Get a funny animated overview of Tolstoy’s epic novel “War & Peace” and the key themes it explores in this web exclusive.

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On April 16, 1953, after the death of Russian Premier Joseph Stalin, President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers what is known as his “Cross of Iron” speech before the American Society for Newspaper Editors, contrasting the philosophies of the Soviet Union and the United States.

American soldiers used military-issue shovels for many tasks in World War II.

Despite North Vietnam's violation of the New Year ceasefire in 1967, Secretary of State Dean Rusk expresses hope for a peaceful resolution in Vietnam.

In a radio interview on October 28, 1943, Dr. Vojta Benes, a former Czechoslovakian senator who had been living in America since escaping his homeland in 1939, is hopeful about lasting peace after the end of World War II.

Six days a week, the president receives a daily briefing about international security issues including covert operations underway around the world.

On this day a peace treaty was signed that ended three decades of war between Egypt and Israel. Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin signed the treaty, and both won a Nobel Peace Prize. Robert Frost the famous American poet was born in San Francisco on this day, and Vladimir Putin was elected the president of Russia. Also, Jonas Salk announced that he had successfully tested a vaccine against Polio.