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Yalta Conference
a meeting of British prime minister Winston Churchill, Soviet premier Joseph Stalin, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt -
Potsdam Conference
The Big Three—Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (replaced on July 26 by Prime Minister Clement Attlee), and U.S. President Harry Truman—met in Potsdam, Germany, to negotiate terms for the end of World War II. -
The Marshall plan
the European Recovery Program, channeled over $13 billion to finance the economic recovery of Europe between 1948 and 1951. -
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Berlin Airlift
supplies and would eventually drive Britain, France and the U.S. out of the city for good. Instead of retreating from West Berlin, however, the U.S. and its allies decided to supply their sectors of the city from the air. This effort, known as the “Berlin Airlift,” lasted for more than a year and carried more than 2.3 million tons of cargo into West Berlin. -
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Berlin Blockade
the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of 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. -
U.S. military desegregated
President Harry Truman signed an executive order on July 26, 1948, calling for the desegregation of the military, it was the beginning, not the end, of the fight for African-Americans to fight alongside white troops. -
Soviet Union test first atomic bomb
At a remote test site at Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan, the USSR successfully detonates its first atomic bomb, code name “First Lightning.” In order to measure the effects of the blast, the Soviet scientists constructed buildings, bridges, and other civilian structures in the vicinity of the bomb -
Communist Revolution in China
Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong declared the creation of the People's Republic of China (PRC). -
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Korean War
The Korean War was a war between North and South Korea, in which a United Nations force led by the United States of America fought for the South, and China fought for the North, which was also assisted by the Soviet Union -
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Dwight D. Eisenhower Administration
Dwight D. Eisenhower took office -
McCarthy Hearings Begin
Senator Joseph McCarthy begins hearings investigating the United States Army, which he charges with being “soft” on communism -
Brown v. Board of Education decision is handed down
On May 17, 1954 the United States Supreme Court handed down its ruling in the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. The Court’s unanimous decision overturned provisions of the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision, which had allowed for “separate but equal” public facilities, including public schools in the United States. -
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Eisenhower sends troops to Vietnam
troops are sent in, in 1950 and pulled out after years of fighting in 1969 -
Emmett Till murder
Fourteen-year-old Emmett Till was visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi, on August 24, 1955, when he reportedly flirted with a white cashier at a grocery store. Four days later, two white men kidnapped Till, beat him and shot him in the head. The men were tried for murder, but an all-white, male jury acquitted them. -
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Montgomery Bus Boycott
when Rosa Parks, an African American woman, was arrested for refusing to surrender her seat to a white person -
Federal Interstate Highway Act enacted
Highway Revenue Act of 1956 -
Little Rock Central High School Crisis
The Little Rock Nine was a group of nine African American students enrolled in Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Their enrollment was followed by the Little Rock Crisis, in which the students were initially prevented from entering the racially segregated school by Orval Faubus, the Governor of Arkansas. -
Sputnik I is launched
the first artificial Earth satellite. The Soviet Union launched it into an elliptical low Earth orbit on October 4, 1957. -
John F. Kennedy elected president
In the general election on November 8, 1960, Kennedy defeated the Republican Vice President Richard M. Nixon in a very close race. At the age of 43, Kennedy was the youngest man elected president and the first Catholic.