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U.S. drops atomic bomb on Japan
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Winston Churchill gives “Iron Curtain” speech in Missouri.
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Unveiling of Truman Doctrine, announcing the U.S. would do everything in its power to contain communism
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Marshall Plan enacted, providing American aid in rebuilding western and southern Europe, advances the Cold War significantly
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Berlin Airlift shows American resolve against the spread of communism and Soviet aggression
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Creation of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
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China becomes communist, Republicans use event to paint Democrats as “soft on communism”
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record amount of births in a period of economic growth
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Senator Joseph McCarthy asserts he has list of communists in the State Department. Although he has no such list, McCarthy builds upon national fear of communism to make himself the nation’s most powerful individual. Eventually falls in 1954 after accusing the military of communist sympathies. Nonetheless, McCarthy defines the 1950s as a decade of suppression of left-leaning thought and action.
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U.S. tests hydrogen bomb
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elease of The Day the Earth Stood Still, beginning of science fiction films standing in for American fears about the Cold War
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Korean War
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First rock and roll concert in Cleveland
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Execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for treason
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Hugh Hefner launches Playboy magazine
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Alabama Governor George Wallace runs for president on openly segregationist platform, wins significant support in North—rise of white backlash to civil rights movement.
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Environmentalism becomes prominent; first Earth Day protests, creation of Environmental Protection Agency to enforce increasing number of environmental laws and regulatory agencies.
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passage of Endangered Species Act, leads to revival of threatened species such as the bald eagle, wolf, and grizzly bear.
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election of Ronald Reagan to the presidency
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Disputed presidential election, Supreme Court gives election to George W. Bush, voting on a strictly partisan basis