Historical Events
- 1946-03-28 Cold War: The United States State Department releases the Acheson-Lilienthal Report, outlining a plan for the international control of nuclear power.
- 1948-10-24 Bernard Baruch introduces the term "Cold War"
- 1954-09-03 Espionage & Sabotage Act of 1954 signed in the US, prompted by the cold war
- 1957-11-07 Cold War: The Gaither Report calls for more American missiles and fallout shelters.
Cuban Missile Crisis
1962-10-16 Cuban Missile Crisis begins as JFK is shown photos confirming the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba
Cuban History
1962-10-22 Cuban Missile Crisis: US President John F. Kennedy addresses TV about Russian missile bases in Cuba and imposes a naval blockade on Cuba, beginning the missile crisis
- 1962-10-24 Cuban Missile Crisis: Soviet ships approach but stop short of the US blockade of Cuba
I Am Prepared to Wait
1962-10-25 US Ambassador to the UN Adlai Stevenson demands USSR UN rep Valerian Zorin answer regarding Cuban missile bases saying "I am prepared to wait for my answer until hell freezes over"
The Man Who Saved The World
1962-10-27 Black Saturday during the Cuban Missile Crisis: An American spy plane is shot down over Cuba and the navy drops warning depth charges on Soviet submarines
Cuban History
1962-10-28 Cuban Missile Crisis: US President JFK receives letter from Soviet Leaderr Khrushchev suggesting agreement
- 1975-12-28 In the aftermath of the Cold War, the New York Rangers become first team in NHL history to face a touring Soviet hockey squad; Soviet Army beats the Rangers, 7-3 at Madison Square Garden
- 1981-11-30 Cold War: In Geneva, representatives from the United States and the Soviet Union begin to negotiate intermediate-range nuclear weapon reductions in Europe (the meetings ended inconclusively on December 17)
Cold War Over
1989-12-03 Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and US President George H. W. Bush, declare the Cold War over
- 2014-11-08 Mikhail Gorbachev warns that tensions between America and Russia over Ukraine have put the world on the brink of a new Cold War
Famous Birthdays
- 1870-08-19 Bernard Baruch, American financier and presidential adviser (Cold War), born in Camden, South Carolina (d. 1965)
- 1882-01-05 Herbert Bayard Swope, U.S. journalist who coined the term "Cold War", born in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1958)
- 1904-02-16 George F. Kennan, American diplomat, Cold War strategist who advocated containment ("Long Telegram"; "The Sources of Soviet Conduct") and historian, born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (d. 2005)
- 1916-07-19 James D. Ramage, American Naval Aviator in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Cold War, born in Waterloo, Iowa (d. 2012)
- 1926-01-30 Vasily Arkhipov, Soviet-Russian naval officer who saved the world by refusing to launch a nuclear torpedo from submarine B-59 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, born in Zvorkovo, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (d. 1998)
- 1930-06-13 Ryszard Kukliński, Polish colonel and Cold War spy for NATO, born in Warsaw, Poland (d. 2004)
- 1934-04-01 Vladimir Posner, Russian-French-American journalist who represented and explained the views of the Soviet Union during the Cold War, born in Paris
- 1957-01-02 Lynne Cox, American long-distance open-water swimmer known for easing Cold War tensions by swimming from the US to the Soviet Union in 1987, born in Boston, Massachusetts
- 1972-06-29 Samantha Smith, American peace activist and actress (invited to the Soviet Union during Cold War), born in Houlton, Maine (d. 1985)
Famous Deaths
- 1965-06-20 Bernard Baruch, American financier and presidential adviser (Cold War), dies at 94
- 1965-06-21 Bernard Baruch, American presidential advisor (termed "Cold War"), dies at 94
- 1985-08-25 Samantha Smith, American peace activist and actress (invited to the Soviet Union during Cold War), dies in plane at 13
- 1998-08-19 Vasily Arkhipov, Soviet-Russian naval officer who saved the world by refusing to launch a nuclear torpedo from submarine B-59 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, dies of kidney cancer at 72
- 2004-02-11 Ryszard Kukliński, Polish colonel and Cold War spy for NATO, dies at 73
- 2005-03-17 George F. Kennan, American diplomat, Cold War strategist who advocated containment ("Long Telegram"; "The Sources of Soviet Conduct") and historian, dies at 101
- 2012-07-21 James D. Ramage, American Naval Aviator in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Cold War, dies at 96
Joseph Stalin
Konstantin Chernenko
Mikhail Gorbachev
Nikita Khrushchev
Vladimir Lenin
Yuri Andropov