Outline of the Cold War
End of the Cold War – While many observers state the 1989 Malta Summit was the end of the Cold War, it was December 1991 before the Presidents of the United States and the Soviet Union formally recognised the conflict's end, with the Soviet Union also being dissolved at that time. Some key events leading up to the end include:
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum
Four Decades that Changed the World (January 22 – June 13, 2010)
World War II was the most devastating conflict in history with much of Europe and Asia left in ruins at war's end. Yet, there was no peace. The superpowers of the United States and Soviet Union and their ideologies of democracy versus tyranny competed for prominence on the world stage in a cold war. For over 40 years these nuclear superpowers maintained a standoff and avoided a hot war that could have potentially destroyed the planet. America and the Cold War explored this powerful subject through such iconic artifacts as: an original 34' Nike Ajax missile, arming plug used to activate the bomb used on Hiroshima, Thunderbolt Air Raid siren, SALT I Treaty, scale model of Apollo-Soyuz, candy parachute from the Berlin Airlift, Stasi surveillance equipment, and a desk plaque awarded to the crew members of the Soviet SA-2 missile battalion that shot down Francis Gary Powers U-2 spy plane in 1960.