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Cold War

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US Military industrial complex, US army soldiers, salute

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Military-Industrial Complex

EISENHOWER AND THE MILITARY A retired five-star general in the U.S. Army, Dwight D. Eisenhower had served as commander of Allied forces during World War II, and directed the D-Day invasion of France in 1944. Eisenhower’s two terms as U.S. president (1953-61) coincided with an era of military expansion unlike any other in the nation’s […]

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Freedom of Information Act

Origins of FOIA John Moss, a Democrat from Sacramento, California, was elected to Congress in 1952, amidst the Cold War and an era of increasing government secrecy. Moss started advocating for more government openness after the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower fired several thousand federal employees accused of being communists. When Moss asked to […]

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Thermonuclear explosion at Bikini Atoll, March 1954. The unexpected spread of fallout from the test led to awareness of, and research into, radioactive pollution.

Atomic Bomb History

Nuclear Bombs and Hydrogen Bombs A discovery by nuclear physicists in a laboratory in Berlin, Germany, in 1938 made the first atomic bomb possible, after Otto Hahn, Lise Meitner and Fritz Strassman discovered nuclear fission. In nuclear fission, the nucleus of an atom of radioactive material splits into two or more smaller nuclei, which causes […]

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The area around Moscow's Kremlin is lit up at night in 1986. Banners featuring Lenin's face celebrate the 70th anniversary of his revolution are hung on the State Historical Museum in the foreground.

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union was the world’s first Marxist-Communist state and was one of the biggest and most powerful nations in the world. It lasted from 1922 until its fall in 1991.

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Boris Pasternak, 1940s.

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When the CIA Used ‘Dr. Zhivago’ as a Cold War Weapon

Declassified Cold War-era documents reveal how the Central Intelligence Agency used the epic novel <em>Dr. Zhivago</em> as a tool to undermine the Soviet Union.

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How ‘Project Blue Book’ Production Designers Evoked the Golden Age of UFOs

Designers fashioned a mid-century world visually inspired by Dr. Strangelove, Edward Hopper paintings and more.

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Karl F. Koecher, center, a former CIA contract employee, being escorted by FBI agents from the agency's headquarters in 1984. Koecher was arrested on charges of delivering classified national security information to the Czechoslovakian intelligence service.

The Sex Party-Loving Soviet Spy Who Infiltrated the CIA

Karl Koecher and his wife lived a swinging, gold-plated life in New York City—all the while funneling classified information to the Soviets.

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Why the Berlin Airlift Was the First Major Battle of the Cold War

American and British pilots ferried some 2.3 million tons of supplies into West Berlin on a total of 277,500 flights, in what would be the largest air relief operation in history.

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This Day in History

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1980

Polish government signs accord with Gdansk shipyard workers

Cold War
1994

First NATO military action

1990s
1952

Military seizes power in Egypt

African History
1961

President Kennedy establishes the Peace Corps

U.S. Presidents
1975

Superpowers meet in space

Space Exploration
1987

Superpowers agree to reduce nuclear arsenals

Cold War
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