Potsdam Conference, The Big Three Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and U.S. President Harry Truman--met in Potsdam, Germany, from July 17 to August 2, 1945, to negotiate terms for the end of World War II.
1949
Mao Zedong's Communist forces gain control of most of China.
1952
Business and Finance, After 21 month of operation by federal troops, the U.S. government returns the country's railroads to private control
1956
Egypt seizes the Suez Canal after the United States withdraws support for an Egyptian project on the Nile River
1957
The Soviet Union launches Sputnik, satellite, into orbit around Earth.
1958
Congress establishes the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
1960
The Paris summit between Soviet premier Khrushchev and President Eisenhower is canceled after the Soviets shoot down a U.S. spy plane.