Cold War

The Cold War was a geopolitical conflict that lasted from the end of World War II in 1945 until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, characterized by political and military tensions between the Western powers, led by the United States, and the Eastern Bloc, led by the Soviet Union.

U2 spy plane shot down over ussr in 1960; berlin wall goes up 1961; cuban missle crisis 1962. On the Beach (1957), Fail-Safe (1962) a central plot point in fiction of this era is what happens when communications break down

Some ideas to expand on ^

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War