-
Ho Chi Minh proclaims DRV
Ho Chi Minh proclaimed: "All men are born equal. The Creator has given us inviolable rights: life, liberty, and happiness!" -
Joseph McCarthy
Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visible public face of a period in which Cold War tensions fueled fears of widespread Communist subversion
He was noted for making claims that there were large numbers of Communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers inside the United States federal government and elsewhere. Ultimately, his tactics and inability to substantiate his claims led him to be censured by the United States Senate. -
Truman approves NSC-68
President Harry S. Truman receives National Security Council Paper Number 68 (NSC-68). The report was a group effort, created with input from the Defense Department, the State Department, the CIA, and other interested agencies; NSC-68 formed the basis for America’s Cold War policy for the next two decades. -
Third Battle of Seoul
Ridgway evacuates Seoul, withdraws from Inchon -
Harry S. Truman
Truman announces he will not run for reelection. -
Battle of Pork Chop Hill
Communists attack "Pork Chop Hill" -
Geneva Conference
Talks at Geneva fail to unite Korea. Representatives from the United States and China meet in Geneva to talk about uniting Korea. However, the countries cannot come to an agreement and Korea remains divided. -
DEMILITARIZED ZONE (DMZ)
Although a truce was in effect, through January 31, 1955, another 641 Americans, mostly Air Force, would die from "Hostile" and "Non-Battle" actions on the ground and in the air in Korea. As mentioned elsewhere in this booklet, their names are included in the "Selected Korean Conflict Casualties" and data base maintained by the DoD DIOR (See Part I); the list is available to the public under the Freedom of Information Act. -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, and also known in Vietnam as Resistance War Against America or simply the American War, was a Cold War-era proxy war that occurred in Vietnam
Beginning in 1950, American military advisors arrived in what was then French Indochina -
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev delivers the speech "On the Personality Cult and its Consequences" at the closed session of the Twentieth Party Congress of the CPSU. The speech marks the beginning of the De-Stalinization. -
The Strategic Air Command
initiates 24/7 nuclear alert (continuous until termination in 1991) in anticipation of a Soviet ICBM surprise attack capability. -
Second Taiwan Strait Crisis
begins when China begins to bomb Quemoy. -
American National Exhibition
During the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow US Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev openly debate the capacities of each Superpower. This conversation is known as the Kitchen Debate. -
Communist insurgents in Malaya
are defeated. -
Civil Rights Movement
When John F. Kennedy became president in 1961, African Americans throughout much of the South were denied the right to vote, barred from public facilities, subjected to insults and violence, and could not expect justice from the courts. In the North, black Americans also faced discrimination in housing, employment, education, and many other areas. But the civil rights movement had made important progress, and change was on the way. -
The Soviet Union
resumed testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere -
22nd Soviet Party Congress held in USSR
was the gathering of the delegates of the Communist Party and its predecessors. According the party statute, it was the supreme ruling body of the entire Communist Party. -
Himalayan War
China occupies a small strip of Indian land.
Himalayan Blunder was an extremely controversial war memoir penned by Brigadier John Dalvi. It dealt with the causes, consequences and aftermath of the Sino-Indian War of 1962, that ended in Chinese People's Liberation Army inflicting a defeat on India -
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy is shot and killed in Dallas. There has been some speculation over whether communist countries or even CIA were involved in the assassination, but those theories remain controversial. Kennedy's vice-president Lyndon B. Johnson becomes President of the United States. -
Assassination of John F. Kennedy
"Kennedy assassination" redirects here. For the assassination of John's brother Robert, see Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time (18:30 UTC) on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas. -
Jawaharlal Nehru
He died .
Also for a reminder May 27 Jawaharlal Nehru remembered on 51st death anniversary -
Battle of Ia Drang
the first major engagement between US Troops and regular Vietnamese forces.
In the first major engagement of the war between regular U.S. and North Vietnamese forces, elements of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) fight a pitched battle with Communist main-force units in the Ia Drang Valley of the Central Highlands. -
South African Border War
begins .
commonly referred to as the Angolan Bush War in South Africa, was a conflict that took place from 1966 to 1989 largely in South-West Africa (now Namibia) and Angola between South Africa and its allied forces (mainly the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, UNITA) on the one side and the Angolan government, South-West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO), and their allies (mainly Cuba) on the other -
Robert McNamara
announces that he will resign as U.S. Secretary of Defense to become President of the World Bank -
Tet Offensive
while an American military victory, it raises questions over America's military chances in Vietnam -
Richard Nixon
becomes President of the United States
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974 when he became the only U.S. president to resign the office -
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
ratified by the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States, among others, enters into force. -
Bangladeshi Declaration of Independence
Bangladeshi Declaration of Independence. Bangladesh Liberation War begins -
Richard Nixon announces
Richard Nixon announces the beginning of a massive bombing campaign in North Vietnam -
The Soviet Union announces
The Soviet Union announces that, because of its opposition to the recent overthrow of the government of Chilean President Salvador Allende, it will not play a World Cup Soccer match against the Chilean team if the match is held in Santiago. -
Gerald Ford
Becomes President of the United States upon the resignation of Nixon.
Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and, prior to this, was the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974 under President Richard Nixon. -
Mozambican War of Independence
Portugal withdraws from Angola and Mozambique, where Marxist governments are installed, the former with backing from Cuban troops. The Civil war engulfs both nations and involves Angolans, Mozambicans, South Africans, and Cubans, with the superpowers supporting their respective ideologies -
Mao Zedong.
Communist Party of China from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976. -
Cyrus Vance
U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance assures skeptics that the Carter administration will hold the Soviet Union accountable for its recent crackdowns on human rights activists -
Afghanistan Sardar Mohammed Daoud's
President of Afghanistan Sardar Mohammed Daoud's government is overthrown when he is murdered in a coup led by pro-communist rebels. -
U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Soviet leader
Leonid Brezhnev, sign the SALT II agreement, outlining limitations and guidelines for nuclear weapons. -
Gdańsk Agreement
In Poland the Gdańsk Agreement is signed after a wave of strikes which began at the Lenin Shipyards in Gdańsk. The agreement allows greater civil rights, such as the establishment of a trade union independent of communist party control. -
HIV / AIDS
This article is a timeline of early AIDS cases. An AIDS case is classified as "early" if the death occurred before 18 June 1981, when the AIDS epidemic was formally recognized by medical professionals in the United States -
Wojciech Jaruzelski
Communist Gen. Jaruzelski introduces martial law in Poland, which drastically restricts normal life, in an attempt to crush the Solidarity trade union and the political opposition against communist rule -
Yuri Andropov
becomes General Secretary of the Soviet Union -
U.S. invades Grenada
U.S. forces invade the Caribbean island of Grenada in an attempt to overthrow the Marxist military government, expel Cuban troops, and abort the construction of a Soviet-funded airstrip -
Margaret Thatcher and the UK government
in a plan to open new channels of dialog with Soviet leadership candidates, meet with Mikhail Gorbachev at Chequers. -
Iran Contra Affair
The Iran–Contra affair also referred to as Irangate, Contragate or the Iran–Contra scandal, was a political scandal in the United States that came to light in November 1986. During the Reagan administration, senior administration officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to Iran, the subject of an arms embargo. Some U.S. officials also hoped that the arms sales would secure the release of several hostages and allow U.S. intelligence agencies to fund the Nicaraguan Contras. -
Chernobyl Disater
A group of engineers, their experiment failed and a chemical explosion of more than fifty tons of radioactive material went into the atmosphere, where it was carried by the currents in the air. Attempting to cover up the accident, Soviet authorities began to quickly and quietly evacuate the civilians of Pripyat. -
Perestroika
Natives within the Party who oppose his policies of economic redevelopment (Perestroika). It is Gorbachev's hope that through initiatives of openness, debate and participation, that the Soviet people will support Perestroika. -
INF Treaty
Reagan and Gorbachev meet in Moscow. INF Treaty ratified. When asked if he still believes that the Soviet Union is still an evil empire, Reagan replies he was talking about "another time, another era." -
Tiananmen Square Massacre
Student demonstrations against military action to enforce martial law in Bejing China. The military shot at the crowd using deadly force causing thousands of causualties. The government at first condemned the protestors but then condemned the military action. This was the largest scale ation and bloodshead in the history of Bejing -
Boris Yeltsin elected as president of Russia.
Boris Yeltsin elected as president of Russia.
Russian politician, who became president of Russia in 1990. In 1991 he became the first popularly elected leader in the country's history, -
Dissolving of the Soviet Union
Once the Soviet Union collapsed, the Soviet Union was divided into fifteen separate countries due to lack of freedom, democracy, and capitalism. This event had ended the Cold War. Mikhail Gorbachev had also resigned as president of the Soviet Union on this day.
