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House Un-American Activities Committee formed
was created in 1938 to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities on the part of private citizens, public employees, and those organizations suspected of having Communist ties. -
Yalta Conference
The 'Big Three' held a conference here to discuss the war. This ended on February 11, 1945. -
Potsdam Conference
Churchill, Stalin, and Truman discussed how the allies would control Germany, reparations, the Oder/Neisse Line, and Russia joining the war in the Far East. -
United Nations formation
The Declaration was an accord between all nations fighting against the Axis Powers (Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union), promising not to form any other entangling alliances and that once the war was won, a formal peacekeeping organization, to be called the United Nations, would be officially established to actively take measures that would prevent hostile relations between its member countries. -
Truman Doctrine
Said that Americans would back up any state that faced having an armed minority attempting to topple its government. -
Marshall Plan
American assistance in restoring the economic infrastructure of Europe. -
Berlin Airlift
supply of vital necessities to West Berlin by air transport primarily under U.S. auspices. -
NATO Formation
12 nations established the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to coordinate the military defenses of member nations against possible Soviet aggression. -
Era of McCarthyism begins
The term McCarthyism is based on the actions of Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy during the 1940s and 1950s. McCarthyism signifies the extreme anti-Communist movement that occurred in the United States. -
North Korea invasion of South Korea
North Korean forces invaded South Korea. The United Nations quickly condemned the invasion as an act of aggression, demanded the withdrawal of North Korean troops from the South, and called upon its members to aid South Korea. On June 27, U.S. President Truman authorized the use of American land, sea, and air forces in Korea; a week later, the United Nations placed the forces of 15 other member nations under U.S. command, and Truman appointed Gen. Douglas MacArthur MacArthur, Douglas. -
Rosenberg Execution
Some asserted that the Rosenbergs were victimized by anti-Semitism. Some believed that the Rosenbergs were merely scapegoats for the Korean War (the judge all but blamed the couple for the Korean War). Despite mixed public opinion, the prosecution achieved victory after only fifteen trial days and one day of jury deliberation. The Rosenbergs and Morton Sobell were convicted on March 30, 1951. On April 5, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were sentenced to death. On June 19, 1953, one day after their we -
Armistice Signed Ending Korean War
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After three years of a bloody and frustrating war, the United States, the People's Republic of China, North Korea, and South Korea agree to an armistice, bringing the Korean War to an end. The armistice ended America's first experiment with the Cold War concept of "limited war." -
Warsaw Pact formation
The Warsaw Pact came to be seen as quite a potential militaristic threat, as a sign of Communist dominance, and a definite opponent to American capitalism. The signing of the pact became a symbol of Soviet dominance in Eastern Europe. The pact was used more as a means to keep the Soviet allies under a watchful eye than to actually make and enforce decisions. -
Sputnik 1 Launched
The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a basketball, weighed only 183 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path. That launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. While the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race. -
First Man in Space
Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, making a 108-minute orbital flight in his Vostok 1 spacecraft. Newspapers like The Huntsville Times trumpeted Gagarin's accomplishment. -
First American in Space
Mercury Astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. blasted off in his Freedom 7 capsule atop a Mercury-Redstone rocket. His 15-minute sub-orbital flight made him the first American in space. -
Creation of the Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was the physical division between West Berlin and East Germany. However, it was also the symbolic boundary between democracy and Communism during the Cold War. -
First Man on the Moon
Neil Armstrong, aboard the Apollo 11 Lunar Lander, along with Buzz Aldrin, touched down on the surface of the moon.
