On this day in 1946, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called for joint Anglo-American efforts to face the Russian threat in his tour of the United States, by saying that "an Iron Curtain has descended across Europe."
Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union, died on this day in 1953. He was 73. Stalin forged the Soviet Union into a global superpower via an oppressive regime which killed millions of citizens.
On this day in 1970, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty went into effect after ratification by 43 nations.