The Cold War BeginsPolitical
Containment and the Marshall Plan
The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan commit the United States to containing communism and rebuilding Western Europe, framing decades of global rivalry with the Soviet Union.
American History · Chronicle IX of X
Postwar & Cold War America
Superpower · 1947-1991
Containment, civil rights, the Moon, Vietnam, and the Cold War's end.
- Span
- 1947 – 1991
- Entries
- 10
Entry 1 of 10
Hot Wars, Cold FearMilitary
The Korean War and McCarthyism
The United States leads a UN force in the Korean War, while at home Senator Joseph McCarthy's hunt for communists fuels a climate of suspicion and fear.
Civil RightsPolitical
Brown v. Board and the movement
The Supreme Court strikes down school segregation in Brown v. Board of Education, and the Montgomery bus boycott launches Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement.
Brink of WarPolitical
The Cuban Missile Crisis
For thirteen days the United States and Soviet Union stand on the edge of nuclear war over missiles in Cuba, before Kennedy and Khrushchev step back from the brink.
Dreams and AssassinationPolitical
'I Have a Dream' and the death of Kennedy
King's 'I Have a Dream' speech crowns the March on Washington; months later President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, shaking the nation.
Rights and WarPolitical
Voting Rights Act and Vietnam escalation
Landmark civil rights and voting laws end legal segregation, even as President Johnson deepens American involvement in the divisive Vietnam War.
The MoonCultural
Apollo 11 lands on the Moon
Neil Armstrong becomes the first human to walk on the Moon, a triumph of the space race and a defining moment of American technological achievement.
Crisis of ConfidencePolitical
Watergate and Nixon's resignation
The Watergate scandal forces President Nixon to resign — the only president ever to do so — deepening public distrust of government amid Vietnam's end and economic malaise.
The Reagan EraPolitical
Reagan, tax cuts, and the Cold War's end
Ronald Reagan cuts taxes, builds up the military, and confronts the Soviet Union; his diplomacy with Gorbachev helps bring the Cold War toward a peaceful close.
The Cold War EndsPolitical
Collapse of the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union dissolves, leaving the United States as the world's sole superpower and opening a new, uncertain era in global affairs.
2 more entries, to 1991