-
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), a Republican, was the popular 34th President of the United States. Eisenhower was a lifelong military man, commanding the D-Day invasion while serving as Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during World War II. Upon taking office, Eisenhower negotiated an end to the Korean War. -
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong was both a product and a part of the revolutionary change in 20th-century China. He was born December 26, 1893, in the small village of Shaoshan in Hunan province. Although he described his father as a "rich peasant," the family clearly had to work hard for a living. -
Lyndon B. Johnson
After John F. Kennedy was assassinated, Johnson was sworn in as the 36th United States President, with a vision to build "A Great Society" for the American people. -
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon was elected the 37th President of the United States after previously serving as a U.S. Representative and a U.S. Senator from California. After successfully ending American fighting in Vietnam and improving international relations with the U.S.S.R. and China, he became the only President to ever resign the office, as a result of the Watergate scandal. -
Jonas Salk
He was an American medical researcher and virologist. He discovered and developed the first successful inactivated polio vaccine which was an epidemic in U.S. -
John F. Kennedy
President during part of the cold war and especially during the superpower rivalry and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Other events, which were during his terms were the building of the Berlin Wall, the Space Race, and early events of the Vietnam war. -
Gary Powers
Francis Gary Powers was an American pilot whose Central Intelligence Agency U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission over Soviet Union airspace, causing the 1960 U-2 incident. -
Roy Benavidez
Master Sergeant Raul Perez Benavidez was a former member of the United States Army Special Forces and retired United States Army master sergeant who received the Medal of Honor for his valorous actions during Vietnam War. -
Abby Hoffman
Abby Hoffman was an American political and social activist who co-founded the Youth International Party (Yippies). -
House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was created to investigate alleged disloyalty and subversive activities on the part of private citizens, public employees, and those organizations suspected of having Communist ties. -
War Powers Act
The resolution was adopted in the form of a United States Congress joint resolution; this provides that the President can send U.S. armed forces into action abroad only by declaration of war by Congress. -
Iron Curtain
Winston Churchill's term for the Cold War division between the Soviet-dominated East and the U.S.-dominated West. -
Truman Doctrine
President Truman's policy of giving American aid to nations threatened by communist expansion. -
Period: to
Cold War
Political war which United States was the Capitalist leader and USSR was the Socialist leader. -
Period: to
Containment Policy
Established by the Truman administration to contain Soviet influence to what it was at the end of World War II. -
Marshall Plan
United States program of economic aid for the reconstruction of Europe. -
Period: to
Berlin Airlift
Successful effort by the United States and Britain to ship by air 2.3 million tons of supplies to the residents of the Western-controlled sectors of Berlin, in response to a Soviet blockade of all land and canal routes to the divided city. -
Period: to
Korean War
The cold war conflict in which UN solders fought to defend South Korea from takeover by Communist North Korea, ending a stalemate in 1953. -
Period: to
“McCarthyism”
The practice of making accusations of disloyalty, especially of pro-Communist activity, in many instances unsupported by proof or based on slight, doubtful, or irrelevant evidence established by the Senator Joseph McCarthy -
Rosenberg 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. -
Domino Theory
The political theory that if one nation comes under Communist control then neighboring nations will also come under Communist control. -
Period: to
Vietnam War
The war was fought between the communist North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of South Vietnam, supported by the United States. -
Period: to
Cuban Missile Crisis
United States and the Soviet Union came close to nuclear war when President Kennedy insisted that Nikita Khrushchev remove the 42 missiles he had secretly deployed in Cuba. The Soviets eventually did so, nuclear war was averted, and the crisis ended. -
Gulf of Tonkin 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. -
Period: to
Great Society
The Great Society was a set of domestic programs in the United States launched by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964-65. The main goal was the elimination of poverty and racial injustice. -
Period: to
Anti-War Movement
The movement against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War began small–among peace activists and leftist intellectuals on college campuses–but gained national prominence in 1965, after the United States began bombing North Vietnam in earnest. -
Period: to
Tet Offensive 1968
70,000 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces launched the Tet Offensive, a coordinated series of fierce attacks on more than 100 cities and towns in South Vietnam. General Vo Nguyen Giap, leader of the Communist People’s Army of Vietnam. -
Vietnamization
Vietnamization was a policy of the Richard Nixon administration during the Vietnam War to end U.S. involvement in the war. It reduces the troops involved in the Vietnam War.
