Plan B Forum

The effects of the economic crisis are still being felt in many parts of the United States and the closure of a museum dedicated to a Las Vegas showman reveals further evidence of the fading of the American dream.

You could make a good case for arguing that modern America was born in 1954.

The hydrogen bomb was tested on Bikini Atoll, giving us both the weapon and the swimsuit, the Supreme Court heard the case which resulted in the end of racial segregation in American schools and France gave up its grim struggle to hang on to the colony of Vietnam.

Just as significantly in a way, a flashily-dressed concert pianist called Walter Valentino Liberace earned $2m (£1.3m), and this was back in Eisenhower's America where you could still hire a decent piano player for that kind of money.