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The Cold War
The Cold War began soon after WW2 (1947) and ended almost 45 years later (1991) This was a period of geopolitical tension between the Soviet Union and the United States. -
Sputnik
The Soviet Union confidently launched its first artificial satellite into space. This intensified the Cold War and began the Space Race between America and the Soviet Union. -
U2 Incident
confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union that began with the shooting down of a U.S. U-2 reconnaissance plane over the Soviet Union and that caused the collapse of a summit conference in Paris between the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and France. -
Election of JFK
Democrat John F. Kennedy defeated incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon, who was the Republican Party nominee. The presidential election was won 303 to 219 in the electoral college. -
Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin Visits Space
-Yuri Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He became the first human to journey into outer space when his Vostok spacecraft completed one orbit of the Earth on 12 April 1961. During the flight, the 27-year-old test pilot and industrial technician also became the first man to orbit the planet, accomplished by his space capsule in 89 minutes. This was a large victory for the Soviet Union in the Space Race against America. -
Bay of Pigs invasion
Cuban exiles had been trained by American CIA agents in order to overthrow Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. This invasion of about 1400 was very unsuccessful and gave more power to Fidel Castro as a dictator -
Alan Shepard Jr. Visits Space
Alan Shepard became the first American in space when the Freedom 7 spacecraft blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on May 5, 1961, aboard a Mercury-Red stone rocket. This flight occurred less than a month after the Soviet Unions flight to space. Shepard returned to space years later and walked on the moon. -
Cuban Missile Crisis Begins
On this day, a U2 spy plane had snapped photographs at a high altitude. The photos revealed medium-range missiles placed in Cuba by the Soviet Union. The missiles were just 90 miles from America, created high tensions for a nuclear war. -
DEFCON 2
DEFCON 2 is the second most severe alert state the US military can be put into. On this day, Kennedy announced a blockade on Cuba as an alternate solution to the threat. The other military strategy would have been nuclear war. -
Cuban Missile Crisis Ends
Nikita Khrushchev sent a radio broadcast message to JFK regarding the missiles in Cuba. The message concluded that all missiles considered offensive by the US government would be dismantled and sent back to the Soviet Union immediately. -
JFK Visits the Berlin Wall
By 1961, Cold War tensions over Berlin were running high. For East Germans dissatisfied with life under the communist system, West Berlin was a entrance point to the democratic West. Between 1949 and 1961, 2.5 million East Germans fled from East to West Germany, most through West Berlin. On June 26, 1963, President John F. Kennedy delivered a speech that electrified an adoring crowd gathered in the shadow of the Berlin Wall. His famous line was “ich bin ein Berliner"
