IB Cold War Timeline

Early Cold War Timeline Excerpts from CBS Radio News Broadcasts 1945-1948

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February 1945 12 Yalta Conference 13 Polish Americans protest terms of Yalta 14 Japan hints at surrender 19 Invasion of Iwo Jima 27 Churchill says Poles control their future as

long as they are friendly to Russia

March 1945 5 Rules of Security Council of UN are

revealed--veto power 8 US troops take Remagen Bridge.

Germany is wide open to US-British troops

13 US B-29s hit Osaka 14 US formally takes Iwo Jima 20 Japanese admit B-29 raids are worse than

what Germany got

April 1945 2 US invades Okinawa 4 Japanese begin fighting for Okinawa on

land, Kamikazes at Sea 10 US scout planes describe Berlin as "a

deserted city" 12 Franklin D. Roosevelt is dead New President Truman says, "I felt like the

moon and stars and all the planets had fallen on me."

16 Russians begin the Battle of Berlin 25 UN conference begins in San Francisco Berlin is encircled 26 US finally smashes the first of the

Japanese lines on Okinawa 27 In SF, Russia demands that the

Communist dominated Provisional Polish Government represent Poland. US refuses.

US and Russian forces meet in Germany at Torgau on the Elbe River

30 Russians finally take Berlin Hitler commits suicide

May 1945 4 French, British and US protest Russians

creating a Provisional Government of Austria

Germany surrenders unconditionally to the Allies

8 Moscow announces that Germany has surrendered to the Russians, no mention of other victors

9 Tokyo announces that Germany and Italy are out of the war, but that Japan will continue to fight.

11 Yugoslav Communists announce that pro-Western Mikhailovitch will be executed.

15 Okinawa fighting continues 21 Okinawa fighting gets "more ferocious than

anything ever seen or imagined before." 23 Tokyo heavily bombed by B-29s. 25 sq. mi.

of city are burned out in firestorm. 200,000 dead.

28 US troops killing Japanese soldiers at the rate of 1,000 men per day

29 US finally making substantial gains on Okinawa

30 Most of Yokohama devastated by B-29 fire raids. 250,000 made homeless. 60,000 homes destroyed

June 1945 4 Entire Japanese air force dedicated to use as

Kamikazes against US warships. Kamikazes continue to heavily hit the US fleet

near Okinawa 5 Allies convene the Allied Supreme Control

Commission to govern conquered Germany 6 Soviets accuse Western Allies of mistreating

Soviet prisoners of war 7 Churchill reveals that the Russians got two

extra UN votes as part of a secret deal at Yalta

8 US leaflets promise Japanese that unconditional surrender would not mean slavery or annihilation.

21 All major Japanese cities have been knocked out by B-29s.

Okinawa fighting is finally over 22 Mass surrender of Japanese troops on

Okinawa. US very surprised. 10,000 taken alive out of 120,000

Polish Exile government protests convictions of 12 of their leaders in Moscow

26 UN conference in SF ends

July 1945 3 US troops march into Berlin Polish provisional government accepts "free

and unfettered" elections in principle 5 British recognize the new Polish government


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10 Inter-Allied Commission formed to govern Berlin

16 Soviets have already removed over half of heavy machinery in Berlin to Russia.

General Spaatz takes over the air war against Japan (he ran the air war against Germany)

17 Potsdam Conference begins US air and naval forces continue to pound

what is left of Japan 18 Huge US-British air attack on Tokyo House of Representatives gives list of 13

Army officers who are charged with being Communists

25 Potsdam conference on hold waiting for outcome of British elections

26 British election returns show that Churchill has lost in a landslide. Clement Atlee now in charge.

Japan asks for more lenient terms than "unconditional surrender." Allies refuse.

Truman warns Japan of utter destruction unless they surrender immediately and unconditionally

31 US drops 750,000 leaflets on Japanese war centers warning them they are marked for destruction

August 1945 3 Truman announces there were no secret

deals at Potsdam. 6 US drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

Japanese thought there were "squadrons of B-29s." 78,000 dead. 3 square miles are destroyed.

7 US issues further warnings to Japan to surrender or face "utter destruction"

8 Soviets declare war on Japan ahead of schedule

9 Soviet troops hit Japanese in Manchuria US bombs tertiary target Nagasaki with an

Atomic Bomb US drops 3,000,000 leaflets on Japanese

cities asking them to petition the Emperor to sue for peace or be destroyed like Hiroshima and Nagasaki

10 Japanese begin discussing terms of surrender with the Allies

13 Allied reply to Japanese peace offer is sent to Japan

US air attacks continue to pound Japanese targets

14 Japanese reply is received by Truman who considers the terms

15 Japanese officially surrender Red Chinese begin taking former Japanese-

held territory 16 Churchill gives speech attacking communism

accusing Soviets of trying to dominate Europe by "terroristic methods." Demands atomic secrets be kept to US and Britain

22 Official Soviet press says that Allied supervision of East European elections would "violate their sovereignty"

27 US Third Fleet anchors in Tokyo Bay. Four hundred ships

Japanese troops finally surrender in Philippines

28 Chinese Communists and Nationalists begin to negotiate peace in their Civil War

30 MacArthur lands in Tokyo. Says, "Well, we got here, didn't we?"

September 1945 3 Japanese formally surrender on the USS

Missouri 5 US troops roll into Tokyo 10 MacArthur abolishes Imperial General

Headquarters and establishes strict censorship

11 Premier Tojo attempts suicide. MacArthur charges him with war crimes

12 MacArthur arrests top Japanese militarists and charges them with war crimes

20 Korean leaders complain about the division of their country

US troops in Germany are finally allowed to fraternize with Germans

24 Yugoslav communists begin terrorizing Italians near Trieste

Brits try to restrict Jewish immigration to Palestine to 1,500 a month. Zionists turn that down

27 MacArthur meets with Hirohito for 38 minutes

October 1945 2 Marshall Zhukov, Russia's greatest general,

won't visit America due to illness 3 Russians renew their demand that MacArthur

be removed and replaced with an Allied Council

4 MacArthur orders complete Freedom of Speech in Japan. Even Emperor can be discussed


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9 French sentence Pierre Laval to death 11 MacArthur orders that Japan will have

women suffrage, freedom of religion, liberal education, democratic industrial organization, and formation of labor unions.

Jews raid British Army depot near Tel Aviv, Palestine

15 Laval executed by firing squad 17 Soviets again demand that MacArthur be

ousted 18 Military Tribunal charges 24 top Nazis with

war crimes in Nuremberg Tensions rise between Indonesian

Nationalists and Dutch 22 MacArthur reforms entire Japanese

education system. No militarism or ultra-nationalism

Red Chinese and Nationalists fighting again

24 Indonesian "Republic" forms a regular Army to fight against the Dutch

Jackie Robinson joins the Dodgers farm system. If good enough, he will play for the Dodgers

29 Fighting in China now a full-scale civil war British and Dutch fighting Indonesians in

Java

November 1945 1 Soviet flatly turn down US request for less

censorship of US-British Press in Moscow British are now carrying on most of the

Dutch load in fighting with the Indonesians More terrorism in Palestine by Jewish

Zionists 5 MacArthur orders all foreign contacts with

Japan to go through him 6 Holland offers home rule to Indonesians 7 Sukarno turns down Dutch offer 12 Indonesian Republic asks for Soviet aid

after rebuffs by Britain and US 13 US accepts Britain's compromise plan for

Palestine 14 Jewish general strike in Palestine erupts

into violence in Tel Aviv 15 US announces it will not share atomic

secrets with Soviets, or any one nation 20 Nuremberg trials opened by a British

judge 27 Marshall becomes US Ambassador to

China

29 Yugoslavia goes Communist

December 1945 14 Nuremberg: Documented evidence of the

Holocaust shows that six million Jews died 18 Tokyo parliament dissolved to make way for a

democratic House of Representatives 21 MacArthur's popularity in Japan so high that

he would be elected President in a landslide General Patton dies from injuries sustained in

a car crash 31 Emperor Hirohito renounces his divinity to the

Japanese people

January 1946 7 Marshall tries to mediate peace between

Change and Mao in China 8 Truman announces there is no reason to

believe Russians have atomic weapons 15 China announces end to the Civil War.

Chaing Kai-shek in charge 21 De Gaulle quits French government now that

France is stabilized 25 UN begins investigating crises in Greece,

Indonesia and Iran 31 Jews protest British decision to allow only

1,500 Jewish immigrants a month.

February 1946 1 US and Soviets argue in UN over Greek

conflict 11 Anti-British riots break out in Egypt 20 Former US Ambassador to Russia says the

Soviets had a moral right to spy on the US to get atomic secrets because the US wouldn't share the information

22 Chinese think China was sold out to the Soviets who are greatly aiding the Reds there. FDR's fault

25 Indian strikes and riots over British rule

March 1946 1 Soviets have taken most machinery from

Manchuria 6 Churchill gives anti-Soviet speech in Fulton

Missouri describing Soviet rule in Europe an "Iron Curtain:"

7 US sends a note to Moscow asking Russia to immediately withdraw every soldier from Iran


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11 Soviets call Churchill a "war-monger" for his Fulton speech; accuse him of trying start war with Russia

Red Chinese pour into Manchuria as Soviets leave

15 India gains independence Four Canadian scientists and a member of

Canadian Parliament arrested as Soviet spies

19 Iran complains to the UN about Soviets not leaving

Dr. May, British scientist, admits he gave atomic info to Soviets

26 Soviet envoy Gromyko will boycott UN Security Council over the Iranian crisis

Iranians give their compliant to UN anyway

27 Chinese Civil War breaks out in Manchuria again

April 1946 2 Allies execute General Homma for the

Bataan Death March 4 Iranians begin occupying some towns

near Russian forces in Iran 9 Soviet troops are now evacuating from

Iran 11 Communist Chinese are mounting huge

offensives in North China 18 League of Nations officially dies at

midnight 24 Soviet fighter planes again shoot at a US

transport plane over Austria

May 1946 1 Anglo-American committee recommends

that Palestine be a half-Jewish, half-Arab state with equal treatment. Neither side is happy.

3 Tojo now on trial in Japan 7 Soviets finally leave Japan 8 Soviets still boycotting UN over Iran

June 1946 3 Canadian spy trial shows that Soviets

were paying for atomic secrets while we were still allies in the war

5 Italy votes to become a Republic 24 Soviets call the US plan to control atomic

weapons an attempt at "world domination"

28 Allied Foreign minister's meeting in Paris gets nasty. Soviets object to nearly every proposal

July 1946 1 Rioting in Trieste between Italians and

Yugoslavs Fighting in Palestine between Jews and Brits

rivals when the IRA fought the Black and Tans in Ireland

4 Philippines formally receive independence from US

8 Arabs demand that all Jewish immigration to Palestine immediately stop

11 More rioting inTrieste 12 Big Four conference in Paris ends with ill

feeling 17 Mikhailovitch, the pro-Western Yugoslav

leader, is executed by the Communists Marshall Zhukov has fallen out of favor in

Russia and assigned to a low-profile job 22 Jewish terrorists destroy most of the King

David Hotel in Jerusalem. Over 100 British casualties.

24 Soviet rejection of US plan to control atomic weapons is final

August 1946 13 British begin sending illegal immigrants into

Palestine to Cypress 15 As the Jewish immigrants were unloaded in

Cypress they started a battle with British troops

19 Communists openly declare war on the Nationalists in China. Civil War officially begins.

22 Yugoslav Communist forces shoot down a US transport plane killing five

Tito promises no more such incidents. US begins sending armed bombers on transport missions

30 Communist bands begin attacking Greece from Yugoslav territory

September 1946 2 King of Greece returns after winning Greek

elections 5 Fifth day of rioting in Bombay between

Hindus and Muslims 6 US workers go on strike to protest loading

cargo destined for Yugoslavia


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9 Violence again racks Jerusalem Jewish terrorists blow up British

headquarters in Tel Aviv 11 Arabs reject any ideas of a Jewish state in

Palestine. 13 At Madison Square Garden, Henry

Wallace, Secretary of Commerce, proposes a new US policy which want friendly relations with Russia and less of a friendship with Britain

17 Wallace publishes a letter he wrote to Truman outlining his pro-Soviet, anti-British ideas. Says Truman read and okayed his Madison Square Garden Speech.

18 Hagana, the official secret army of Zionism, says it will fight "purposeless terrorism"

19 Top US defense officials flatly deny Wallace's accusation that some top US officers want war with Russia before she gets the atomic bomb.

20 Truman demands Wallace's resignation. Truman is more than annoyed.

25 Yugoslavia charges the head of the Yugoslavian Roman Catholic Church with war crimes

30 Nuremberg: All but one of the defendants was found guilty

October 1946 1 Twelve convicted Nazis are sentenced to

hang 2 Bernard Baruch, America's elder

statesman, charges Wallace with sabotaging the US atomic control plan. Russia opposes the plan and Wallace backs the Russians

7 Yugoslavia prohibits any testimony on behalf of the beleaguered Archbishop

10 Nazi appeals are rejected in Nuremberg Alaska votes for Statehood 16 Goring commits suicide before he can be

hanged. The other 11 are hanged 17 Gerhard Eisler is discovered as the

Master Spy for the Soviets in the US 21 Brits intercept another ship full of Jews

bound for Palestine 23 UN Assembly meets for the first time 24 Mexico, US, and Britain call for the

abolition of the veto. Idea rejected by Soviets

Most top German rocket scientists have been removed to Russia

28 Communists win 55% of votes in Bulgaria. 29 US and Britain protest Soviet rigging of

election in Rumania.

November 1946 8 Albania is now a firm Soviet satellite 11 Soviets reject us idea of withdrawing from the

Baltic States London on extreme alert due to Jewish

underground threats--even on Field Marshall Montgomery

15 CIO gives the union president the right to expel Communists

26 US accuses the recent Rumanian election of massive fraud

December 1946 6 Chinese Communists turn down all offers of

further negotiation 13 Leftist rebels in Iran have fled across the

border to Russia 18 Arab terrorism begins in Palestine 20 War breaks out in Indochina between France

and the Indochinese 25 France sends war hero, LeClerc, to settle the

rebellion

January 1947 7 George C. Marshall takes over as Secretary

of State 15 Soviets reject the US contention of unfair

elections in Poland. 20 Polish elections show that Poles not only love

Russians, but Communism too: 390 of 424 seats

24 US report on Polish election: Terror and intimidation by Communists. No secret ballot.

February 1947 4 US and Russia want disarmament. Disagree

how, and especially over the A-bomb 14 Soviet minister Gromyko demands that US

destroy all its A-bombs and not wait for a system of atomic control to be agree upon.

21 For the sixth time in 12 months, the US asks the Soviets to pay their Lend-Lease money. Soviets promise to "look into it."

Atlee announce that Britain will leave India by June, 1948


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24 Reports that the Soviets are conscripting and training North Koreans in Soviet style fighting.

28 Chinese Civil War is formally acknowledged by all

March 1947 7 Rioting in Punjab Province, India Jewish extremists fight with British in

Jerusalem and Haifa 17 Soviets set 20 billion dollars over 20 years

as German reparations. Stalin notes that Roosevelt said that was the generally agreed upon number. US says all numbers were preliminary, none were final at all.

24 Entire documents of Big Three meetings at Teheran, Yalta, and Potsdam are published. Soviet claims are supported on issue of reparations, but that Churchill was an angry dissenter. A secret deal was that Germans would pay this in labor, essentially making Germans slaves until the debt was paid.

27 Henry Wallace says he is opposed to stopping communism in the Middle East

31 US ends the draft!

April 1947 2 British "dump the Zionist baby into the lap

of the UN." They are sick of dealing with Palestine.

US gets permanent control of Pacific Islands taken from Japan.

9 With British training, the Greeks begin to assault Communist positions in Greece.

11 Wallace launches his campaign to rally Europe against the Truman Containment policy

18 UN gives the green light by saying the US has the right to aid Turkey and Greece (Truman Doctrine)

Wallace now announces that he will attack Truman Doctrine abroad and at home

23 Moscow Conference ends. No agreement reached over how to decide the future of Austria and Germany

May 1947 9 Congress approves the Truman Doctrine:

$400,000,000 to Greece and Turkey to fight communism

30 Hungarian Communists take power after forcing Premier Nagy to quit

June 1947 2 US refuses to send money or other aid to a

Red Hungary 13 British like the idea of the Marshall Plan put

forward the US Secretary of State. Six Billion a year for European recovery.

16 Henry Wallace threatens to lead a third party in 1948 elections.

18 French and British appeal to Russia to join the Marshall Plan

25 Soviets continue their attacks on the Marshall Plan

27 Chinese Nationalists charge the Soviets have been giving massive aid to the Reds

30 Soviets announce they will have nothing to do with the Marshall Plan

July 1947 7 Moscow announces that Rumania, Poland,

and Yugoslavia will not participate in the Marshall Plan. Poland said it was "definitely interested." Moscow said Poland wasn't. Now, Poland isn't interested. Czechoslovakia said they are interested.

10 After consultations with Moscow, the Czechs have decided they no longer want Marshall Plan aid

17 Greek troops have the Communists on the run

31 Greeks accuse Albania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia of aiding the communists in Greece.

August 1947 4 Indonesia War is over. Dutch order a cease

fire 5 Report from Palestine: Jewish underground

has hanged two British sergeants Anti-Semitic rioting in Britain 6 Britain wonders how it can feed its people

through the coming Winter unless US arrives soon

14 British officially exit India


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21 Soviet vetoes keep Italy and Austria out of the UN

22 Soviets sentence Petkov to death in Bulgaria. US angered over the sentence of the liberal democrat

25 Civil war engulfs the border of the new India and Pakistan

29 US breaks off "futile" negotiations with Russia over uniting Korea

September 1947 2 Truman announces from Brazil that the

postwar world has been, "extremely disappointing" for the US

19 Soviets file a resolution with the UN accusing the US of "fomenting war"

20 Truman demands an apology for the Soviet accusations

29 Soviets refuse to apologize and call Truman, "a Hitler"

October 1947 2 Jewish agency for Palestine accepts UN

proposal to divide Palestine into Jewish and Arab states

Arab nations boast they will drench the Holy Land with blood before they accept a division of Palestine

15 Arab agitation against the US over US support for the Palestine plan

17 Britain gives Burma Independence 28 Hollywood film writers take the Fifth

Amendment and refuse to answer questions of their Communist background

November 1947 3 Polish leader Mikolajczyk escapes to

London. Feared his Purge Trial would result in execution

6 Soviets announce they are in a position to make an atomic bomb

12 Communists riot in Milan, Italy UN establishes a special commission for

Korea over Soviet objections 25 Soviets refuse to agree to a final peace

treaty with Austria US film industry announces it will not hire

Communists 28 Milan put under Martial Law to avoid a

Communist takeover

December 1947 2 In Cairo, Muslims are calling for a Holy War

to prevent the partition of Palestine 3 France mobilize 80,000 troops to crush a

Communist campaign of strikes and sabotage 9 Communists call off strikes and order their

people to return to work 10 Communists launch a general strike in Rome.

Italians fear it is to overthrow the government 12 Roman general strike collapses 15 Negotiations over German reunification

collapses. Soviet won't go along with US, Britain, and France

26 New Communist offensive is launched in Greece; formation of a Communist guerilla movement

29 Henry Wallace announce he will run for President in 1948. Opposed to Marshall Plan and Truman doctrine

January 1948 1 Britain nationalizes railroads and other

transportation 2 US gives Britain blanket authority to give

Lend-Lease equipment to the Greeks 5 US and Britain create West Germany, to get

around Soviet intransigence over reunification 8 US advisors sent to Greece 14 US officially says it will not leave Berlin China begins evacuating missionaries in the

path of the Communist threat 15 Chinese Communists are making great gains

in north China 16 Jews move into Haifa in a regular military

assault 19 Dutch and Indonesians reach agreement 20 Attempted grenade assassination of Gandhi 21 Gandhi shot to death

February 1948 3 Ceylon is independent of Britain today 6 US finally gets a German V-2 rocket to work 13 Soviets set up a German government of their

own in the Soviet Zone 16 North Korea proclaims an independent state 24 Communist coup d'etat in Czechoslovakia 25 Czech President Benes assents to a Red

Dictatorship under Premier Gottwald


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March 1948 10 Foreign Minister and anti-Communist Jan

Masyrk jumps from building to his death in Prague

11 US pleads with Britain to postpone removing troops from Palestine. Brits say, "No!"

15 Truman orders executive branch employees to ignore subpoenas from Congress on loyalty of workers

17 Truman gives a speech painting a picture of Red aggression: Czechoslovakia, Poland, threats to Finland, Scandinavia and Italy

19 US now says to abandon the partition plan for Palestine. Now want the UN to run Palestine

23 Jewish provisional government rejects US idea of UN rule. Will proceed according to old plan

26 Both of FDR's sons oppose Truman for President. Want to nominate Eisenhower

31 Communists in Italy are outraged that Italian-Americans are writing anti-Communist letters to relatives in Italy.

Soviets are clamping down on travel in Berlin.

April 1948 1 Soviets have halted all rail and road traffic

to Berlin from the French, US, and British zones. US is running supplies in by aircraft. Two million Germans and 10,000 troops need to be fed. Looks impossible.

4 Arabs begin attacking Jewish zones in Palestine

5 US announces that US fighter planes will escort all transport flights to Berlin after several Russian fighters harassed US planes

8 Arabs have taken Kastel and cut off Jews in Jerusalem from those on the coast

16 Armageddon in Palestine. Arabs and Jews are locked in battle on the plains of Jesreel, the location of Armageddon. Large numbers of Arabs troops are coming in from Jordan

21 The Italians have voted, 66%-33%, for Christian Democrats over the Communists

22 Jewish forces have taken Haifa in Northern Palestine

30 Jews have won a major victory in Jerusalem

May 1948 10 South Korean elections succeed despite

Communist violence and intimidation Jerusalem is demilitarized and will become a

Hospital Zone 14 The Jewish State in Palestine is now in

existence. The British are pulling out. Will the Muslim states only take Arab land in Palestine? Or will they try to destroy the infant Jewish state?

The US recognized the new Jewish state. It is to be called: Israel

18 Arab troops have entered Jerusalem and are attacking the Jewish Quarter

19 Arabs claim to be in control of Jerusalem 21 Egyptian forces drive forty miles into Israel

today Jews in Jerusalem are barely hanging on 26 Arabs turned down a UN request for a cease-

fire unless: 1) The State of Israel be abolished 2) No more Jewish immigration until matters are settled 3) no more weapons may be imported

27 The Jews in Jerusalem are done for The Nationalist Party surprisingly wins in

South Africa. Will establish a new policy called Apartheid

28 Jews in Jerusalem surrender

June 1948 3 Eisenhower says he will never run as a

Democrat because he is a Republican 7 Benes quits because he is "disgusted" with

the new Communist Constitution 9 Truce in Palestine Truman is running hard against the

Republican Congress--"The worst ever!" 10 Jews are hostile toward the Truce. Say it

favors the Arabs 24 Republicans nominate Thomas Dewey Soviets block all traffic into and out of Berlin.

Only the aircraft keep West Berlin alive 25 Soviets call off their ban on land travel to

Berlin. What game are they playing? 28 Yugoslavia and Russia break over Tito's

refusal to toe Stalin's line. Tito is turning to the West for help

Soviets have again blockaded Berlin 29 Tito makes clear he will not back down to the

Russians


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30 A gigantic airlift is underway to feed Berlin

July 1948 1 Arabs turn down the peace plan for

Palestine Russian end the four-power cooperation

for Germany 5 Eisenhower says no once, and for all, that

he will not be a candidate this year US planes have flown 1,115 cargo flights

in nine days 7 Malaya has declared a total war against

communist guerillas 9 War is on again in Palestine 15 Truman is ignoring threats from the

Dixiecrats at the Convention and is focusing his fire on Republicans

21 Twelve people are arrested for leadership in communist activity

23 Wallace's Progressive Party began its convention today "It's Wallace or War!"

August 1948 3 Time Magazine editor Whittaker

Chambers tell the House Committee on Un-American Activities that he tried to war FDR about Communists in top government jobs. FDR did nothing. He even claims Alger Hiss, a poster boy for the New Deal and high official in the State Department, is a Communist

4 More testimony in Congress on Communist spying in the US.

5 Truman accuses the Republicans in Congress of using spy hunts to hide the fact that they are not doing any real work

Alger Hiss says he doesn't know Whittaker Chambers, "I've never laid eyes on him."

11 The Dixiecrats who left the Democratic Party and have nominated Strom Thurmond of South Carolina

12 US recognized South Korea as the legitimate government of Korea

13 Lauchlin Currie, an aide to FDR at Yalta, denies he has ever given info to the Soviets or of tipping off spies in the US that we had broken a Soviet code.

17 Alger Hiss now admits he did know Whittaker Chambers

Harry Dexter White died of a sudden heart attack. He was named as a spy by

Chambers and was the assistant Secretary of the Treasury

19 Alger Hiss has refused to take a lie detector test

September 1948 2 The Democrats have read the Dixiecrats out

of the party 3 Benes has died of a heart attack in Prague 7 Communists riot in Berlin. Look to set up a

Communist city hall 9 Sam Roper has said he will stop polling the

American people on the Presidency. "Mr. Dewey is so far ahead that we might as well get ready to listen to his inaugural."

16 Jerusalem is the scene of heavy fighting 17 Jewish assassins murder Count Bernadotte

who was the Chief Mediator for the UN in Palestine

20 Reports from Korea say if US troops withdraw there is little to stop a Communist invasion

21 The Government of Israel is hunting Bernadotte's assassins. Hundreds of arrests

23 Israel has offered a huge reward for info leading to the capture of Bernadotte's assassins

24 Dewey hits Truman for non-cooperation in exposing Communists in the US Government

October 1948 1 The Soviets are hinting that they have an

atomic bomb 12 Soviet are going to practice "blind flying" right

in the flight corridor into Berlin 14 The UN has charged Israel with negligence

for the assassination of Bernadotte 21 Israelis have taken major towns in Southern

Palestine 25 Russia has vetoed a security council plan to

end the Berlin Blockade 100,000 Frenchmen are now in Indochina

fighting the Communist led Viet Minh 26 Israel says not one inch of territory will be

given up Nationalists in China are facing disaster

November 1948 1 British newspapers have reported that Dewey

is the certain winner in the US 3 A miracle: Truman has defeated Dewey!


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4 The UN has ordered Israel to withdraw from territory it has captured from the Arabs

10 Nationalists have placed all of China under martial law

18 Truman wants a bipartisan foreign policy 19 Moscow calls for the US to destroy all its

atomic bombs before disarmament talks can succeed

22 Foreign embassies are packing to leave China as the Communists roll on

23 MacArthur has passed the death sentences for six Japanese war criminals

December 1948 2 Berlin is now ruled by the Western allies in

their part and the Russians in theirs. Cooperation is over

3 Whittaker Chambers has evidence of his spying days: In a pumpkin on his farm are secret documents of microfilm from the State Department. He says Alger Hiss gave them to him years ago when Chambers was a spy.

6 Berliners voted overwhelmingly anti-Communist today

Chambers has officially accused Hiss of stealing secret documents from the State Department and giving them to the top Soviet spy in the US

9 Truman accuses Congress of trying to steal headlines over Communist spies in the government

Hiss has given up his job at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

14 The new Crown Prince of England will be Christened tomorrow: Charles Phillip Arthur George

15 Alger Hiss has been indicted for perjury. The statute of limitations (3 years) has ran out for charges of espionage. For lying under oath to Congress when he said he had given no documents to Chambers

22 The Dutch have launched a huge offensive in Indonesia. The US is very displeased

Japanese War criminals have been executed

23 Jews have renewed their offensive in Southern Palestine

28 Communists in Hungary have charged a Roman Catholic Cardinal with treason

31 Israel announces huge victories in Southern Palestine

January 1949 9 President Truman has named Dean Acheson

Secretary of State. 10 Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek is getting

ready to leave China. 13 Chiang’s army, Navy and Air force already

have established headquarters on Formosa 17 The trial of twelve of our top-ranking

Communists began in New York today. 21 What next for the Generalissimo? The

Communists have put a price on his head as the No. 1 war criminal.

25 Moscow announces a new Red line-up of the Soviets and the puppet countries. This is an answer to the alliance of Western democracies that is forming-a North Atlantic security system.

Marshal Tito, in revolt against the Soviets and Cominform, is left out.

28 In New York today Federal Judge Harold Medina, who is presiding over the trial of those eleven Communists, revealed that he has been getting threatening communications.

February 1949 3 President Truman repeats the official

statement of yesterday, that he will not go into any two-way meeting with Stalin.

In Red Hungary, at Budapest, Josef Cardinal Mindszenty, the Primate of Hungary, went on trial today.

7 The government of Red Hungary has rejected the British protest against the way the Communists are conducting the trial of Cardinal Mindszenty. The scene in a Budapest courtroom today was grim. The Red tribunal was packed by guards with Tommy guns as prison sentences of various lengths were pronounced on the defendants, a life sentence for the Primate of Hungary.

10 The Red government of Bulgaria announces that it is bringing to trial fifteen ministers of the United Evangelical Church.

A dispatch from Washington states that a loyalty board has cleared William Remington, the employee of the Department of


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Commerce who was accused by Elizabeth Bentley.

11 In Red Bulgaria, same old story-the Protestant pastors have confessed.

14 Today’s papal consistory was the most solemn way in which the pontiff of Rome, according to medieval ritual, could present a protest to the world, addressing the cardinals in Rome.

In a measured address he denounced the Red trial and denied the charges made by the Communists.

17 Selden Chapin, our Minster to Hungary, states that the Red charges accusing him of conspiring with Cardinal Mindszenty are “nonsense and pure fantasy.” He said he didn’t know just how the Reds were able to wring a partial confession from the cardinal. But he added: “All kings of pressures were used.”

22 In France the Communist party is on record that if the Soviet Army occupied France the French people would co-operate with the invaders. That is, the Communists would.

March 1949 2 The American Communist party follows

the lead of the Reds in France and Italy. In case of war our Reds would co-operate with the Soviets too.

3 Secretary of Defense Forrestal has resigned. He is succeeded by Louis A. Johnson.

4 Molotov, removed from the post of Foreign Minister of Soviet Russia, succeeded by Vishinsky.

7 Today Judge Medina rejected the demand that the case against the Communist leaders be thrown out of court because the President called those Red leaders traitors.

8 The Bulgarian trial of Protestants pastors end with prison sentences.

Should Soviet forces invade the land down under, they would be welcomed and aided by the Australian Communists. So say the Australian Communists.

25 New York is having peculiar scenes tonight in connection with that would peace conference staged by the leftists. The Waldorf-Astoria picketed by

marchers, who chanted slogans and waved placards championing human liberty.

31 Winston Churchill addressed a convocation of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology today.

April 1949 4 This afternoon, the signing of the North

Atlantic security pact. The nations that signed represent 332,000,000 people of the Atlantic powers.

5 The Red government of Bulgaria announces the ousting of the Communist Vice-Premier, Lostov. He failed to obey Moscow abjectly enough.

In England they were saying that the mishap to American Ambassador Douglas was an accident in a million. Which would seem to be an apt description of an expert fly-casting fisherman hooking his own left eye.

8 Great Britain, France, and the US have Okayed a plan for the formation of a West German republic.

15 Secretary of State Dean Acheson says that further military aid to Nationalist China would do more harm than good.

19 The Western powers have rejected a Soviet approach for ending the Berlin blockade. They will not cancel their plans for a West German government

22 The Chinese Communist are storming across the Yangtze.

25 General Chennault says the Communist sweep in China is due to blundering American Far Eastern policy.

May 1949 9 Chiang Kai-shek is personally directing the

defense of Shanghai. 10 The provisional capital of the new

government of West Germany will be the old city of Bonn. The Berlin blockade is over.

11 Gerhard Eisler has been discovered as a stowaway aboard a Polish steamship bound for Europe. The Department of Justice announces that Scotland Yard has been asked to seize Eisler when the Polish steamship docks in Southampton.

16 Gerhard Eisler, the Communist spy chief, has been taken to a London jail.


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17 In Berlin today the Communists finally made public the results of the vote in the Soviet zone last weekend. Without any opposition candidates to vote for, nearly a third of the Germans in the Soviet zone voted no.

19 Great Britain won’t extradite Communist Eisler if the British Government decides that Eisler is a bona fide political refugee. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee was told today that all future applicants for government fellowship in atomic science would be required to sign non-Communist affidavits.

23 A new flag is flying in Europe today-the banner of the Federal Republic of Germany.

The psychiatrist’s opinion is that James Forrestal jumped to his death during a sudden fit despondency. The tragedy happened at Bethesda Naval Hospital.

24 The news of the fall of Shanghai came with an abrupt suddenness tonight.

27 America’s No. 1 Communist, Gerhard Eisler, is walking the streets of London, a free man. He’ll go to East Germany instead of back to America.

30 The new Soviet-sponsored government of East Germany started in business today.

31 The reason for Eisler’s presence in Prague is being kept a dark secret, but the guessing is he’s attending a meeting of the Red Cominform.

June 1949 2 Today the jury heard Whittaker Chambers

tell of Hiss, in 1935, producing official documents on U.S. munitions to be sent to Russia.

14 Dr. Frank Oppenheimer, a brother of Dr. Robert Oppenheimer, today admitted that he had been a member of the communist party—and so was his wife. He refused to comment about why he denied it two years ago. Today his resignation was accepted at the University of Minnesota.

16 In New York today Henry Julian Wadleigh, a former State Department economist, admitted that he did turn over some of our secret government documents to the Russians.

17 Now Red prosecution of a Jewish group. The trial goes on in Hungary before the same Red court that condemned Cardinal Mindszenty. The defendants now are Zionists, accused of smuggling Jews out of Communist Hungary.

23 Alger Hiss today denied, under oath, that he had ever been a communist or that he ever turned over any government secrets to any unauthorized person.

September 1949 14 Belgrade was flooded with pamphlets and

posters today, calling for the overthrow of Red Marshal Tito.

3 President Truman’s announcement today is taken to mean that Soviet Russia has the atomic bomb.

26 Hungary has flatly rejected that Yugoslav protest against the latest Red trial, which doomed the former No. 2 Communist of Hungary and was, as well, a bitter indictment of Marshal Tito.

29 The Kremlin today renounced its treaty with Yugoslavia.

30 Red Hungary has renounced its treaty with Yugoslavia, and so has Red Poland. The rush of the satellites is on!

October 1949 2 The Chinese Communist regime was

recognized today by Yugoslavia. 3 A new satellite was born today, not in the sky,

but in Berlin. The German Communists in the Soviet zone proclaimed an East German state.

11 Today brought a climax of terror to Red Czechoslovakia—with hundreds of arrests. This is known in polite Marxist language as the liquidation of the bourgeoisie.

14 The news tonight is dominated by the conviction of the eleven communist leaders, members of the American politburo.

21 Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson denies that he is out to scuttle the Navy. But he won’t revive the plan for that supercarrier on which the Navy had set its heart.

25 The Soviet Government demands the recall of the Yugoslav Ambassador to Moscow.

26 Admiral Denfeld is out. The Chief of Naval Operations removed from his post without ceremony. Congress is angry because when


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Admiral Denfeld testified before the House Armed Services Committee, Secretary of Defense Johnson promised that there would be no reprisals.

November 1949 1 The CIO has tossed out the Reds. 7 Soviet Marshal Rokossovsky becomes

Defense Minister of Poland. Warsaw has surrendered the control of its army to Soviet Russia.

17 The President joins the chorus of indignation over the arrest and imprisonment of American Consul General Angus Ward in Red Manchuria.

18 The United Nations has just imposed an arms embargo on Albania and Red Bulgaria until they stop helping Communist guerrillas in Greece.

22 In the Philippines the government is fighting the Huks, peasant rebels led by Communists. In Hungary the Reds announce the American, Robert Vogeler, has “confessed.”

23 Consul General Angus Ward has been sentenced to deportation from Red China.

25 At the UN tonight Vishinsky took a walk. He paraded out of the General Assembly as the delegate from China began a bitter accusation, charging Soviet Russia with giving aid to the Chinese Reds.

The Chinese Communist radio quoted the Panchen Lama as calling for a Red “liberation” of Tibet.

31 Tonight Chunking is in the hands of Communists.

December 1949 5 An admission by the State Department

that atomic materials for the Soviets were cleared by the State Department in 1943. A former air force major asserts that shipments of blueprints were jammed through by the late Harry Hopkins, No.1 aide to the late President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

7 At Houston, Texas, tonight General Eisenhower again declared himself out of politics. General Groves denies that either Harry

Hopkins or Henry Wallace ever put pressure on him to clear atomic shipments to Soviet Russia. A dispatch from China tells of a new blast of Red Propaganda calling for a communist invasion of Tibet.

8 Former Deputy Premier Kostov, No2 Bulgarian Communist, retracts and denies the confession he made to the police. General Groves declares [to be added…]

Documents

IB Cold War Timeline