In 1969 lead singer of The Doors, Jim Morrison was charged with a single felony and 3 misdemeanours for his stage performance in Miami, USA. He was charged with indecent exposure, lewd and lascivious behaviour, profanity, and drunkenness and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Jim Morrison believed it was a joke when hearing about the charges and turned down a plea bargain arrangement that required The Doors to play a free concert in Miami. The court case was heard in September 1970 and Morrison was convicted of the crimes and sentenced to six months hard labour and a fine. Morrison however died in 1971 while in Paris appealing the case; he was later posthumously pardoned of the offences in 2010, 40 years after the alleged offenses took place.

In 1956 The US Supreme Court upheld an earlier ruling to ban racial segregation in state schools, colleges and Universities. The University of North California appealed against the initial ruling by the Supreme Court in 1954 which resulted in the ruling being upheld today in 1956. The ruling against racial segregation was not recognised by all, particularly some southern states, and in 1957 US troops were deployed in Arkansas to enforce the law.

In 1953 Soviet Dictator Joseph Stalin died. Stalin started life as the son of a cobbler and would go on to become one of the most powerful dictators in history. He became a high ranking member of the communist movement in Russia and after the death of Lenin in 1924, he manoeuvred himself to become the new communist the leader of Russia. He ruled with an iron fist, executing hundreds and exiling thousands to labour camps of those he called “enemies of the people”. He turned Russia into an industrial power house but at the cost of thousands of lives and hardship for the Russian people. His purging of the people depleted his Red Army and when Hitler attacked Russia in 1941 he was ill prepared. But through the enormous cost of human life and the fear he’d instilled in his men led to their victory, forcing back the Germans and finally invading their homeland.

In 1946 Ex UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill gave a speech at the Westminster College in the United States where he condemned Soviet Unions policies and coined the phrase “The Iron Curtain”. Considered one of the greatest speeches and possibly the first of the Cold War, Churchill spoke of Russian Communist expansion in Europe "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent."  The speech was denounced by Russian leader, Joseph Stalin, as War Mongering.