East German Killed Crossing Berlin Wall

East German Killed Crossing Berlin Wall

In August 1962 Peter Fechter, an 18 year old East German bricklayer, the 27th known person to die at the Berlin Wall, was shot and killed by East German border guards while trying to cross over to West Berlin. Source: Wikipedia

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Berlin Wall Erected

Berlin Wall Erected

https://youtu.be/aP96A_2IsTY?t=3 The Berlin Wall encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the German Democratic Republic. The wall included guard towers placed along large concrete walls and a wide area that...

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Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba

Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba

https://youtu.be/T-jZ4ZUR6Qw In April 1961 ~1500 CIA-trained Cuban exiles launched the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba (Invasión de Playa Girón) in an attempt to overthrow the government of Fidel Castro. Without any of the promised air support from the United States, the...

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Civil War in Laos

Civil War in Laos

In association with civil wars in Cambodia and  Vietnam, the Laotian Civil War was waged between the Communist Pathet Lao and the Royal Lao Government from May 1959 to December 1975. Both sides received heavy support in a proxy war...

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US Severs Diplomatic Relations with Cuba

US Severs Diplomatic Relations with Cuba

The United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba on January 3, 1961, citing unwarranted action by the Government of Cuba that placed crippling limitations on the ability of the United States Mission to carry on its normal diplomatic and consular functions....

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Castro Nationalizes American Companies

Castro Nationalizes American Companies

https://youtu.be/fXF8fegxjWc?t=13 In 1960, Fidel Castro nationalized all U.S.-owned businesses, including oil refineries, factories and casinos. This prompted the United States to end diplomatic relations and impose a trade embargo. Source: Counterpunch

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Nixon-Khruschev Kitchen Debate

Nixon-Khruschev Kitchen Debate

https://youtu.be/XRgOz2x9c08 During a visit to the Soviet Union in July 1959, Vice President Richard Nixon got into a "kitchen debate" with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev at a US exhibition.  Source: Wikipedia

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Ho Chi Minh Trail

Ho Chi Minh Trail

  In May 1959 the Peoples’ Army of Vietnam’s Military Transportation Group 559 was established in North Vietnam. The group ultimately created and maintained the Ho Chi Minh Trail to facilitate the infiltratiion of troops and supplies from North Vietnam in support...

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Fidel Castro’s Forces Triumphant

Fidel Castro’s Forces Triumphant

Fidel and Raul Castro formed an underground movement in the early 1950s to overthrow the brutal and corrupt regime of the dictator Fulgencio Batista, under whose rule Cuba had become a haven for organized crime. After an unsuccessful rising against Batista in 1953 the...

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Second Taiwan Strait Crisis

Second Taiwan Strait Crisis

https://youtu.be/lS2DPx-4sbI 1958 Taiwan Strait Crisis, was a conflict between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Republic of China (ROC). The PRC shelled the islands of Kinmen(Quemoy) and the Matsu Islands along the east coast...

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Execution of Hungarian Communist Leader 

Execution of Hungarian Communist Leader 

Imre Nagy served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Hungarian People's Republic from 1953 to 1955. In 1956 Nagy. a committed communist, became leader of the Hungarian Revolution against the Soviet-backed government....

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Fidel Castro Behind Rebel Lines in Cuba

Fidel Castro Behind Rebel Lines in Cuba

Believing support for the revolution was waning, Cuba's president Fulgencio Batista called for a major military offensive against Fidel Castro's rebels in the Sierra Maestra mountains in the summer of 1958. But the rebels turned back the offensive, forcing the army to...

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John Birch Society

John Birch Society

https://youtu.be/mide9z5q_3c In 1958 the John Birch Society, an American ultraconservative political advocacy group was founded by retired candy manufacturer Robert Welch to promote anti-communism and social conservatism. At its height,...

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Eisenhower Warns of Communist Threat

Eisenhower Warns of Communist Threat

Text of January 1958 address: The threat to our safety, and to the hope of a peaceful world, can be simply stated. It is communist imperialism. This threat is not something imagined by critics of the Soviets. Soviet spokesmen, from the beginning, have publicly and...

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Mao Zedong: Handling of Contradictions

Mao Zedong: Handling of Contradictions

On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People (关于正确处理人民内部矛盾的问题) was a 1957 essay by Mao Zedong that made a distinction between "contradictions amongst the people" and "counter-revolutionary contradictions." The stated policy was to "isolate...

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Eisenhower Doctrine

Eisenhower Doctrine

https://youtu.be/1N1_JGG4XX8 In January 1957 President Eisenhower declared that US forces could be deployed to protect the territorial integrity and political independence of nations from overt armed aggression by any nation controlled by international communism....

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The Daily Worker

The Daily Worker

In 1924 the Communist Party USA  began publishing the Daily Worker newspaper in in New York City.  At its peak, the newspaper achieved a circulation of 35,000. Contributors to its pages included: Robert Minor and Fred...

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Hungarian Uprising

Hungarian Uprising

https://youtu.be/_Vy5RGJNvGg In October 1956 a countrywide revolution arose against the Stalinist government of the Hungarian People's Republic and the domestic policies imposed by the USSR.   In November 1956, after initially agreeing to negotiate the withdrawal of...

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The Polish Revolution

The Polish Revolution

The Poznań protests of 1956 (Poznański Czerwiec) were several massive protests against the communist government of the Polish People's Republic. In June 1956 demonstrations by workers demanding better working conditions at Poznań's Cegielski...

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Khrushchev Denounces “Dictator” Stalin

Khrushchev Denounces “Dictator” Stalin

After the death of Josef Stalin in 1953, little criticism regarding his leadership was tolerated until, in a closed session of 1,500 delegates and visitors in 1956 First Secretary of the Communist Party Nikita Khrushchev denounced The Personality Cult of Josef Stalin...

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President Eisenhower’s Open Skies Proposal Rejected

President Eisenhower’s Open Skies Proposal Rejected

https://youtu.be/4DH3c9WJMQU The concept of "mutual aerial observation" initially proposed to Soviet Premier Nikolai Bulganin at the Geneva Conference of 1955 by U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, was promptly rejected by the USSR...

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First US Advisors Sent to South Vietnam

First US Advisors Sent to South Vietnam

https://youtu.be/qtaX8MIimwE After WWII, American Cold War policy was based on the "domino theory”— if one country fell to communism, the surrounding countries would fall, like dominoes. The Eisenhower administration was worried that the potential fall of Vietnam...

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Georgy Malenkov Resigns

Georgy Malenkov Resigns

In 1953, Georgy Maximilianovich Malenkov briefly succeeded Joseph Stalin as the leader of the Soviet Union. However, at the insistence of the rest of the Presidium, he relinquished control over the party apparatus in exchange for...

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