May 23: The Federal Republic of Germany, to be known as West Germany constituting the French, British and American zones of occupation of Germany, is created.
August 29: The Soviet Union detonates a nuclear device. The nuclear arms race begins.
October 7: The German Democratic Republic, or East Germany is created out of the Soviet occupation zone of Germany.
October 9: J. Robert Oppenheimer travels to Cambridge, Massachusetts to attend meeting of the Harvard Board of Overseers. He has recently been elected a member.
October 28: J. Robert Oppenheimer convenes the 18th meeting of the General Advisory Committee of the Atomic Energy Commission.
December 7: Mao Zedong's Chinese Communist Party takes control of Chinese mainland.
December 30: Truman authorizes N.S.C. 48/2, a National Security Council study on Asia that says "The course of U.S. policy was the block further Communist expansion in Asia."
