvey Oswald. He was charged and convicted, but appealed and died before a second trial could occur.
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Warren Commission
Commission made by LBJ after killing of John F. Kennedy. (Point is to investigate if someone paid for the assasination of Kennedy.) Conclusion is that Oswald killed Kennedy on his own. Commissioner is Chief Justice Warren.
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24th Amendment
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, eliminated the poll tax as a prerequisite to vote in national elections.
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Civil Rights Act of 1964
Law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or origin
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Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Congressional resolution authorizing President Johnson to take military action in Vietnam, "blank check"
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Leonid Brezhnev in office
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Voting Rights Act of 1965
Outlawed discriminatory voting practices that had been responsible for the widespread disenfranchisement of African Americans in the U.S.
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Miranda v. Arizona
Supreme Court held that criminal suspects must be informed of their right to consult with an attorney and of their right against self-incrimination prior to questioning by police.
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Tet Offensive
During Tet, the Vietnam lunar new year, Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army raiding forces attacked provincial capitals throughout Vietnam, even seizing the U.S. embassy for a time. U.S. opinion began turning against the war.
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Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT)
(Nov 69-May 72) Strategic Arms Limitation Talks- A pact that served to freeze the numbers of long-range nuclear missles for five years in 1972. This treaty between Nixon (U.S.), China, and the Soviet Union served to slow the arms race that had been going on between these nations since World War II.
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Cambodian Incursion
Series of military operations conducted in eastern Cambodia during the late spring-early summer of 1970 by the armed forces of the US and South Vietnam; "the most successful military operation of the entire war"
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Ping Pong diplomacy
US and China exchange ping-pong players, 1971, US ping-pong team was invited to all expense paid exhibition trip to China to compete, normally Americans weren't allowed into China because of Communism, leads to Nixon and Mao Zedong becoming friends
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Pentagon Papers
An official of the department, Daniel Ellsberg, gave copies of the study in 1971 to the New York Times and Washington Post. The Supreme Court upheld the right of the newspapers to publish the documents.
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Paris Peace Accords
Negotiations between the US and the North Vietnam, beginning in 1968. Failed to produce an agreement until 1973
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Oil Crisis
Members of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, proclaimed an oil embargo against the US due to America's involvement in the Yom Kippur War. The price of oil nearly quadrupled by the end of the embargo in 1974.
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Nixon resignation
Nixon resigned due to his involvement in the Watergate scandal on the day of his imminent impeachment.
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Fall of Saigon
Communist forces marched into Saigon, shortly after officials of the Thieu regime and the staff of the American embassy had fled the country in humiliating disarray. The forces quickly occupied the capital, renamed it Ho Chi Minh City and began he process of uniting Vietnam under Hanoi.
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Three Mile Island accident
A mechanical failure and a human error at this power plant in Pennsylvania combined to permit an escape of radiation over a 16 mile radius.
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Moscow Summer Olympics
Reagan chose not to let American troops go to Moscow for the Olympics in response to the Soviets invading Afghanistan in the late 70s.
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Solidarity Movement
Movement which led to a strike for reform of the communist economic system in Poland.
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Iranian hostage release
The day in which Reagan took office and also the day when the Iranian hostages were released after 44 days .
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Reagan assassination attempt
John Hinckley attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan in 1981 at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. Reagan and 3 others were shot and wounded.
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Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)
Initiated in 1983 with the intent to develop an anti-ballistic missile system in order to prevent missile attacks from other countries (USSR)
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Ryan White school re-admittance
Ryan White was a student in Kokomo, Indiana, a hemophiliac who contracted AIDs. His parents went to court in 1985 to keep White in the classroom
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Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
Krista McAuliff was a civilian science teacher that died along with 6 astronauts when the 25th shuttle crew and shuttle exploded due to a small, but imortant, malfunction a little over a minute into flight.
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Mikhail Gorbachev in office
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