When President of the United States of America Harry S. Truman addresses Congress in March of 1947, he focused on the need to protect Greece and Turkey from Communist influence. Greece was facing an internal insurrection from a Communist Party, while Turkey was facing more obvious threats from the Soviet Union over access to the Bosphorous and the Dardanelles. What Truman really wanted was to avoid having the spreading Soviet sphere of influence include Greece and Turkey. In asking Congress to provide financial aid in this approach, Truman laid out what would be known as the "Truman Doctrine." The Truman Doctrine said that America would seek to help any nation from becoming a Communist-ruled country. This would then influence American foreign policy for the rest of the Cold War.

Rudolf Höss became notorious during World War II as the Commandant of the concentration and death camps at Auschwitz in Poland. After the war ended, this made him one of the key leaders among the Third Reich that was wanted by Allied leaders. While he managed to blend into the civilian population initially, Rudolf Höss was given up by his family less than a year after the fall of the Third Reich. What made Höss' capture so notable was that he seemed to have no issue with fully describing his actions during the War, including his system of extermination at the Auschwitz camps. Rudolf Höss was the most efficient leader of any Nazi concentration camp, and he personally oversaw the deaths of millions of people, mostly Polish Jews, but also gypsies and political prisoners. Under arrest, Rudolf Höss was able to give evidence against some of his fellow Nazis, but it did nothing to stop his own execution. In April 1947, Rudolf Höss was hanged at a specially constructed gallows at the former site of the Auschwitz gas chamber.

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, signed by representatives of Soviet Russia and representatives from the Central Powers, effectively ended World War I on the Eastern Front. In order to do this, Russia had to accept extremely harsh terms regarding territorial claims and concessions. Yet the government of Russia was not the one that had been prosecuting the war, because Russia had undergone two revolutions in 1917, the February Revolution that overthrew the Tsar and the October Revolution that replaced the Provisional Government with a Communist one. The Bolsheviks now in charge of Russia, especially Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky wanted most of all to end the war. More radical Bolsheviks thought eventually revolution would overthrow the governments of the Central Powers. Instead, Soviet Russia agreed to a harsh peace, to focus on a still raging Civil War. Remarkably, the German Empire would quickly cease to exist, which made the historical legacy of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk much less impactful than it seemed at the time.

When the 20 month old Charles Lindbergh, Jr. was taken from the crib in his upstairs bedroom, the crime was destined to become the "Crime of the Century."His father was perhaps the most famous man in America, the aviator Charles Lindbergh. Initially, the clues led to a variety of possibilities, but then a kidnapper was revealed to be seeking the ransom through a random intermediary. Once a man known only as "Cemetery John" received $50,000 in ransom money, the case went cold. Over two years later, a gold certificate that was part of the ransom money was traced to a German immigrant named Bruno Richard Hauptmann. Hauptmann was found to have a large chunk of the ransom money in his possession, as well as many things that pointed to him being Cemetery John. After being handed to New Jersey authorities, Hauptmann was tried in what become known as the "Trial of the Century," after which he would be sentenced to death and executed. The kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby would remain the most significant criminal case in America for decades.

Byron De La Beckwith was found guilty of the murder of civil rights leader Medgar Evers in 1994, 31 years after the crime was actually committed. De La Beckwith was arrested and brought to trial twice in the 1960s, but both times all-white juries deadlocked on a verdict. The evidence in the case was actually quite good, as De La Beckwith's gun was found near the crime scene with his fingerprint on it. De La Beckwith was also a prominent White Citizens' Council member, who was annoyed at the lack of direct action taken by the group in their efforts to preserve segregation. Yet De La Beckwith would not be convicted of Evers' murder in the 1960s. He would brag at Klan rallies and Christian Identity meetings that he killed Medgar Evers. After the Jackson Clarion-Ledger reported on state sponsored activities to protect in the late 1980s and 1990s, authorities bring De La Beckwith to trial for a third time. Finally, a jury of eight African-Americans and four whites find him guilty.

When a large number of states had seceded from the Union after the election of Abraham Lincoln, they quickly realized they needed to band together in a larger government. So delegates from South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas met in Montgomery, Alabama, they knew they had to work fast. Although they were working a month before Lincoln's inauguration, they wanted to make sure they were ready to go. They had two advantages in working quickly, namely that they knew the United States Constitution well and that they were united on the issue of protecting slavery. Therefore, the provisional government could be formed almost immediately, with Jefferson Davis as President and Alexander Stephens as Vice President. It would be Stephens, in a speech one month later, who would clearly elucidate the reason for forming a government, that they were built on the "cornerstone" of white supremacy and the defense of slavery.

In 1959, Buddy Holly was one of the biggest Rock 'n' Roll stars, the Big Bopper was a chart topper, and Richie Valens was a 17 year old sensation. They all were on a Midwest tour, playing small venues throughout the early part of 1959. The winter tour was poorly planned and saw a series of bus problems and health issues from the cold among the musicians. Therefore, after a show in Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly arranged for a plane to take him and his band to their next stop. Shortly after takeoff, however, the young pilot lost control of the plane, and all four people onboard died instantly. This would seem to be a groundbreaking moment in Rock 'n' Roll's arc, with the musicians involved seeming to have been snuffed out with so much work ahead of them. It also came at a time when much of the rock world was suffering from other losses. The event would later be christened as "The Day the Music Died," but actually it was a setback and Rock 'n' Roll would pick right back up with groups influenced by Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper.

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo officially ended hostilities in the Mexican-American War, although the United States of America had effectively ended the war by taking over much of Mexico. This meant that the terms of the Treaty were largely America's and had to be accepted by Mexico. The war began in 1846 as a border dispute around the newly annexed Republic of Texas, but after America sent troops to the disputed area, they invaded Mexico. With astonishing speed, the northern areas of Mexico were taken over by America, with California seeing a revolt by American settlers. Eventually, an Army under General Winfield Scott would march from Veracruz on the coast to Mexico City, easily taking over the capital. As a result, Mexico lost most of its northern territory to the United States, and faced many more political issues at home. America was further placed on the path towards Civil War and disunion.

Nguyễn Văn Lém was a Viet Cong captain who was arrested by the South Vietnamese Army after leading a raid on a camp and killing a large number of civilians. Upon being taken in front of Brigadier General Nguyễn Ngọc Loan, Lém was summarily executed by Loan with a revolver. By all rights, this would have been one of many such incidents in the complicated conflict that was the Vietnam War. Yet the execution of Nguyễn Văn Lém became something the world knew about because the Associated Press photographer Eddie Adams managed to snap a picture at the moment the gun was fired. Nguyễn Văn Lém's face as he was dying was seen by millions, and the photograph became an iconic image of the Vietnam War. The photo would win Adams a Pulitzer and help galvanize the anti-Vietnam War movement in America. Adams would feel sorry for what became of Loan, while also regretting he was most well known for the image of the execution of Nguyễn Văn Lém.