Golly this one sure is hard. It eliminated the need for mail to be carried via roads or rail lines, and things (and people) could be carried directly to the destination's nearest airport instead of all the way down the winding roads to it.
George Washington. He was also the first president.
Generally speaking, the Cold War rivalry directly influenced all of the following except "religion," since this was mainly a conflict over differing ideologies--specifically capitalism and communism.