1950: North Korean forces break through the 38th parallel and capture Seoul (the capital of South Korea). General Douglas MacArthur is appointed commander of UN forces in Korea. The Korean War will continue until 1953.

Today: North Korea remains a Communist nation, with Kim Jong Il (son of previous leader Kim Il Sung) as its President.

1953: Joseph Stalin dies; Nikita Khruschchev is appointed First Secretary of the General Committee of the Communist Party. Khruschchev became Chairman of Council of U.S.S.R. Ministers in 1958 and eventually took part in his famous showdown against President Kennedy (the Cuban Missile Crisis) in 1962.

Today: Since the collapse of the Soviet Union into a number of disparate nations, the Cold War(between the Soviets and Americans) has ended, with the United States as the assumed victor in this famous war of words and wills.

1958: Krapp's Last Tape premieres and...