Gary Powers was an American pilot who was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission over Soviet Union airspace in 1960. The plane Powers was flying was a U-2 spy plane belonging to the Central Intelligence Agency. Powers was captured by Soviet Forces and held prisoner until February 10, 1962, … Continue reading
The Stasi were the official state security service of East Germany established in 1950. It is considered to be one of the most effective and repressive intelligence and secret police agencies of all time. The Stasi were headquartered in East Berlin, and they were responsible for spying on the population. … Continue reading
Rudolf Abel was an intelligence officer with the KGB who was arrested on charges of conspiracy by the FBI in 1957. Abel was sent to the United States after World War II as part of a spy ring operating out of New York City. Although Abel was sentenced to 45 … Continue reading
Alger Hiss was convicted of perjury on January 21, 1950. Whitaker Chambers, a former Communist Party member, had testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) that Hiss had secretly been a Communist. Hiss denied this allegation. Chambers then produced evidence that he and Hiss had been involved in espionage, … Continue reading
Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev made a surprising and historic announcement on December 25, 1991. Effective immediately, he resigned as president and essentially dissolved the entire Soviet Union. The Christmas day speech is seen by many, along with the fall of the Berlin Wall, as the moment that the Cold War … Continue reading
Alger Hiss was an American lawyer who was accused of being a member of the Communist Party by the House Un-American Activities Committee(HUAC). On August 3, 1948, a man named Whittaker Chambers testified before the committee that he and Hiss had both been secret communists for years. Despite questions over … Continue reading
“I speak to you tonight in a spirit of hope”. On July 26, 1963, President John F. Kennedy addressed the nation regarding the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, also known as the Partial Test Ban Treaty. Explaining the treaty, he says: “Negotiations were concluded in Moscow on a treaty to ban … Continue reading
Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, is interviewed about his perspective on the Cold War period in which Germany was divided into two independent countries with the famous Berlin Wall. Putin discusses his impressions on the wall and why it was destined to come down, claiming that a structure used to … Continue reading
Svetlana Alliuyeva, the youngest child and only daughter of Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin, addresses the press concerning her 1967 immigration to the United States. Svetlana, who changed her named to Lana Peters after moving to America, sparked international scandal with her defection from the Soviet Union becoming a naturalized … Continue reading
A significant moment in Cold War history: U.S. President Ronald Reagan on June 12, 1987 issued a challenge to Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down” the Berlin Wall, which the Communist state of East Germany erected in 1961 as a barrier between West Berlin and the socialist state … Continue reading
