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The Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine requested $400 million for economic and military aid from Congress for Greece and Turkey. The Congress approved because they supported helping free people in other parts of the world who are resisting takeovers by armed miniorities. It's considered by many the start of the Cold War because it was preventing the spread of the Soviets rule. It was successful from 1947 through 1950. -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was created to give aid to all the European nations in need, to prevent poverty, hunger, desperation, and chaos. In response to recieving the aid, the nations were required to remove trade barriers and economically cooperate with one another. It was a success in doing so, and was approved after the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia. -
Berlin Airlift
The Berlin airlift was a way for the United States to provide food and supplies into West Berlin after a blockade was set against them on June 1948. They ended up flying in around 2.3 million tons of supplies into West Berlin throughout the 327 days. On May 1949, the blockade was lifted by the Soviet Union, therefore the airlift was no longer needed in Berlin. -
Creation of NATO
NATO is short for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization which is a militarial alliance between Canda, United States, and other European countries such as Great Britain and France. This was the first time the United States joined a military alliance while they were in peace-time. -
Hydrogen Bomb Authorized
Once the Soviet Union had exploded their first atomic bomb, the United States decided they wanted to go even further and create a hydrogen bomb. This one was about 67 times more powerful than the atomic bombs used in Japan. Developing such explosive technology put the U.S. that much further ahead than any other country. In November 1952, the first h-bomb was tested and proved successful. -
The Korean War Begins
The North Koreans started the war by invading South Korea. The United States didn't want another county to be taken away from their side due to Communism so they got involved in the war on the south side with naval and air troops. The UN Security Council called for it's members to also get involved on South Korea's side. General McArthur was the commander of all the troops on that side. After boundaries were pushed around multiple times, the war ended in a stalemate. -
Federal Civil Defense Administration established
The FCDA was signed into act by President Truman which was an agency that was run by someone the president appointed. This organization provided any needed aid to Americans directly affected by any national disaster that may occur. It especially focused on nuclear bomb threats. It even provided T.V. programs teaching others how to prepare and protect against bomb threats. -
Sinking of the USS Hobson
The USS Hobson was built back in 1941 for use in WWII and Korean War. The ship was encompassed in a tragic mix up. The captain had unknowingly gave directions leading the ship off course many times. The USS Hobson ended up crashing right into the USS Wasp causing it to slip right in half. One hundred and seventy six crew memebers lost their lives and 61 American military members were rescued by those on the USS Wasp. The loss of these people was one of the bigger losses of the war. -
Great Britain Developed Atomic Bomb
Great Britain was the third successful country to be successful in creating an atomic bomb. Scientists from Great Britain worked with the United States program in New Mexico in order to build it. It took them about five years to build before they could test, but once tested successfully, Great Britain gained major power. This added another country with atomic bomb powers to the United States' side and gave Great Britain an advantage over other countries without that technology at the time. -
KGB established
This was an organization in Moscow, USSR that was planned to be connected with the Council of Ministers but ended up being seperate. The KGB was a spy operation to be used for security. Thousands of people secretly served with the KGB. They used a secret police and even did intelligence in other countries and the USSR. The KGB helped the USSR keep tabs on all the citivizens of not only the USSR but other countries, as well as promote the Soviet government with propaganda and enforcing rules. -
Geneva Accords
The Geneva Accords was a temporary solution to divide Vietnam on the 17th parallel line. Many countries, including Great Britain, USSR, U.S., and China met in Geneva, Switzerland to come up with this peace plan. Ho Chi Minh, a communist leader, was in control of the north half, and the nationalists took over the south half. -
Creation of Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was an alliance between the Soviet Union and the Eastern European nations that it controlled. The Soviet Union formed this alliance after West Germany was allowed to rejoin NATO and the USSR grew fearful of them. -
Vietnam War
Vietnam was divided on the 17th parallel. Ho Chi Minh, a nationalist, controlled the North, and the South controlled by Ngo Dihh Diem, a French Roman Catholic. Diem backed out of the elections to reunify the two halves therefore leading to the conflict. The United States was aiding the South side. There were no territorial goals to this war. The land and air war lasted from 1965-1968. -
Eisenhower Doctrine
This doctrine was created as a warning that the United States would defend the Middle East against any attack by a Communist country. The document was proposed in January and approved in March by Congress. Because of the doctrine, the president could now send in American forces against any Communist nation using armed agrgression in the Middle East. -
Bay of Pigs
The United States had planned a secret invasion of Cuba, and sent in around 1,400 Cuban exiles to the Bay of Pigs. Unfortunitely, the attack did not go as planned what so ever and it turned out to be a huge failure. It was so bad that President Kennedy was embarrassed because Americans looked like such fools. Kennedy had to pay about $53 million in food and supplies in order to release the surviving commandos from Cuba. -
Berlin Wall Goes Up
The Berlin wall was not an imaginary border, there was in fact a concrete wall with barbed wire seperating East and West Berlin. It was built by East Germany, who was communist. This wall only made the tension of the Cold War increase. It was successful for East Germany because between the wall and armed guards, barely any refugees of East Germany were allowed to pass through. The Berlin Wall became a well known significant figure of Communism. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuba gained the military support of the Soviets, who were increasing the amount of neuclear missiles into Cuba. Kennedy claimed he wouldn't stand for the presence of nuclear weapons in Cuba. Then on October 14th, photos proved that USSR was indeed building missile bases secretly in Cuba and that some were even ready to be launched toward the U.S. October 22nd was the day of "highest national urgency" meaning Cuba could attack any second and the United States would fight back in an instant. -
Limited Test Ban Treaty
This treaty banned testing nuclear weapons in the atmosphere and was signed by the United States, United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union. After this treaty, all nuclear tests had to be done underground. The reason this was put into place was to slow down the threat and rush of development of nuclear weapons. It's much more difficult to test underground than above ground. At the same time it also helped the enviornment. -
President JFK assassinated
President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. He was shot three times in the head and throat while driving in his car with an open top. Luckily, the Vice President Lyndon Johnson was in the car behind and was soon sworn into office. The gunman was said to be in an upper window of a building nearby. When JFK arrived at the hospital he was alive but then later died about 35 minutes after the shots. -
Great Society
The Great Society was President Johnson's idea vision for America. His goal was to put a stop to poverty and injustices based on races. Beyond that he wanted to give America a higher standerd to live by. Johnson wanted to change America's mindset and hope it would spark them to improve American overall. The Great Society lived on for many years after 1964. -
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
The Tonkin Gulf Resolution was not a declartaion of war against, it only gave President Johnson military power to act in North Vietnam. It came about after North Vietnam attacked two U.S ships which was on the Gulf of Tonkin. The United States was now allowed to take and necessary actions against attacks against the United States in order to prevent further issues. -
The Tet Offensive
North Vietnam planned a surprise attack on the South in order to take them over hopefully one last time. This attack was coordinated by General Giap who was considered a very talented military leader. North Vietnam and Viet Cong bombed important American bases which were located in South Vietnam. The first attack served as a distractor the the attack on South Vietnam. They attacked 100 towns on the New Year, a time for peace. No one saw it coming and it put a huge downer on those attacked. -
SALT I Tready
This treaty was a five year deal between the U.S. and the USSR to limit the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine missiles. This deal helped gain the people's support and got Nixon a re-election. The SALT treaty helped maintain some control of the amount of missles being used and created, which in turn made people feel more safe. -
Nixon Resigns
President Nixon was the first ever president to resign from office. He was under great pressure for being involved in the Watergate scandal and was facing impeachment anyways. The Watergate scandal was trying to spy on the Democratic power by tapping into many phone conversations. Nixon and some of his campaign men were accused. Most people lost all confidence in their president at the time. Gerald Ford was then sworn into office to replace him soon after Nixon resigned. -
Operation Babylift
Because the Vietnam War was so horific, many children were left homeless as orphans. Many Catholics and Buddhists grabbed as many kids as they could carry and shipped them off on boats in search of finding new homes. The United States decided to take action and help. They airlifted 70,000 children out of Vietnam to give them better places to live. One of the planes had crashed and half of the passengers were killed but that didn't dampen anyones spirts because this event was so uplifting. -
Strategic Defence Initiative
President Ronald Reagan initiated the SDI which was also known as Star Wars because it was meant to block missile attacks from countries such as the USSR. This initiative was especially important during the time of the Cold War. The SDI was pushed aside because there were some concerns about it. The reason it was nicknamed Star Wars because some of the idea were a little farfetched for the times. The idea was to get in the way of the missiles while traveling in air to reduce the effects. -
Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster
The Chernobyl Nuclear Powerplant disaster was by far the worst. The security protection system had been shut down for some maintenance that was being done at the time when they nuclear system stopped. Because the safety was off, it eventually exploded. Fires burned for about two weeks at the plant and thousands die due to the long term effects of radiation. This day made everyone realize just how strong nuclear power was and maybe it's not such good technology. -
INF Treaty
INF stands for Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. Gorbachev, the leader of the Soviet Union, and Reagan, the U.S. president at the time, signed this treaty which got rid of two different classes of weapon systems in Europe. It also made it possible for each country to have inspections on site of the military installatoins of other countries. This would help prevent another Cold War-like event from happening ever again by keeping an eye on other militaries. -
German Reunification/ Fall of Berlin Wall
The day the Berlin Wall fell, the two sides of Germany became one. This was the first time they acted as one in 28 years. When the wall fell, everyone gathered around and celebrated the moment. By 1990, East Germany had it's first free election. Then on October 3, 1990, the two German sides officially became one. -
Collapse of the Soviet Union
The outlook of the Soviet Union started to change after Mikhail Gorbachev became the general secretary of the Communist party. He started to keep less from the people and allowed private ownership of land again. On August 19th, Communists threw out Gorbachev, but then 3 days later, he regained power. However, on the 24th, Gorbachev resigned and banned Communism from a future role in government. After 74 years of power, the Soviet Union was no more.
