Cold War

An inside look at the dark art of spycraft—from the Frankenkitty to the umbrella gun, we uncover the deadliest spy weapons ever deployed.

Joseph McCarthy and his role in stoking fears of communism and its sympathizers during the 1950s.

Historian Yohuru Williams discusses key facts about the Hollywood Ten, a group of film directors, screenwriters and producers blacklisted for Communist affiliations in 1947.

Take a crash course on the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), a group that investigated the "loyalty" of those suspected of having Communist ties after World War II.

Upon his return from commanding U.S. occupation forces in Germany, Gen. Lucius Clay holds a press conference on May 17, 1949, and fields questions about the growing tension between the United States and the Soviets over the division of Germany.

Domino Theory, which governed much of U.S. foreign policy beginning in the early 1950s, held that a communist victory in one nation would quickly lead to a chain reaction of communist takeovers in neighboring states.

The U.S. competition with the U.S.S.R. for technological dominance spurred the U.S. on to the first-ever landing on the moon.

Within the CIA, the Bay of Pigs invasion of April 1961 was regarded as the "perfect failure."

For 30 years, the Berlin Wall was the defining symbol of the Cold War, separating families and keeping the people from jobs and opportunity in the west.

The Berlin Wall created two separate cities, two sides competing to be the best. And one of their biggest points of pride? Their zoos.

On June 9, 1954, two-thirds of the way into the 36-day televised Army-McCarthy hearings in which Sen. Joseph McCarthy argued that the U.S. Army was harboring communists, the investigation hits a turning point. When Joseph Welch, the Army's special counsel, accuses McCarthy of having "no sense of decency," the tide of public opinion turns and McCarthy's career is eventually ruined.

During Fidel Castro's tenure as President of Cuba, he survived an estimated 638 attempts on his life - and that's just from the CIA.

Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union resulted in the formation of key alliances that would endure throughout the Cold War.

Discover the history of the Suez Canal and how Egypt's President Nasser, with the support of the Soviet Union, seized the canal from the British in 1956, causing an international crisis. See how President Eisenhower intervened to help restore order.

The Cold War is over, but what it left behind may surprise you.

Historian Yohuru Williams explains how the fear of communist influences in America grew into a phenomenon known as "the Red Scare."

President Kennedy establishes his New Frontier with a challenge to venture into outer space.