US History By xxlakergirls2614 Period: Jan 1, 1945 to Dec 31, 1991 Cold War Feb 4, 1945 Yalta Conference Agreement to temporarily divide Germany Aug 6, 1945 United States first used atomic bomb in war Aug 14, 1945 Japanese Surrender (V-J Day) Mar 5, 1946 Winston Churchill delivers "Iron Curtain" speech Jun 5, 1947 Marshall Plan is announced Jun 24, 1948 Berlin Blockade begins Jul 1, 1949 *NATO ratified Sep 1, 1949 *Communist Mao Zedong takes control of China Sep 3, 1949 USSR explodes first atomic bomb Feb 9, 1950 Joseph McCarthy begins Communist witch-hunt Jun 25, 1950 Korean War begins Jun 19, 1953 Rosenberg executions Jul 27, 1953 Korean War ends Jul 1, 1954 *Vietnam split at 17th parallel May 14, 1955 Warsaw Pact formed Oct 4, 1957 Sputnik launched Jan 1, 1959 *Cuba taken over by Communist Fidel Castro May 1, 1960 U-2 spy plane shot down over USSR Nov 8, 1960 John F. Kennedy elected President Apr 17, 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion Aug 12, 1961 Construction of Berlin Wall begins Oct 22, 1962 Cuban Missle Crisis Apr 30, 1975 Saigon, South Vietnam falls to communism Nov 9, 1989 Berlin Wall falls Dec 1, 1989 Soviet empire falls Oct 1, 1990 Germany reunited Aug 1, 1991 *U.S. and Russia sign formal end to the Cold War
