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The Iron Curtain Speech
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill condemned the Soviet Union's policies in Europe in his famous speech, declaring that "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent". -
The Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine was an American foreign policy created to counter Soviet geopolitical spread during the Cold War, announced to congress by Harry Truman. -
Hollywood 10
The Hollywood blacklist—as the broader entertainment industry blacklist is generally known—was the practice of denying employment to screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other American entertainment professionals during the mid-20th century because they were accused of having communist ties or sympathies -
Molotov Plan
The system created by the Soviet Union in order to to provide aid to rebuild the countries in Eastern Europe that were politically and economically aligned to the Soviet Union -
The Marshall Plan
An American initiative to aid Western Europe, in which the U.S gave over $12 billion in economic support to help rebuild Western Europe economies after the end of World War II. -
The Berlin Blockade
One of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of the post- World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control. -
Alger Hiss Case
Accusation of espionage. On August 3, 1948, Whittaker Chambers, a former Communist Party member, appeared before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) to denounce Alger Hiss. -
The Berlin Airlift
At the end of World War II, U.S, British, and Soviet military forces divided and occupied Germany. -
NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an intergovernmental military alliance. -
Soviet Atomic Bomb Test
The Soviet Union's first nuclear bomb test, code named 'RDS-1', at the Semipalatinsk test site in modern-day Kazakhstan. -
Korean War
The Korean War began when North Korea invaded South Korea. The United Nations, with the United States as the principal force, came to the aid of South Korea. China, with assistance from the Soviet Union, came to the aid of North Korea -
Rosenburg Trial
The trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg begins in New York Southern District federal court. Judge Irving R. Kaufman presides over the espionage prosecution of the couple accused of selling nuclear secrets to the Russians (treason could not be charged because the United States was not at war with the Soviet Union). -
American Led Coups
United States involvement in regime change has entailed both overt and covert actions aimed at altering, replacing, or preserving foreign governments. -
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu
The battle of Dien Bien Phu was a significant turning point in Indochina. The battle was fought between the French and the Vietminh (Vietnamese Communist and nationalist). The French wanted to reclaim Vietnam as one of their colonies, while the Vietnamese wanted their independence. -
Army-McCarthy hearings
The Army–McCarthy hearings were a series of hearings held by the United States Senate's Subcommittee on Investigations between April 1954 and June 1954. The hearings were held for the purpose of investigating conflicting accusations between the United States Army and Senator Joseph McCarthy. -
The Geneva Conference
On Indochina, the conference produced a set of documents known as the Geneva Accords. These agreements temporarily separated Vietnam into two zones, a northern zone to be governed by the Việt Minh, and a southern zone to be governed by the State of Vietnam, then headed by former emperor Bảo Đại. It helped to attempt to find a way to restore the peace in Indochina. -
Vietnam
The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War or simply the American War, was a war that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975.The North Vietnamese army was supported by the Soviet Union, China and other communist allies and the South Vietnamese army was supported by the United States, South Korea, Australia, Thailand and other anti-communist allies and the war is therefore considered a Cold War-era proxy war. -
The Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was a collective defense treaty among the Soviet Union and seven other Soviet satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe in existence during the Cold War. -
The Invasion of Hungary
A nationwide revolt against the government of the Hungarian people's republic and it's Soviet-imposed policies. -
U2 Incident
An American U-2 spy plane is shot down while conducting espionage over the Soviet Union. The incident derailed an important summit meeting between President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev that was scheduled for later that month. -
Bay of Pigs
The Bay of Pigs invasion begins when a CIA-financed and -trained group of Cuban refugees lands in Cuba and attempts to topple the communist government of Fidel Castro. The attack was an utter failure. Fidel Castro had been a concern to U.S. policymakers since he seized power in Cuba with a revolution in January 1959. -
The Berlin Wall
A barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic that divided Berlin from 1961 to 1989. -
Assisnation of Diem
The brutal murder of the president of South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem, and his powerful brother and adviser, Ngo Dinh Nhu, on November 2, 1963, was a major turning point in the war in Vietnam. -
Assisination of JFK
President John F Kennedy was assisinated in Dallas,Texas on November 22, 1963. His death shocked the nation and lead to the election of Lyndon B Johnson. -
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, authorizing President Johnson to take any measures he believed were necessary to retaliate and to promote the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia. -
Operation Rolling Thunder
The president's goal was to disrupt the flow of manpower and supplies from North Vietnam to its Viet Cong allies. The Operation Rolling Thunder bombing campaign began on March 2, 1965, partly in response to a Viet Cong attack on a U.S. air base at Pleiku. -
Tet Offensive
On January 31, 1968, some 70,000 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces launched the Tet Offensive (named for the lunar new year holiday called Tet), a coordinated series of fierce attacks on more than 100 cities and towns in South Vietnam. -
Assassination of RFK
The assassination of Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy, a United States Senator and brother of assassinated President John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy, took place shortly after midnight on June 5, 1968, in Los Angeles, California, during the campaign season for the 1968 presidential election. -
The Invasion of Czechoslovakia
The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia was a joint invasion of Czechoslovakia by four Warsaw Pact nations- the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland -
Riots at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago
On this day in 1968, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, tens of thousands of Vietnam War protesters battle police in the streets, while the Democratic Party falls apart over an internal disagreement concerning its stance on Vietnam. -
Election of Richard Nixon
The United States presidential election of 1968 was the 46th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 5, 1968. The Republican nominee, former Vice President Richard Nixon, won the election over the Democratic nominee, incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey. Nixon oversaw some dramatic changes in U.S. Cold War foreign policy, most notably his policy of detente with the Soviet Union and his 1972 visit to communist China. -
Kent State Shooting
The Kent State shootings occurred at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, in the United States and involved the shooting of unarmed college students by the Ohio National Guard on Monday, May 4, 1970 -
Nixon Visits China
In an amazing turn of events, President Richard Nixon takes a dramatic first step toward normalizing relations with the communist People’s Republic of China (PRC) by traveling to Beijing for a week of talks. Nixon’s historic visit began the slow process of the re-establishing diplomatic relations between the United States and communist China. -
Ceasefire in Vietnam
Nixon orders ceasefire in Vietnam. President Nixon has ordered a halt to American bombing in North Vietnam following peace talks in Paris. -
Fall of Saigon
The Fall of Saigon, or the Liberation of Saigon, depending on context, was the capture of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, by the People's Army of Vietnam and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam.The fall of Saigon (now Ho Chin Minh City) effectively marked the end of the Vietnam War. -
Election of Ronald Reagan
It was held on Tuesday, November 4, 1980. The contest was between incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter and his Republican opponent, former California Governor Ronald Reagan, as well as Republican Congressman John B. Anderson, who ran as an independent. -
Announcement of SDI
The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons The system was first publicly announced by President Ronald Reagan.The United States now held a significant advantage in the field of comprehensive advanced missile defense. -
1st Geneva Conference
The 1st Geneva Conference, or The Geneva Summit of 1985 was a Cold War-era meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. It was held on November 19 and 20, 1985, between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. The two leaders met for the first time to hold talks on international diplomatic relations and the arms race. -
'Tear Down This Wall' Speech'
"Tear down this wall!" is a line from a speech made by US President Ronald Reagan in West Berlin on June 12, 1987, calling for the leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, to open up the barrier which had divided West and East Berlin since 1961. The speech greatly pushed Gorbachev to eventually do so. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall stood until November 9, 1989, when the head of the East German Communist Party announced that citizens of the GDR could cross the border whenever they pleased. That night, ecstatic crowds swarmed the wall. Some crossed freely into West Berlin, while others brought hammers and picks and began to chip away at the wall itself. To this day, the Berlin Wall remains one of the most powerful and enduring symbols of the Cold War.
