Category Archives: Cold War

South Vietnamese forces recapture Quang Tri from North Vietnamese 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Sep 15 1972)

1970s, Cold War, Vietnam War


Video: 'Vietnam: A Television History - Vietnamizing the War [7/11]' (Sept. 15, 1972, at 47:22)

(Friday, September 15, 1972, 5:00 p.m. Saigon Standard Time; during the Vietnam War, the Indochina Wars and the Cold War) — South Vietnam’s Army of the Republic of Vietnam defeated the People’s Army of Vietnam today at the ancient citadel of Quang Tri, ending North Vietnam’s three-plus month occupation of South Vietnam’s northernmost provincial capital and the Second Battle of Quang Tri. Continue reading South Vietnamese forces recapture Quang Tri from North Vietnamese 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Sep 15 1972) →

American Bobby Fischer dethrones Soviet champ Boris Spassky to give U.S. first world chess title 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Sep 1 1972)

1970s, Cold War


Video: 'The moment when Bobby Fischer was declared the World Champion (1972)'

(Friday, September 1, 1972, 12:50 p.m. GMT; during the World Chess Championship 1972) — American Bobby Fischer single-handedly ended the 24-year Soviet Union’s winning streak in the world of chess today at the Laugardalshöll arena in Reykjavík, Iceland, as he defeated defending world champ Boris Spassky, who resigned before the resumption of Game 21. Continue reading American Bobby Fischer dethrones Soviet champ Boris Spassky to give U.S. first world chess title 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Sep 1 1972) →

One million people demonstrate in New York City against nuclear arms race 40 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (Jun 12 1982)

1980s, Cold War


Video: ''March For Disarmament' Anti-Nuclear Rally video - New York City, June 12th 1982'

(Saturday, June 12, 1982, protesters were scheduled to converge in Central Park at 1:00 p.m. EDT for a program of speeches and music that ended at 7:00 p.m. EDT; during the Cold War) — In the largest political demonstration in American history, one million people gathered in New York City’s Central Park today to demonstrate against nuclear weapons and call for an end to the cold war arms race. Continue reading One million people demonstrate in New York City against nuclear arms race 40 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (Jun 12 1982) →

Iconic image of naked and severely burned Vietnamese girl fleeing napalm bombing captured 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Jun 8 1972)

1970s, Cold War, Vietnam War


Video: 'The Harrowing Story of Napalm Girl'

(Thursday, June 8, 1972, shortly after 11:30 a.m. Saigon Standard Time; during the Vietnam War, part of the Indochina Wars and the Cold War) — Associated Press photographer Nick Ut took a picture today of a screaming 9-year-old girl, Phan Thi Kim Phuc, as she ran naked and severely burned on her back after a South Vietnamese Air Force jet dropped a napalm bomb onto the village of Trang Bàng, which had been attacked and occupied by North Vietnamese forces. Continue reading Iconic image of naked and severely burned Vietnamese girl fleeing napalm bombing captured 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Jun 8 1972) →

U.S. President Richard Nixon asks Congress to approve missile pact with Soviet Union following dramatic return from Moscow 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Jun 1 1972)

1970s, Cold War, U.S. Presidents, Vietnam War


Video: 'WATERGATE AFFAIR BBC DOKUMENTATION 1994' (June 1, 1972, at 49:13)

(Thursday June 1, 1972, 9:40 p.m. EDT, during the Cold War) — U.S. President Richard Nixon returned to Washington tonight from his two-week tour of four nations and told a joint session of Congress that his trip to Moscow had laid the basis for “a new relationship between the two most powerful nations on earth.” Continue reading U.S. President Richard Nixon asks Congress to approve missile pact with Soviet Union following dramatic return from Moscow 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Jun 1 1972) →

U.S. President Richard Nixon addresses Russian people on live television from Kremlin 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (May 28 1972)

1970s, Cold War, U.S. Presidents


Video: 'President Richard Nixon: Appears on Soviet Television - May 28, 1972'

(Sunday, May 28, 1972, 8:30 p.m. Moscow Standard Time; during the Moscow Summit (1972), part of the Cold War) — U.S. President Richard Nixon told the Soviet people in a televised speech today that the memory of the wartime alliance between the United States and the Soviet Union “can serve as inspiration for renewal of cooperation in the 1970s. Continue reading U.S. President Richard Nixon addresses Russian people on live television from Kremlin 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (May 28 1972) →

U.S. and Soviet sign two arms accords to limit growth of atomic arsenals 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (May 26 1972)

1970s, Cold War, U.S. Presidents


Video: 'SYND 27-5-72 NIXON AND BREZHNEV SIGN ARMS LIMITATION TREATY'

(Friday, May 26, 1972, 11:07 p.m. Moscow Standard Time; during the Moscow Summit (1972), part of the Cold War) — U.S. President Richard Nixon and the Soviet Communist party leader Leonid Brezhnev, signed two landmark nuclear arms control agreements tonight that for the first time put limits on the growth of American and Soviet strategic nuclear arsenals. Continue reading U.S. and Soviet sign two arms accords to limit growth of atomic arsenals 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (May 26 1972) →

Richard Nixon becomes first U.S president to visit Moscow 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (May 22 1972)

1970s, Cold War, U.S. Presidents


Video: 'Nixon in Moscow - 1972 | Movietone Moment | 22 May 2020)'

(Monday, May 22, 1972, 3:55 p.m. Moscow Standard Time; during the Moscow Summit (1972), part of the Cold War) — Richard M. Nixon became the first United States President to visit Moscow (and only the second President, after Franklin D. Roosevelt, to visit the Soviet Union), as he and Henry Kissinger arrived this afternoon to begin a summit meeting with Leonid I. Brezhnev, the Secretary General of the Communist party. Continue reading Richard Nixon becomes first U.S president to visit Moscow 50 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (May 22 1972) →

North Vietnamese Army captures South Vietnamese province and city of Quang Tri 50 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (May 1 1972)

1970s, Cold War, Vietnam War


Video: 'The battle for Quang Tri Vietnam April 1972: from the archive'

(Monday, May 1, 1972, afternoon local time; in the First Battle of Quang Tri, during the Easter Offensive, part of the Vietnam War, the Cold War and the Indochina Wars) — The South Vietnamese abandoned Quang Tri, their northernmost province capital, today, giving the advancing North Vietnamese their biggest prize so far in their month-old Easter Offensive invasion. Continue reading North Vietnamese Army captures South Vietnamese province and city of Quang Tri 50 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (May 1 1972) →

Millions of Americans watch first live television broadcast of a nuclear bomb test 70 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Apr 22 1952)

1950s, Cold War


Video: 'Tumbler Charlie: April 22, 1952'

(Tuesday, April 22, 1952, 9:30:10 a.m. PST; during the Cold War) — Millions of Americans watched on live television today as a 31-kiloton Mark 4 nuclear bomb was dropped from a B-50 Superfortress in the Yucca Flat region of the Nevada. Continue reading Millions of Americans watch first live television broadcast of a nuclear bomb test 70 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Apr 22 1952) →