Cold War Dbq Analysis

What were the cold war fears of the American people in the aftermath of the second world war? How successfully did the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower address these fears? Use the documents and your knowledge of the years 1948 – 1961 to construct your response.

The Cold War forced America to change its economy from a nineteenth century, industrialized economy to a modern, mobilized economy in order to keep the United States ready for any conflict and for intervention. Through the battles between communism and capitalism, a military-industrial complex was created, meaning the government's role in keeping America in a constant state of alert and readiness was put into place.

Eisenhower’s administration was to a somewhat large extent successful in addressing Cold War fears after World War II through attempts at promoting capitalism and preventing the spread of Communism.

After the ravages of World War II, the United States experienced a long period of economic boom, thanks to industrial weapons work and to the low price of oil. At the same time, under this nationwide economic prosperity, Americans felt increasing fear in the looming shadow of the communist Soviet Union. The US seemed to be in a spiral. Sputnik’s successful launch increased tensions that had been building since the aftermath of World War II; while President Eisenhower and his administration instituted numerous measures to calm down the hysteria that pervaded the US, these attempts had no real effect on de-escalating tensions felt between both sides.

Between 1945 and 1960, the United States was confronted with a colossal predicament. A Cold War had emerged between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. This war did not involve any direct attacks between the two, instead indirect confrontations. Subsequently, the war took a massive toll on the U.S. An era of high tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union posed a communist threat to America.

The Cold War was an all-encompassing face of the 20th century, world politics, and a major idea during this time was domination of the skies. The United States competed against The Soviet Union in a war unlike any other, they didn’t fight with guns, bombs, or war machines but with science and the battlefield was space. The prioritization of the space race on the national agenda was characterized by an urgency, which underscored the commitment to the U.S. to defeat the Soviet Union by all means necessary. This came at the cost of billions of dollars, resources, lives, and political forces.

During World War 2, the Treaty of Versailles was unfair to the axis powers. Inflation and war debt just made things worse. The German population wanted a leader who could save them from this misery, so they chose Hitler and that’s how Germany became powerful after its fall, and how Hitler began his control over Europe. Appeasement is to make someone less angry by agreeing to their demands. Collective security is the cooperation of several countries in an alliance to strengthen the security of each. The war was brought and the best response to aggression was collective security.

During the years of the Cold War, the United States had to strategize a way to block the spread of communism. The Cold War deliberates tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The Soviets had progressed in their communist ways and the capitalist US wanted to block their spread of communism because of the awful reaction communism had cost. Most importantly are the events that took place during the Cold War that represent containment such as the Korean War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Soviet Blockade.

During the Cold War the soviets accomplished many great things. According to Karl Marx societies experienced certain stages ; capitalism, socialism, and finally communism. Capitalism was about private ownership and greed. Both socialism and communism were about equally distribution of wealth and ownership. There wouldn't be any labels such as Rich and/or poor. In 69 years as a country the Soviet Union accomplished many great and cruel things, military strength, the great Terror and cultural achievements. These should all be included in their textbooks to remember this time in history.

The struggle between two ideologies, communism and capitalism, fought an nonviolent, passive-aggressive war. The war consisted of an arms race, the space race, and ultimately having both ways of life compete to control the world. This conflict mostly involved the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. It is one of the world’s greatest ironies that the communist state of Russia that was so power-thirsty and desired nothing more than to sink its communist roots into the rest of the world, started this Cold War, and ultimately fell because of it. The USSR was the country who ignited the Cold War with their military expansionism, the totalitarian tendencies of communism as an ideology, and the way that they wrought destruction on European countries, such as Greece. The USSR dude you left off right here, you’re welcome...

After the end of World War II, when Axis powers were defeated by the United States and Soviet Union, a lot of tension formed between the two allies. The USSR blamed the United States for the death of over ten million russians for their delayed response in joining World War II and the United States had been concerned of the Soviet communism. The hostility these two nations had toward each other lead the Cold War. Much of the events that occurred during the 1960’s were directly caused by the Cold War, such as the election of John F. Kennedy in 1961. During this time America feared the idea of going into a nuclear war with USSR. This fear caused Kennedy to be elected president almost solely on his stance to protect the lives of american citizens

But by 1960, the steady former general had morphed, in the popular imagination, into the plodding old general. It was not just the mild stroke he suffered in 1957 that convinced many that the country needed a more vital chief executive; there were signs everywhere that America had lost its edge under his leadership. In August and September of 1957, the Soviets successfully tested intercontinental ballistic missiles, seeming to place the communists ahead in the nuclear race. In October, the Russians launched Sputnik, an unmanned satellite that circled the earth for three months. Sputnik’s radio beam, picked up by ham radio operators throughout America, provided a painful reminder that America’s most recent satellite had exploded at lift-off.

Following the events of World War II, in 1945 the United States and the Soviet Union entered a state of tension due to disagreements between the two countries during the war. With the United States being a capitalist nation and the Soviet Union being a communist nation, friction easily escalated into The Cold War which resulted in intense competition for many years after. The United States greatly feared the spread of communism beginning with the first Red Scare during World War I and adopted the containment policy after the second Red Scare to prevent further spread of communism. Tensions peaked at an all-time high during John F. Kennedy’s presidency, (1961-1963) along with the Soviet leadership of Nikita Khrushchev and the Nuclear Arms

The Cold War (1945-1989) was essentially a period in which fear ran rampant. Everyone in America, from the young children to the President, was afraid. People were afraid because they believed their freedom and security was being threatened by communist spies. They were afraid that communism would take over the world and wipe out democracy. They were afraid that a nuclear attack would occur and render them and the American economy helpless. In the midst of all their fear, President Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected and managed to allay their fears by implementing new policies and expanding FDR’s New Deal, which was instrumental in ending the Great Depression.

Imagine being terrified, afraid of countries bombing you, learning drills in school in case there ever is a bombing. This is what how a lot of people felt when they lived in the US during the Cold War, which was a continued battle of intellect and wits between the us (democracy) against the ussr (communists). The Us didn't fight against the soviets on the battlefield, hence the term cold. However it came very heated when the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred. The us had history with Cuba before the Crisis, and the reactions of America and the Soviet Union of this event determined the outcome of the whole Cold War.