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Soviet Test Nuclear Bomb
It caught American's by surprise because no one expected the Soviets to create a nuclear bomb so quickly. Many Americans feared their safety. President Truman ordered the United States to build up its nuclear weapons to stop the spread of Communism around the world. -
Marshall Plan
General George Marshall propsed that the United States aid all European Nations that needed it. Most of their factories were bombed or looted. to survive, many people turned to the black market or theft. The winter of this year had reacord breaking snow and temperatures under zero degrees. Due to the weather, crops were damaged and there was a fuel shortage. Congress approved the plan and provided $12.5 billion to European nations. It was a success and Communist parties lost many voters. -
Creation of NATO
Belgium, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Portugal joined with the united states to form a military alliance names North Atlantic Treaty Organization. If one country got attacked, the other countries would respond and help that country fight. This was the first time the United States joined an alliance during peace time. -
Rosenberg Spy Case
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were minor activists in the American Communist Party. British Physicist, Klaus Fuchs, amitted to giving the information about the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. This made Soviet Scientists create the atomic bomb 18 months earlier than they would have otherwise. The Rosenbergs pleaded the fifth when asked if they were communist. They were found guilty and given the death penalty. They were the first U.S. civilians to be executed for espionage. -
Korean War
America was worried when North Korea invaded South Korea because they feared another communist country. President Truman ordered naval and air support for South Korea. Out of 520,000 troops sent to South Korea by the UN, 90% of them were American which were commanded by General MacArrthur. 54,000 Americans died and the war costed America $22 billion. It made Americans fear communist and the hunt for spies to blame for communist gains began. -
Creation of Warsaw Pact
The Soviet feared the NATO alliance and created its own alliance with the Eastern European satellite nations. Eisenhower met with Soviet leaders and proposed an open skies proposal. This meant that the United States and the Soviet Union could fight over each other's territory to protect themselves from nuclear attacks. The Soviet Union rejected this idea. -
Vietnam War
This war was the longest military battle in U.S. history, lasting almost twenty years. Over 1.5 million American soldiers were killed, and 2 million U.S. civilians. Vietnam was unified into a communist state. -
Bay Of Pigs
President Eisenhower gave the CIA instructions to train Cuban exiles and invade Cuba and hopefully overthrow Castro before Kennedy was elected. 1,400 Cubans landed at Bahia de Cochinos. The CIA wrongfully reported that an air strike took out the Cuban air force. The group sent to distract Castro forces didn't land on time and when they did they were faced by 20,000 Cuban troops. Kennedy was embarrassed and had to pay $53 million ransom in food and medical supplies so commandos were realeased. -
Berlin Wall Goes Up
After the Berlin Airlift, many East Germans went to West Berlin. This created the failure of East Germany's communist government and also hurt the economy. Khrushchev threated to sign a treaty with East Germany that would close off all roads leading to West Berlin. However, Kenedy did not want this to happen. The Soviet began building the wall to sepereate East Germany and West Berlin. Guards were placed in different places so that people couldn't climb the wall. -
Cuban Missle Crisis
President Kennedy made a speech to inform people about the Soviet missle sites in Cuba and that if there were an attack, they would start an attack on the Soviet Union. For six days, America was scared of the possible nuclear war. Khrushchev said he'd remove the missles in America promised not to attack Cuba. America agreed and the missles were removed. -
Six-Day War
The war was between Jordan, Syria, Egypt, and Israel. Within six days, Israel took control of the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and Golan Heights from Syria -
Soviet Launches Sputnik
Sputnik was the first succesful articial space satellite. The United states seemed to be falling behing in science and technology which made Americans afraid of nuclear attack. American scientists tried catching up with the Soviets. Education in schools greatly focused on science, mathematics, and foreign laungauage courses. -
US Sends Man to Moon
Neil Armstrong was the first man to set feet on the moon. John F. Kennedy, just 9 years ago challenged America to put a person on the moon before anyone else. -
German Reunification/Fall Of Berlin Wall
The two parts of Germany were reunited when East Germany opened the Berlin Wall for the first time in 28 years. Berliners went at the wall with hammers and other tools. In early 1990 East Germany held its free elections and on October 3, the two nations became one.
