Skip Links
U.S. Department of State
U.S. Public Diplomacy and the War of Ideas  |  Daily Press Briefing | What's NewU.S. Department of State
U.S. Department of State
SEARCHU.S. Department of State
Subject IndexBookmark and Share
U.S. Department of State
HomeHot Topics, press releases, publications, info for journalists, and morepassports, visas, hotline, business support, trade, and morecountry names, regions, embassies, and morestudy abroad, Fulbright, students, teachers, history, and moreforeign service, civil servants, interns, exammission, contact us, the Secretary, org chart, biographies, and more
Video
 You are in: Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs > Bureau of Public Affairs > Bureau of Public Affairs: Office of the Historian > More Publications > Historical Background Papers 
Chronology
Office of the Historian
Washington, DC

United States Relations with Russia Timeline: The Cold War

1945-1949
1950-1959
1960-1969
1970-1979
1980-1985
1986-1989

1945-1949

  • 1945–1946: Creation of Eastern European People’s Republics
  • 1946: George Kennan’s Long Telegram and the Policy of Containment
  • 1946: Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech
  • 1946: Soviet Troops in Iran
  • 1947: Truman Doctrine
  • 1947: U.S. Efforts to Control Atomic Energy
  • 1947: Marshall’s Offer of Economic Assistance
  • 1948–1949: Berlin Airlift
  • 1949: North Atlantic Treaty Organization
  • 1949: Creation of the two Germanys
  • 1949: Soviet Atomic Bomb

    1950-1959

  • 1950: Sino-Soviet Treaty
  • 1950: NSC-68
  • 1950–1953: Korean War
  • 1952: U.S. Hydrogen Bomb
  • 1953: Stalin’s Death
  • 1953: Soviet Hydrogen Bomb
  • 1954: Atomic Energy Act
  • 1955: Creation of the Warsaw Pact
  • 1955: Austrian State Treaty
  • 1955: Big Four Geneva Summit
  • 1956: Twentieth Congress of Soviet Communist Party
  • 1956: Polish Uprising
  • 1956: Suez Crisis
  • 1956: Hungarian Uprising
  • 1957–1958: Sputnik and the Space Race
  • 1958: Suspension of Nuclear Tests
  • 1958: Khrushchev’s Berlin Demands
  • 1959: Khrushchev Visits the United States
  • 1959: Khrushchev-Eisenhower Meeting at Camp David
  • 1959: Antarctic Treaty

    1960-1969

  • 1960: The U-2 Incident
  • 1960: Paris Summit
  • 1960: United States Unveils “Great Seal Bug” at the United Nations
  • 1961: Vienna Meeting
  • 1961: Berlin Crisis
  • 1962: Cuban Missile Crisis
  • 1963: Establishment of the “Hotline”
  • 1963: Limited Test Ban Treaty
  • 1964: Fall of Khrushchev
  • 1965: U.S. Troops to Vietnam
  • 1967: Treaty on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space
  • 1967: Johnson and Kosygin Meeting
  • 1968: Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty
  • 1968: Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia
  • 1969: Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
  • 1969: Soviet Submarine Base in Cuba

    1970-1979

  • 1971: Nuclear Weapons Ban on Seabed
  • 1971: Quadripartite Agreement on Berlin
  • 1971: Agreement to Reduce Risk of Nuclear War
  • 1972: Moscow Summit
  • 1973: Brezhnev-Nixon Meeting in the United States
  • 1973: Force Reduction Meeting in Vienna
  • 1974: Moscow Summit
  • 1974: Vladivostok Meeting
  • 1974: Jackson-Vanik Amendment
  • 1975: Apollo-Soyuz Mission
  • 1975: Helsinki CSCE Meetings
  • 1979: SALT II Agreements
  • 1979: New Moscow Embassy
  • 1979: NATO Action Against Soviet SS-20 Deployments
  • 1979: Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan

    1980-1985

  • 1980: Gromyko-Muskie Meeting Geneva
  • 1980: Olympic Boycott
  • 1980: Talks on Medium Range Missiles
  • 1981: Lifting of Embargo
  • 1981: Strategic Arms Reduction Proposal
  • 1981: Intermediate Range Nuclear Force Negotiations
  • 1981: Martial Law in Poland
  • 1982: Arms Reductions Refused by United States
  • 1982: Grain Embargo Lifted
  • 1982: Brezhnev’s Funeral
  • 1983: Reagan’s Open Letter to Europe
  • 1983: Announcement of Strategic Defense Initiative
  • 1983: INF Talks
  • 1983: Lifting of Grain Negotiations Ban
  • 1983: Downing of Korean Airlines Flight 007
  • 1983: INF Talks
  • 1983: START Talks
  • 1983: Breakdown of INF Talks
  • 1983: Breakdown of START Negotiations
  • 1984: Death of Soviet Leader
  • 1984: U.S.S. Kitty Hawk Incident
  • 1984: Soviet Olympic Boycott
  • 1984: Improvements to the Hotline
  • 1984: Proposal for Future Arms Control Talks
  • 1985: Geneva Meeting
  • 1985: Death of Chernenko
  • 1985: Arms Negotiations Resumed
  • 1985: New Bilateral Trade Agreements
  • 1985: Geneva Summit
  • 1985: Mutual and Balanced Force Reduction Proposal

    1986-1989

  • 1986: Televised Greetings
  • 1986: Nuclear Test Moratorium Proposed
  • 1986: Chernobyl Disaster
  • 1986: Commercial Flights Resumed
  • 1986: Nuclear Risk Reduction
  • 1986: Reykjavik Summit
  • 1986: START Proposal
  • 1987: Nuclear and Space Talks
  • 1987: Discovery of Electronic Listening Devices at U.S. Embassy
  • 1987: Agreement on Nuclear Risk Reduction
  • 1987: Draft START Treaty
  • 1987: Soviet Draft Treaty
  • 1987: Washington Summit
  • 1987: Gorbachev, Man of Year
  • 1988: Moscow Summit
  • 1988: Communist Party of the Soviet Union’s XIXth Party Conference
  • 1988: New York Meeting
  • 1989: Vienna Meeting
  • 1989: Gorbachev Elected President
  • 1989: Secretary Baker’s Visit to Moscow
  • 1989: President Bush’s Speech on the Soviet Union
  • 1989: U.S.-Soviet Military Agreement
  • 1989: Baker and Shevardnadze Meeting
  • 1989: Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe
  • 1989: U.S. and Soviet Leaders Met at Malta



    •   Back to top

    U.S. Department of State
    USA.govU.S. Department of StateUpdates  |  Frequent Questions  |  Contact Us  |  Email this Page  |  Subject Index  |  Search
    The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs, manages this site as a portal for information from the U.S. State Department. External links to other Internet sites should not be construed as an endorsement of the views or privacy policies contained therein.
    About state.gov  |  Privacy Notice  |  FOIA  |  Copyright Information  |  Other U.S. Government Information

    Published by the U.S. Department of State Website at http://www.state.gov maintained by the Bureau of Public Affairs.