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House Un-American Activities Committee formed
Congress formed HUAC in 1938 to investigate New Deal programs. -
United Nations Formation
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, supported by the representatives of 26 countries, published the Declaration by United Nations, a document that pledged their governments to continue fighting together against Nazi Germany and Japan during the Second World War. -
Yalta Conference
The secret Yalta agreement was signed by Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin in which Russia agreed to declare war on Japan. -
Potsdam Conference
Ended on August 2nd, 1945. At Potsdam, America was represented by Harry Truman, the Soviet Union still by Stalin and Britain, first by Winston Churchill and then by Clement Atlee, who defeated Churchill in the post-war British election in 1945 which took place during the actual conference. The Potsdam Conference is considered to be the last of World War Two's conferences. -
Truman Doctrine
It stated that the U.S. would support Greece and Turkey with economic and military aid to prevent their falling into the Soviet sphere. -
Marshall Plan
In a speech at the Harvard commencement, Secretary of State George C. Marshall calls for an American plan to help Europe recover from World War II. -
Berlin Airlift
Ended on May 12, 1949. At the end of WWII, a defeated Germany was divided amongst the victors, the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and France. The Soviet Union took control of the Eastern half of Germany, the Western half was divided amongst the US, Great Britain, and France. Like the rest of the country, the capital city of Berlin, sitting dead in the middle of the Soviet-controlled Eastern half, was also divided into four parts, one half being Soviet controlled, and the rest di -
NATO formation
North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an international organization composed of the US, Canada, Britain, and a number of European countries: established by the North Atlantic Treaty for purposes of collective security. -
North Korean invasion on South Korea
Early in the morning the armed forces of Communist North Korea smashed across the 38th parallel of latitude in an invasion of the Republic of Korea that achieved complete surprise. -
Rosenberg Execution
At around 8 p.m. the U.S. government sent Julius and Ethel Rosenberg to the electric chair at Sing Sing prison. -
Armistice signed ending Korean War
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. -
Era of McCarthyism begins
Senator Joseph McCarthy took on the United States army. He issued summonses to army officers, the brigadier general and accused the army of giving an honorable discharge to an alleged communist sympathizer. -
Warsaw Pact formation
Officially named the Treaty of friendship, co-operation and mutual assistance was a military alliance of the Eastern European Soviet Bloc countries, who intended to organize against the perceived threat from the NATO alliance. -
Sputnik 1 Launch
Launched from Baikonur, USSR. -
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. -
First american in space
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. -
First Man on the Moon
The first man on the moon was the Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong.
