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Ayatollah Khomeini
He was born in Khomeyn in 1902. He later became a religious leader and politician in Iran. He led the Iranian Revolution in 1979. He became the Supreme Leader of the country after the revolution and stayed in this position until he died. -
Kentucky Basketball
On this date Kentucky started a winning streak. They won 130 games in a row. Their lucky streak ended in 1955. -
Auschwitz
Auschwitz began evacuation. SS made them march and thousands more died. The ones who lived were then put into other concentration camps throughout Germany. -
Iron Curtain
For almost 50 years the Iron Curtain separated the Warsaw Pact countries from the NATO countries. This was to symbolize the Soviet Union and it's allies efforts to separate themselves from having contact with the west, non-communist countries -
Truman Plan
Truman Doctrine's speech stated that America would support Turkey and Greece both economically and militarily in order to prevent them from falling. Many say this started the Cold War. -
Marshall Plan
America gave economical aid to Europe to help rebuild their economies after World War II. We did this in order to try to prevent the spread of Soviet Communism. It was named after the Secretary of State George Marshall. -
Roswell Incident
Mac Brazel went out to check on his sheep the morning after a storm. He found metal debris that was almost a mile wide. Also, there was a shallow ditch that was at least 200 feet long. The military was involved then. It may have been a UFO, maybe not. No one knows. -
Apartheid
This was a system of racial segregation in South Africa. The majority of blacks were given less rights than the ruling whites. This was developed after World War II. -
Berlin Blockade
This was an attempt by the USSR to block allied access to the city of Berlin. It was one of the first major crises to happen in the Cold War. But this was unfortunate since the people in Berlin only had a months supply of what they needed to live. -
Berlin Airlift
Western allies organized this to carry supplies to the people in West Berlin. Planes landed in Berlin every three minute to bring supplies and food. Some planes wouldn't even land, just drop off the supplies and fly away! -
Soviet Atomic Bomb Test
The Soviet Union set off their first atomic bomb. This shocked the U.S. We had used them twice against Japan but the fact that Russia had them now too really made Americans skeptical of their safety. -
Korean War
The war was between South Korea (supported by U.S.) and North Korea. It took three years. It is estimated that 2.5 million were either killed or wounded. -
USS Hobson
The captain of the USS Hobson was confused a late night in April. He changed the direction of the ship several times in order to get the path straight. This consequentlly led his ship right into another American ship. 176 sailors were killed in the crash. -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War lasted for less than two years in Laos. It was fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam (supported by the U.S.) Over 2 million people in all were killed -
Great Leap Forward
Economic and social campaign of the Communist Party of China. This campaign ended in over 18-45 million deaths. -
Operation Pedro Plan
14,048 thousand kids were sent from Cuba to the U.S. Parents did this in order to get there kids away from the influence of communism. They were sent to foster homes, orphanages, or boarding schools throughout 35 different states -
U2 Indicent
Pilot Francis Gary Powers had been on a top secret spy mission. He was to fly over a part of Russia. Unfortunately, he was shot down by a Soviet air missle. -
OPEC
Stands for Organizaiton of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. It is to coordinate the policies of the oil-producing countries. The goal is to make a steady income and a secure supply of oil. -
Bay of Pigs
Invasion of Cuba that was unsuccessful. Kennedy called it. 1,400 American-trained Cubans invaded their own country. But this did not go over well due to the invaders being badly outnumbered by Castro's troups. -
USS Thresher
The submarine had been commissioned in mid 1961. On a test deep dive, the Thresher was at half of her depth and started to have problems. They attempted to blow air out to make it lighter and hopefully get it to the top. But there is only so much air you can get rid of. 129 men were killed -
Assassination of John F Kennedy
He was travelling in a presidential motorcade when he was shot. He was declared dead in the emergency room. It took ten months but they finally figured out that Lee Harvey Oswald killed him, acting alone. -
Palestine Liberation Organization
This organizaiton was created to make an independent State of Palestine. It was considered to be a terrorist organization until 1991. -
Woodstock
Thousands of Americans gathered to promote peace, love, and happiness. This happened in San Francisco. That summer "Summer of Love" brought thousands of happy teens to California to celebrate their peace love and happiness. -
Tet Offensive
Military campaign during Vietnam War. It was a series of surprise attacks that took place during a time period when there weren't supposed to be any attacks. There was supposed to be a cease fire for two days during the holidays, but the communists used this as a time to surprise it's opponent. -
Watergate
Nixon sent seven Cubans in to spy on the Democrats. His party then attempted to cover it up. This eventually led to his resignation from president. -
1972 Summer Olympics
This Olympics was held in Munich, Germany. This was the second olympics to be held in Germany. The officially motto of the games was "The Happy Games" -
Operation Babylift
This was the mass evacuation of children in South Vietnam. Over 3,300 infants were rescued. Thousands were adopted -
Apollo-Soyuz
This was the first manned space flight that was supported by both the U.S. and the Soviet Union -
Camp David Accords
After Jimmy Carter became president, there were 14 months of easy diplomatic efforts, and they called this Camp David Accords. When it was signed by the Egyptian president and Isralie Prime Minister there were thirteen days of secret planning at Camp David. -
Iran Hostage Crisis
52 Americans were held hostage in Iran for over one year. Jimmy Carter was president at this time. The Iranians took them hostage because they wanted The Shah sent back to Iran to be tried. -
Moscow Olympic Games
U.S. led a boycott of these games. They did this because of the Soviet war in Afghanistan. 65 countries followed America's lead. -
Glasnost
This was a policy in the Soviet Union that made openness and transparency in the government institutions and activities. Mikhail Gorbachev started this. It is often assosciated with Perestroika. -
Perestroika
It means restructuring. This refers to the restructuring of the Soviet economical and political system. This was a political movement for reformation in the Soviet Union. -
Chernobyl
Chernobyl was located in Northern Ukraine. This was the worst nuclear disaster in history. The fires lasted for almost two weeks and nothing they did could put them out. Finally in 2000, they stated that the plant was closed for good. -
Tiananmen Square Massacre
Located in Beijing. Started with protests and then the Chinese cracked down. They brought assualt rifles and tanks in on unarmed civilians. After they arrested many of the protesters and the supporters. The deaths possibly could be in the thousands -
David Dinkins
David Dinkins was sworn in as mayor on this day. He became mayor of New York City. He was also the first black man to become mayor of New York. -
Voyager
Space probe voyager took a picture in space. It took one picture of the whole solar system. This is the first time this happened. -
Lithuania Independence
Lithuania declared it's independence on this day. It then slowly started to integrate into European structure. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
After the wall had been placed to separate East and West Berlin, they finally made a union. Monetary, economic, and socially. They also dropped all restrictions in regards to traveling. -
Reunification of Germany
Germany reunified under what had been West Germany's constitution. They then held new national elections two months later. -
Fall of the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union separated into fifteen different countries. This ended the Cold War and America was thrilled to see the huge power of a country fall. -
NAFTA
Signed by Mexico, Canada, and United States in San Antonio. It was set into action on January 1st, 1994. This was to remove most bariers and investments. Many tarriffs were eliminated.
