Paris Peace Conference writes Treaty of Versailles that punishes Germany.

Tags: World War I, Treaty, Peace Treaty, Post-War, League of Nations, Interwar Period

July 24: The Kellogg–Briand Pact is signed in Paris.

Tags: Diplomacy, International Relations, Peace Treaty, Interwar Period, World War I, United States of America, Multilateralism

March 4: Herbert Hoover is inaugurated as President of the United States.

Tags: Presidency, Great Depression, Inauguration, Executive Branch

March 4: Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated as President of the United States

Tags: Presidency, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Great Depression, American History, Inauguration

October 14: Germany announces its withdrawal from the League of Nations and the World Disarmament Conference, after the U.S., the U.K. and France deny...

Tags: World War II, League of Nations, Weimar Republic, International Relations, Diplomacy, Political Tensions

New Deal begins in America.

Tags: Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Economic Policy, Social Welfare, American History, Political Reform, Reform

The Hoover Dam is completed.

Tags: Infrastructure, Great Depression, Construction

Nuclear fission discovered in experiment by chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann and physicists Lise Meitner and Otto Robert Frisch. The German nuc...

Tags: Nuclear Physics, World War II, Cold War, Manhattan Project, Scientific Breakthrough

July 6–15: Évian Conference ends with all attendee nations save the Dominican Republic refusing to accept more Jewish refugees from the Third Reich.

Tags: World War II, Holocaust, Refugees, Anti-Semitism, International Relations, Diplomacy, Third Reich, Human Rights

December: Time Magazine declares Adolf Hitler as Man of the Year.

Tags: Propaganda, Nazism, Fascism, World War II, Adolf Hitler, Media, Global Impact

Howard Florey Mass production of penicillin

Tags: Medicine, Antibiotics, World War II, Alexander Fleming, Public Health

February 4 – 11: Yalta Conference.

Tags: World War II, Diplomacy, Allied Powers, Soviet Union, Cold War, Divided Germany, International Relations

April 12: Death of Franklin D. Roosevelt; Vice President Harry Truman assumes office as President of the United States.

Tags: Presidency, World War II, Succession, Political Transition, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Cold War

June 26: United Nations founded (UN Charter).

Tags: United Nations, Post-World War II, Diplomacy, Global Governance, Multilateralism, Peacekeeping, World War II, Allied Powers, San Francisco

July – August: The Potsdam Conference divides Europe into Western and Soviet blocs.

Tags: Cold War, Post-World War II, Geopolitics, Soviet Union, Iron Curtain, International Relations, Winston Churchill

First images of the Earth taken from space.

Tags: Space Exploration, Photography, Cold War

Breaking of the sound barrier by Chuck Yeager in Bell X-1.

Tags: Aviation, Aerospace, World War II, Cold War

March 12: Harry Truman establishes the Truman Doctrine of containment of Communism.

Tags: Cold War, Communism, Containment, Foreign Policy, Geopolitics, Ideology

July 26: Creation of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

Tags: Cold War, Intelligence, Espionage, National Security, Post-World War II, Covert Operations, Geopolitics, Foreign Policy, CIA

June 14: Albert II became the first mammal launched into space

Tags: Space Race, Aeronautics, Cold War, Space Exploration

May: Bonn–Paris conventions end allied occupation of West Germany.

Tags: Post-War, Cold War, Occupation, West Germany, International Relations, Sovereignty, Allied Powers

January 20: Dwight D. Eisenhower is inaugurated as President of the United States.

Tags: President, Inauguration, Cold War, Government, Executive Branch

August 19: Mohammed Mossadeq deposed in Iran.

Tags: Cold War, Coup d'état, CIA, Nationalization, Democracy, Oil, Geopolitics

May 17: The Supreme Court of the United States decides Brown v. Board of Education, ordering an end to racial segregation in public schools.

Tags: Civil Rights Movement, Supreme Court, Segregation, Education, Racial Discrimination, Legislation, Equality

March 7: The United States recognises Morocco's independence from France

Tags: Decolonization, Independence, Foreign Relations, Cold War, Post-Colonialism, Diplomacy

July 29: NASA formed.

Tags: Space Exploration, Space Race, Cold War, Scientific Advancement, Astronauts

January 3: Admission of Alaska, the 49th state, into the United States.

Tags: Alaska, Statehood, American Expansion, Cold War

January 22: First crewed descent to the deepest point on Earth, the Mariana Trench.

Tags: Exploration, Oceanography, Cold War, United States Navy

May 1: 1960 U-2 incident sparks deterioration in relations between superpowers.

Tags: Cold War, Espionage, Soviet Union, Diplomacy, Intelligence, Arms Race, International Relations, Khrushchev

May 25: In an address to Congress, John F. Kennedy declares the United States' objective of "landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the...

Tags: Space Race, Cold War, John F. Kennedy, Exploration

January 17: The assassination of Patrice Lumumba begins the Congo Crisis.

Tags: Cold War, Decolonization, African History, Political Assassination, Proxy War, United Nations

January 20: John F. Kennedy is inaugurated as President of the United States.

Tags: Presidency, Cold War, John F. Kennedy, American History, Leadership, Democracy, Inauguration

July 26: Launch of the first geostationary satellite, Syncom 2.

Tags: Space Race, Telecommunications, Cold War, Space Exploration, Communication

November 22: Assassination of John F. Kennedy. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson assumes office as President of the United States.

Tags: Assassination, Presidency, Cold War, Political Violence, Lyndon B. Johnson, John F. Kennedy, American History

November 28: NASA launches the Mariner 4 space probe from Cape Kennedy toward Mars to take television pictures of that planet in July 1965.

Tags: Space Exploration, NASA, Mars, Space Race, Planetary Science, Cold War, Astronomy

July 2: Civil Rights Act abolishes segregation in the USA.

Tags: Civil Rights Movement, Segregation, Legislation, Equality, Discrimination, Social Justice, African Americans, Voting Rights, Lyndon B. Johnson

March 17: The Voting Rights Act of 1965, inspired by the Selma to Montgomery marches.

Tags: Civil Rights, Voting Rights, Legislation, African Americans, Equality, Social Justice, Civil Rights Movement

Vela nuclear test detection satellites discover the first gamma-ray burst

Tags: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Exploration, Cold War, Particle Physics

October 21: The March on the Pentagon becomes a major event in public opposition to the Vietnam War

Tags: Vietnam War, Anti-War Movement, Protest, Civil Rights Movement, Social Activism, Political Dissent, United States History, Lyndon B. Johnson

December – Apollo 8 orbits the Moon with three NASA astronauts, becoming the first human spaceflight mission to enter the gravitational influence of a...

Tags: Space Exploration, NASA, Cold War, Space Race, Astronauts, Moon, Human Spaceflight

April 4: Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

Tags: Civil Rights Movement, Assassination, African Americans, Equality, Social Justice, Martin Luther King Jr., Nonviolent Resistance, Racial Discrimination

June 5: Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy

Tags: Assassination, Civil Rights Movement, Presidential Election, Political Violence, Social Upheaval

August 23: 1968 Democratic National Convention protests ("The whole world is watching")

Tags: Protests, Vietnam War, Civil Rights Movement, Chicago, Police Brutality, Political Polarization, Counterculture, Social Activism

July 20: Apollo 11 Moon landing, in which Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first two humans on the Moon.

Tags: Space Exploration, Cold War, Space Race, NASA, Astronauts, Lunar Exploration

October 29: Creation of Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET), the earliest incarnation of the Internet.

Tags: Internet, Computer Science, Networking, Information Technology, Digital Revolution, Cold War, Development, Communication

January 20: Richard Nixon is inaugurated as President of the United States.

Tags: Presidential Inauguration, Cold War, Richard Nixon, American History, Executive Branch

April 11: Apollo 13 (Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, Jack Swigert) is launched toward the Moon.

Tags: Space Exploration, NASA, Moon Landing, Cold War, Space Race, Astronauts

March 5: Ratification of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

Tags: Nuclear Weapons, Arms Control, Cold War, Treaty, International Relations, Nuclear Proliferation, Global Security

COINTELPRO officially ends.

Tags: FBI, Surveillance, Political Repression, Civil Rights Movement, Activism, Cold War, Intelligence, Covert Operations

February 21 – 28: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon makes an unprecedented 8-day visit to the People's Republic of China and meets with Mao Zedong.

Tags: Cold War, Diplomacy, Mao Zedong, Detente, Foreign Policy

May 26: Richard Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev sign the SALT I treaty in Moscow, as well as the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and other agreements.

Tags: Cold War, Nuclear Arms Race, Arms Control, Richard Nixon, Treaty, International Relations, Diplomacy

May 14: The first space station, Skylab, is launched.

Tags: Space Exploration, Space Race, Cold War, NASA, Astronauts, Space Station, Scientific Advancement

August 1: The Helsinki Accords, which officially recognize Europe's national borders and respect for human rights, are signed in Finland.

Tags: Cold War, Human Rights, Detente, International Relations, Soviet Union, Diplomacy

Church Committee, a U.S. Senate select committee that investigated abuses by the CIA, NSA, FBI and Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Tags: Ancient rome, Intelligence Agencies, CIA, FBI, Investigations, Cold War

January 20: Jimmy Carter is inaugurated as President of the United States.

Tags: Presidency, Inauguration, Cold War, Foreign Policy

The Global Positioning System (GPS) enters service. While not the first Satellite navigation system, it is the first to enter widespread civilian use.

Tags: Navigation, United States Military, Cold War, Space Race

September 17: The Camp David Accords are signed between Israel and Egypt.

Tags: Peace Treaty, Diplomacy, Arab-Israeli Conflict, Anwar Sadat, Cold War, International Relations

November 4: The Iran hostage crisis begins.

Tags: Cold War, Revolution, Diplomacy, Hostage Crisis, International Relations, Political Conflict

April 12: First orbital flight of the Space Shuttle.

Tags: Space Exploration, NASA, Space Shuttle Program, Aerospace Engineering, Cold War, Scientific Advancement

The first reusable spacecraft, the Space Shuttle undergoes test flights ahead of full operation in 1982.

Tags: Space Exploration, Aerospace Engineering, NASA, Space Race, Cold War, Orbital Mechanics

January 20: Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as President of the United States. Iran releases the 52 U.S. hostages held in Tehran after 444 days.

Tags: Presidency, Hostage Crisis, Cold War, Diplomacy, Ronald Reagan

March 30: Assassination attempt on U.S. president Ronald Reagan.

Tags: Assassination, Political Violence, Reagan Administration, Cold War

August 20: Beginning of the Iran–Contra affair, a political scandal in the United States that occurred during the second term of the Reagan Administra...

Tags: Scandal, Cold War, Reagan Administration, Covert Operations, International Relations, Political Corruption

October 11 – October 12: A breakthrough in nuclear arms control at the Reykjavík Summit.

Tags: Cold War, Nuclear Arms Race, Arms Control, Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet Union

November 3: The Iran–Contra affair publicly announced.

Tags: Political Scandal, Cold War, Covert Operations, Reagan Administration, Nicaragua, National Security, Executive Branch, Foreign Policy

January 20: George H. W. Bush is inaugurated as President of the United States.

Tags: Presidency, Elections, Cold War, Government, Inauguration

March 27: The United States begins broadcasting Radio y Televisión Martí to Cuba.

Tags: Cold War, Propaganda, Television, Cuban Revolution, International Relations

May 16: Elizabeth II becomes the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress during a 13-day royal visit in Washington, D.C.

Tags: Diplomacy, Monarchy, Cold War, Heads of State, International Relations, Ceremony