-
House Un-American Activities Committee formed
The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) 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. Reorganized from its previous incarnations as the Fish Committee and the McCormack-Dickstein Committee and with a new chairman. -
United Nations formation
On 1st January 1942, 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
Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill, and Franklin D. Roosevelt met again. This time the conference was held in Yalta in the Crimea. With Soviet troops in most of Eastern Europe, Stalin was in a strong negotiating position. Roosevelt and Churchill tried hard to restrict post-war influence in this area but the only concession they could obtain was a promise that free elections would be held in these countries. -
Potsdam Conference
On 16 July 1945, the "Big Three" leaders met at Potsdam, Germany, near Berlin. In this, the last of the World War II heads of state conferences, President Truman, Soviet Premier Stalin and British Prime Ministers Churchill and Atlee discussed post-war arrangements in Europe, frequently without agreement. Future moves in the war against Japan were also covered. The meeting concluded early in the morning of 2 August. -
Truman Doctrine
On 12th March, 1947, Harry S. Truman, announced details to Congress of what eventually became known as the Truman Doctrine. In his speech he pledged American support for "free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures". This speech also included a request that Congress agree to give military and economic aid to Greece in its fight against communism. Truman asked for $400,000,000 for this aid programme. He also explained that he intended to send A -
Marshall Plan
On 12th March, 1947, Harry S. Truman, announced details to Congress of what eventually became known as the Truman Doctrine. In his speech he pledged American support for "free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures". This speech also included a request that Congress agree to give military and economic aid to Greece in its fight against communism. -
Berlin Airlift
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 divided amongst the other -
NATO formation
After World War II, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. occupied much of Europe. Most the the continent's governments had fallen to the Nazis during the war, so the two superpowers were left with the responsibility of setting up new governments. Each promised to allow free elections, but in the end, did not. This left eastern and western Europe divided by style of government (eastern was communist, western was not) and left Germany divided between the two superpowers. -
Era of McCarthyism begins
Sen. Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist crusade, dating from 1950 and heightened during his chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Government Operations, rose to legendary ferocity. Although Congress censured the Wisconsin Republican in 1954, the legacy of fear and suspicion McCarthy helped create lived on through the 1970's, as evidenced by FBI surveillance of the civil rights movement and Vietnam era anti-war demonstrations. -
North Korean Invasion of South Korea
War from 1950 to 1953 between North Korea (supported by China) and South Korea, aided by the United Nations (the troops were mainly US). North Korean forces invaded South Korea on 25 June 1950, and the Security Council of the United Nations, owing to a walk-out by the USSR, voted to oppose them. The North Koreans held most of the South when US reinforcements arrived in September 1950 and forced their way through to the North Korean border with China. -
Rosenberg Execution
The Rosenbergs were accused of persuading Ethel's brother, David Greenglass, to provide them with confidential U.S. military information gained from his involvement in the development of nuclear weapons. It was believed that Julius, who was an active member of the Communist party, then funneled the top-secret information on to Soviet intelligence. -
Armistice Signed Ending Korean War
The year 1953 marked the end of a brutal and some say senseless war that claimed the lives of more than 2.5 million Koreans and more than 36,000 American soldiers. The year 1953 also marked the beginning of the Korean War Armistice Agreement that sought to stop the Korean War and insure a complete cessation of hostilities and all acts of armed force in Korea until a final peaceful settlement could be achieved. -
Sputnik 1 launched
Sputnik 1 was the first artificial satellite in space. It stunned the world and as a result the space age began. It was the first victory for the Space Race by the Soviet Union. Sputnik means satellite in Russian. It was shaped like a sphere and had four radiating radio antennae. It was launched on October 4th, 1957. The world did not expect the Soviet Union to beat the technologically advanced USA with this Space First. -
First Man in Space
April 12 was already a huge day in space history twenty years before the launch of the first shuttle mission. On that day in 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin (left, on the way to the launch pad) became the first human in space, making a 108-minute orbital flight in his Vostok 1 spacecraft. Newspapers like The Huntsville Times (right) trumpeted Gagarin's accomplishment. -
First American in Space
May 5, 1961. In the predawndarkness, a 59-foot- (18-meter-) tall Redstone missile stood in the glareof floodlights. Vapor spewed from the rocket's side as its tanks were pressurizedwith fuel and supercold liquid oxygen. Not far away, in a trailer thatserved as a suiting-up room, Alan Shepard prepared to ride that rocket.When he emerged, clad in a silvery spacesuit and carrying a portable ventilator,he paused to look up at the gleaming rocket. Minutes later, he was squeezinginto the tiny cabin of -
Creation of the Berlin Wall
The city of Berlin is in the eastern portion of Germany about thirty-five miles west of the post-1945, Polish border and located on the Spree River. The early town had become the capital of the Mark of Brandenburg at the end of the fifteenth century and later capital of the kingdom of Prussia. When the German states created the German Empire in 1871, Berlin became the capital of the new Germany. The city remained the capital of Germany until after World War II, when the United States, France, -
First Man on the Moon
On this date in 1969, Neil Armstrong, aboard the Apollo 11 Lunar Lander, along with Buzz Aldrin, touched down on the surface of the moon. Michael Collins waited aboard the Command Module, orbiting the moon. With less than 40 seconds of fuel remaining, the Lunar Module, Eagle, landed at 4:18 PM EDT on July 20, 1969. Aldrin spoke those famous words, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." After 6 hours for rest and preparation, Armstrong exited the Lunar Module and at 10:56 PM ED -
Warsaw Pact formation
IN APRIL 1985, the general secretaries of the communist and workers' parties of the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), Hungary, Poland, and Romania gathered in Warsaw to sign a protocol extending the effective term of the 1955 Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance, which originally established the Soviet-led political-military alliance in Eastern Europe. Their action ensured that the Warsaw Pact, as it is commonly known, will
