Cold War Effects On American Society

Following World War II, Europe was in ruins. Between bomb damage, economic downturn, and natural disasters such as droughts and blizzards it seemed nearly impossible to restore Europe to its prior greatness. America facilitated the recovery of Europe with military and financial aid and helped prevent the spread of communism. This aid crushed the Soviet dream of a communist Europe and started the Cold War. Over the next 45 years, the United States and the Soviet Union would resemble two angry women, avoiding each other at all costs and exploding into a furious rage at the first sight of the other. Many events contributed to and were derived from the Cold War such as the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan, the Civil Rights movement, the Space

The late 1940′s were a time when much change happened to the American society. As a result to the expanding threat of the Soviet Union, or its Communistic ideals, America took a stand that lead it to the Cold War.  Although the war didn’t involve fighting directly with Russia, it still affected the American society and domestic policy. The war affected America so much that it lead to a fear of livelihood; precisely when Joseph McCarthy began his “witch hunt”. The Cold war lead to an enlarged fear of nuclear war; as well, it affected many of the domestic policies.

Consisting of 44 years of violence and civil unrest from 1947 to 1991, the Cold War was a huge turning-point in history. The Cold War however was a war of avoidance, not combat. Defence systems were heavily funded as deterrence to actual war, the belief being a risk of mutual annihilation would be too great to be the side to make the first move. However, the Cold War caused a large variety of conflict and civil unrest around the world, such as the Korean War, Vietnam War and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The War split the world into supporting either the United States, or the USSR (Soviet Union). Both superpowers were associated with two very different political systems; Capitalism and Communism. The Soviets were very concerned about the spread

As the Soviet Union continued to spread communism throughout the eastern part of the globe, the United States was determined to contain the economic ideology and prevent it from reaching the States by any means possible. The American’s fear of communism prompted changes in domestic policy, most notably with the attempt to remove power from anyone with communist ties and the platform to influence others. Document one, a passage from one of President Truman’s executive order signed in

American fears in the Cold War originated not only from Communism, but what it represented in American culture. After World War II, the popular culture demonizing the fascist regimes, the built-up aggression surrounding the system, began to move against Communism as tension between the USSR and America rose. Communism became viewed as a corruption; an infection that ruined the rugged individualism that Americans defined themselves by. Communism also, though its declaration of the evils of capitalism, decried Americans as living in an unequal society, that the United States lived in hypocrisy through its statements of liberty for all while it existed in a capitalist and segregated society. Americans saw the Soviet Union as the evil its heroic

There was a time period of American history that people would remember the most about; it was the time from the Great Depression to the affluent society in the 1950s. It was memorable because government established many important laws that defined American's modern economy. Moreover, it rebuilt the federal government’s relationship to its citizens when Americans developed patriotism to stimulate the economy. In addition, the government played important roles in creating national wealth by setting up policies. These policies encouraged citizens to own business which rebuilt U.S. economy that led to an affluent society. Unfortunately, minor ethnic groups such as Japanese American during WWII and African Americans

Throughout the middle of the twenty-first century, a series of tension and disagreement erupted between the United States of America and the Soviet Union of Russia. Because it was not a violent time of any major skirmishes or death, it was given the name The Cold War. This period lasted for roughly fifty years, from the end of World War II until the end of the century. Though there is much debate regarding when the Cold War officially began, there is strong evidence for all the events that contributed to the build up towards the war

America felt like communism was already infiltrating their country as it was stated that there are communists working inside of the American government. This is shown in document B as it states that their is a list of communist party members “who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy of the State Department” (B). This speech was said right at the height of the Red Scare which raised the fear of the average American dramatically. This paranoia of communism was shown again with the Hollywood 10 who were convicted of being Communist and could never find work using their real name again. After the events of the Red Scare had happened America focused its efforts on not allowing communism to spread at all costs. This was shown in Guatemala when America overthrew the old government and stated that “The domination or control of the political institutions of any American State by the international Communist movement…would constitute a threat to the sovereignty and political independence of the American States”(F). This shows what America thought about the dangers of Communism as they felt if any territory that was involved with the United States falling to Communism is a direct threat to

Of the factors which shaped American society in the Cold War era, the fear of communism and its potential to spread imposed the greatest effect upon the United States. From the worldwide devastation of World War II arose two powers: United States of America, fueled by a capitalist economy, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or USSR, whose economy embodied the communist ideals of Karl Marx. Marx himself stated, “Communism is already acknowledged by all...powers to be in itself a power”. Marx predicted the power of a communistic society well before the first World War began. In the wake of the devastation

After World War II came the development of another tension that involved the United States and the Soviet Union and their associated allies. The Cold War produced many dilemmas amongst the American people in terms of how they should comport themselves as a nation. Before World War II the United States had no interest in keeping a strong military system, nor did they send out troops outside of their borders. Also, they kept to themselves as a nation not minding the actions of other countries. Until after that war is when the country started to contradict their original goals and the tables completely turned. Eventually thousands of American soldiers were being shipped off worldwide and the country was prepared with nuclear weapons to protect themselves from their enemies. The Cold War intensified the internal issues for the United States no matter how successful the country was with distracting its people with new technologies, there were still underlying problems. The Americans wanted to show the rest of the world that they were indeed united and should be looked at as a model of democracy and individual rights. This is where the issues began, because the citizens of the United States knew that they themselves were not carrying out the equality they expected the rest of the world to follow. They had a newfound dilemma; prosperity of their country was intertwined with

Right after the end of World War II with the Allied forces rejoicing over a marginal victory over Germany, a new and different kind of war was brewing over the tensions of the Western and Eastern blocs, a kind that wouldn’t be fought on the battlefield. The Cold War began in the year of 1945 and lasted all the way until 1991. A cause of the Cold War was the tension between two former allies of World War II, the United States of America and the Soviet Union (also known as the USSR, which stood for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). The United States had a democratic government and a capitalist economy, while the Soviet Union had a communist government, each trying to spread their political views and gain world power. Neither of the two

The Cold war, a threatening competition between the United States and the Soviet Unions, kept going from the late 1940 's until the breakdown of the Soviet Union in 1991. The war was "icy" just in that the United States and USSR never battled one another in an immediate military encounter, however both superpowers debilitated one another with atomic destruction and partook oftentimes in "intermediary wars" by supporting associated countries in various "hot" wars set up like Korea, Vietnam, and Angola. The Cold War characterized both nations ' outside strategies through the a large portion of the twentieth century, as the Americans and Soviets sought partners to keep up and enlarge their separate effective reaches around the globe. Every side saw the chilly war as a fight between the developments, in the overall conflict between the American free enterprise, and Soviet socialism, one and only could win. For over forty years, the Soviet-American clash hung overwhelming over worldwide issues, forming the world with gigantic military developments, an endless atomic weapons contest, serious surveillance, and furious mechanical rivalry as every side attempted to pick up the high ground in planning for the nuclear "hot war" all people dreaded would some time or another come.

The Cold War was the name given to the time period from 1945 to 1991. After World War II, tensions began between the United States and the Soviet Union. Fighting between the United States and Soviet Union did not happen directly against each other. Instead they fought with arms races, space races, and spying. Both superpowers set aside their differences to defeat Adolf Hitler, even before the war the United States distrusted the Soviet Union. The United States disliked the way the Soviet Union ran government. They believed that the Soviet Union wanted to overthrow the non-communist governments.

The conflict started between the Soviet Union and the United States was because they had completely different ideologies, and both the US and the USSR wanted their own economic and political systems to prevail. The Soviet Union’s ideology was communism. Communism is a society where all property is publically owned by the government and each person works and is paid just for their needs. The Soviets were also totalitarian, because one person had all the power. They opposed a democracy and free enterprise. The United States’ ideology was capitalist democracy, which meant that people were able to own their own land and the people had a say in electing rulers. Therefore, we entered the Cold War, a period of geopolitical tension (Foner 886-887).

“The Cold War became a dominant influence on many aspects of American society for much of the second half of the twentieth century. It escalated due to antagonist values between the United States, representing capitalism and democracy, and the Soviet Union, representing communism and authoritarianism” (Tradshad, par. 1). This long lasting war had a lot of negative effects on the American people, but also helped many in a positive way of becoming free citizens. Although most people had feelings of hatred toward the Soviet Union, a sense of fear swept over the United States and many actions had to be taken to keep the enemy and their influences out. 4 done.