The Cold War

  • Period: to

    The Presidency of Harry S. Truman

    The Cold War was a result of Truman's actions such as the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Truman Doctrine, the Marshal Plan and the creation of Western Germany. That and the Soviet Unions communist government, which Truman was afraid of spreading to other countries, furthered the rift between the two nations and Truman declares war on the Soviet Union.
  • The End of WWII

    The End of WWII

    After Germany surrendered, the US dropped two atomic bombs one on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945. The result of this war was he decentralization, demilitarization, denazification and democratization of Germany, as well as divided Germany and Berlin, Austria and Vienna into four occupation zones outlined at Yalta.
  • Vietnam Declares Independence

    Vietnam Declares Independence

    Ho Chi Minh declared the independence of Vietnam from France. The proclamation paraphrased the U.S. Declaration of Independence in declaring, “All men are born equal: the Creator has given us inviolable rights, life, liberty, and happiness!”
  • The Truman Doctrine

    The Truman Doctrine

    With the Truman Doctrine, President Harry S. Truman established that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces. The reason Truman created the Truman Doctrine was because he wanted to stop the spread of communism and he believed that the US could no longer stand by and allow the forcible expansion of Soviet totalitarianism into free, independent nations.
  • Period: to

    The Cold War

    The Cold War was an ongoing political rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies that developed after World War II. This resulted in anti-communist suspicions and international incidents that led the two superpowers to the brink of nuclear disaster.
  • The Marshall Plan

    The Marshall Plan

    The Marshall Plan, also known as the European Recovery Program, was a U.S. program providing aid to Western Europe following the devastation of World War II. It provided more than $15 billion to help finance rebuilding efforts on the continent of Europe, and one of the reasons it was created was in the hopes to stop the spread of communism in countries where it was threatened to expand.
  • Period: to

    The Berlin Airlift

    Western allies started a massive airlift to counter the Berlin blockade imposed by the Soviet regime. During the entire airlift, the U.S. and U.K. delivered more than 2.3 million tons of food, fuel and supplies to West Berlin via more than 278,000 airdrops.
  • NATO

    NATO

    NATO is a security alliance of 30 countries from North America and Europe, which was founded after WWII in the hope that they could reach their main goal which was to safeguard the Allies' freedom and security by political and military means. NATO stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization and was meant to counter Soviet armies that were stationed in central and eastern Europe after WWII.
  • Period: to

    The Korean War

    The Korean War was a conflict between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea) in which at least 2.5 million persons lost their lives. The cause of the war was, that the communist side, including the Soviet Union, China, and North Korea, desired to secure the Korean peninsula and incorporate it in a communist bloc.
  • Brown v. Board of Education

    Brown v. Board of Education

    In this milestone decision, the Supreme Court ruled that separating children in public schools on the basis of race was unconstitutional. It signaled the end of legalized racial segregation in the schools of the United States, overruling the "separate but equal" principle set forth in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case.
  • Period: to

    The Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower

    Eisenhower maintained the energy of the U.S. economy, while still building strong relations with non-communist countries in order to prosecute the Soviet Union and other communist countries during the Cold War. He also relied on nuclear weapons scare other countries or to fight a war. Soviet Union and other communist countries during.
  • Period: to

    Warren Court

    The Warren Court was the period in the history of the Supreme Court of the United States during which Earl Warren served as Chief Justice. During this time,the Warren Court ruled that police had to inform anyone they arrested of their right to remain silent and their right to counsel.
  • The 1954 Geneva Accords are Signed

    The 1954 Geneva Accords are Signed

    As part of the agreement, the French agreed to withdraw their troops from northern Vietnam. Vietnam would be temporarily divided at the 17th parallel, pending elections within two years to choose a president and reunite the country.
  • Period: to

    Vietnam War

    The Vietnam War was a long, costly and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The conflict was intensified by the ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.
  • Rosa Parks Refuses to Give Up Her Seat

    Rosa Parks Refuses to Give Up Her Seat

    Rosa Parks helped initiate the civil rights movement in the United States when she refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama bus. Her actions inspired the leaders of the local Black community to organize the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
  • Period: to

    Counterculture Movement

    It was an era of change in identity, family unit, sexuality, dress, and the arts. It was a time when youth rejected social norms and exhibited their disapproval of racial, ethnic, and political injustices through resistance, and for some subgroups, revolt.
  • Period: to

    Bay of Pigs Invasion

    The Cuban-exile invasion force, known as Brigade 2506, landed at beaches along the Bay of Pigs and immediately came under heavy fire. Cuban planes strafed the invaders, sank two escort ships, and destroyed half of the exile's air support, overall the mission was a failure on for the US and was an embarrassment for the Kennedy administration.
  • The Building of the Berlin Wall

    The Building of the Berlin Wall

    East German soldiers laid down more than 30 miles of barbed wire barrier through the heart of Berlin. East Berlin citizens were forbidden to pass into West Berlin, and the number of checkpoints in which Westerners could cross the border was drastically reduced.
  • Period: to

    Cuban Missile Crisis

    The Soviet Union began to secretly install missiles in Cuba to launch attacks on U.S. cities. The confrontation that followed, known as the Cuban missile crisis, brought the two superpowers to the brink of war before an agreement was reached to withdraw the missiles.
  • The Limited Test Ban Theory

    The Limited Test Ban Theory

    The Cuban missile crisis showed that neither the United States nor the Soviet Union were ready to use nuclear weapons for fear of the other's retaliation. So, the Limited Test Ban Treaty banned nuclear tests in the atmosphere, outer space and under water.
  • Period: to

    Johnson's Presidency

    After taking office, he won passage of a major tax cut, the Clean Air Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. After the 1964 election, Johnson passed even more sweeping reforms. The Social Security Amendments of 1965 created two government-run healthcare programs, Medicare and Medicaid.
  • Civil Rights Act of 1964

    Civil Rights Act of 1964

    The act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Provisions of this civil rights act forbade discrimination on the basis of sex, as well as, race in hiring, promoting, and firing.
  • Tonkin Gulf Resolution

    Tonkin Gulf Resolution

    This authorized President Johnson to take any measures he believed was necessary to retaliate and promoted the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia. It gave the president control of U.S. military actions in Vietnam.
  • Period: to

    Tet Offensive

    North Vietnamese and communist Viet Cong forces launched a coordinated attack against a number of targets in South Vietnam. The U.S. and South Vietnamese military sustained heavy losses before finally repelling the communist assault.
  • My Lai Massacre

    My Lai Massacre

    A company of American soldiers brutally killed most of the people—women, children and old men—in the village of My Lai. More than 500 people were slaughtered in the My Lai massacre, including young girls and women who were raped and mutilated before being killed.
  • Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

    Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

    King's death energized the Black Power Movement. Black Americans felt even more distrustful of white institutions and America's political system. Membership in the Black Panther Party and other Black Power groups surged. Local organizations grew into national networks.
  • Robert Kennedy Assassination

    Robert Kennedy Assassination

    Senator Robert Kennedy was assassinated just five years after his brother, President John F. Kennedy had been shot. The gunman, Sirhan, a young Palestinian angry over Kennedy's support for Israel during the Six Day War, shot the Senator in a corridor at the Los Angeles Ambassador Hotel.
  • Period: to

    The Presidency of Richard Nixon

    The US foreign policy during the presidency of Richard Nixon focused on reducing the dangers of the Cold War among the Soviet Union and China. President Richard Nixon's policy sought on détente with both nations, which were hostile to the U.S. and to each other.
  • Stonewall Riots

    Stonewall Riots

    The riots started when a group of police officers came to raid (shutdown) the bar. The crack down (shutdown order) was issued by the new chief of police at the time. Previously, in the past, the old police chief tolerated the operation of the bar.
  • Period: to

    Stonewall Riots

    The riots were started after a routine police raid of a gay bar called Stonewall Inn. This event served as a catalyst for the gay rights movement and led to the creation of various gay activist groups in the United States and around the world
  • The First Man on the Moon

    The First Man on the Moon

    The US and the Soviet Union were not only in an arms race, but a space race as well. They each wanted to be the first to make history in space, and Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the moon.
  • Equal Rights Amendment

    Equal Rights Amendment

    Men and women shall have equal rights throughout the United States and every place subject to its jurisdiction. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. For several decades, supporters of women's rights were divided over the desirability of the Equal Rights Amendment.
  • Roe v. Wade

    Roe v. Wade

    The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment protects against state action the right to privacy, and a woman's right to choose to have an abortion falls within that right to privacy. A state law that broadly prohibits abortion without respect to the stage of pregnancy or other interests violates that right.
  • Period: to

    The Presidency of Gerald Ford

    Ford continued Nixon's détente policy with both the Soviet Union and China, easing the tensions of the Cold War. In doing so, he overcame opposition from members of Congress, an institution which became increasingly assertive in foreign affairs in the early 1970s.
  • Period: to

    The Presidency of Jimmy Carter

    Carter believed that previous administrations had erred in allowing the Cold War concerns and realpolitik to dominate foreign policy. His administration placed a new emphasis on human rights, democratic values, nuclear proliferation, and global poverty.
  • Period: to

    The Presidency of Ronald Reagan

    Reagan and Thatcher provided mutual support in terms of fighting liberalism, reducing the welfare state, and dealing with the Soviet Union. Reagan started by escalating the Cold War with the Soviet Union, marking a departure from the policy of détente by his predecessors, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter.
  • The Tearing Down of the Berlin Wall

    The Tearing Down of the Berlin Wall

    As the Cold War began to thaw across Eastern Europe, the spokesman for East Berlin's Communist Party announced a change in his city's relations with the West. Starting at midnight that day, he said, citizens of the GDR were free to cross the country's borders.
  • Americans with Disabilities Act

    Americans with Disabilities Act

    The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities in several areas. Some of the area that are covered include employment, transportation, public accommodations, communications and access to state and local government' programs and services.
  • Te Soviet Union Disbanded

    Te Soviet Union Disbanded

    The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the process of internal disintegration within the Soviet Union (USSR) which resulted in the end of the country's and its federal government's existence as a sovereign state, thereby resulting in its constituent republics gaining full independence. Many of the former satellite countries adopted a democratic government after their independence from the USSR