Effect On American Society During The Cold War

The Cold War had a significant impact on American foreign policy, changing it substantially in both attitudes to social and economic factors. The heavy influence of a difference in political standing between the Soviet Union and the United States, in conjunction with the high tensions that followed in the post war period, set the foundations for American foreign policy to adapt and change to better suit the developing political agender of the time. Socially, the two sides were heavily split, with the Soviet Union seeking communist support and allies whilst the US sought to counter their progress in a similar manner. Economically these relations with foreign countries that either joined the eastern or western blocs helped to further the

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.

After World War I, a new threat flooded into the minds of the American population. Communism was on the rise and it was causing a lot of concern within the American populace. The Red Scare was the nationwide hysteria in America, caused by the spread of communism in the 1920’s. This fear of communism bled into many aspects of American life. It caused the U.S. government to target any American who’s patriotism was in question, and it contributed to Americans' negative attitudes towards foreigners in the 1920’s. In addition to “suspicious individuals”, the U.S. government also challenged labor unions and intimidated liberal constituencies. The Red Scare led to a range of actions that had a far-reaching and enduring effect on U.S. government and

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

Communism played a major role shaping the 20th century, both for the East and the United States. Its impact can be seen in the US from 1919 to the 1990s and even today. The spread of Communist ideals in the East meant the beginning of the socialist state and mass industrialization. Its effect on the US was much different. The United States people, heavily diversified of all races, religions, and financial statuses, became extremely jingoistic as a result of competition with the USSR. This nationalism became unhealthy as citizens began determining what was “un-American.” The Communist Party USA was not successful in their primary objective of spreading communism to the US. What they did achieve however was hugely important. They showed that citizens of the United States could be scared out of their own freedom. That fear would lead them to give up “liberty and justice for all”. Still a highly misunderstood idea, it is important for citizens of the United States to understand what communism is and what impact the CPUSA and other communist organizations had on the country.

Cold War: Cold War can be characterized as the political and the military pressure between the two super powers USA and USSR, Western and the Eastern coalition separately. They never went to coordinate war with one another yet they discovered options available to satisfy their cold war plans. It helped in the development of Asian American groups in United States of America. Proxy wars turned into the way to this advancement. Southeast Asian Americans were effected by these intermediary wars in a positive way.

In the aftermath of World War II and the Cold War all nations were impacted differently. Their ways of life were changed through new governments and different plans for the future. The United States’ cultures was also heavily altered. There was civil unrest in the 1950s and 1960s that changed society. The American Century was shaped in many ways through World War II, the Cold War, and civil unrest.

In the time directly following the end of World War Two, the beginnings of an entirely new kind of war were brewing that would occur for nearly 50 years after its birth. Towards the end of World War II, the Soviet Union had been an ally of the United States, but their growing power following the war began to concern the American people, who feared the spread of communism, an order based on the idea of dissolving social classes, money, and the state through the practice of common ownership, or the dissolution of the divide between the working and capitalist classes. Once communism began to spread, the United States quickly and passionately worked to put an end to it not only within its own borders, but around the world. This battle waged on

It was the growing mistrust of this relatively new communist nation that led to the eventual fear of a global conflict between the two ideologies. This fear that was beginning to grip the American public was not only due the increasing military threat of the Soviet Union but also for fear of another internal economic crisis. The majority of the American population during this period directly experienced the great depression of the nineteen thirties the prosperity that proceeded it. Now America was in a state of postwar prosperity again and the standard of living had dramatically increased for the majority of the American public over the past twenty years. This rising middle class now saw their improved economic independence being threatened not only from a domestic economic disaster but also from a new outside force, Communism. Communism to the American people was a threat to the American dream, the American way of life, and most important to the basic freedoms and values that this country was

In the post-war period, Soviet Nation represented a threat to the United States. The Truman’s view the Soviet Nation as the ultimate opposition of the American principles. As a communist power, the Soviet Union contradicted the American ideology. Different from Russia, japan, among other nations, America adapted to a capitalist system, where they believed in democracy and designed their people as “free people”. As stated in the historian Alan Theoharis quotation, ““ Indeed by the 1950 many Americans had come to believe that: (1) the Soviet Union had a definite strategy for the eventual communization of the world; (2) Soviet actions directly threatened the security of the United States; (3) that threat could assume the form of direct aggression or subversion; (4) the basic impetus to any revolutionary or radical political change was a

Subsequent to the conclusion of the treacherous Second World War, America prepared itself for a period of peace. This peacetime was short-lived, as America’s tolerance for communism receded this issue became the forefront for American concern. The United States of America, also referred to as the USA or US, regarded communism as a strategic threat due to its hostility to private property and free markets, policies that many Americans associate directly to political freedom. Throughout the intense period in history identified as the Cold War, America’s attention was, for the most part, politically and economically occupied by the threat of global left wing expansion and methods aimed

Throughout the 1940s and 1960s the United States engaged in a Cold War against the USSR, with both sides having access to nuclear weapons escalating any further would mean mutually assured destruction; since neither nation could use traditional weapons instead they engaged in an ideological war. During this time America employed many different tactics to both vilify communism and present itself as the antithesis of everything it stood for, they fought by proxy with propaganda to promote fear and mistrust. This psychological warfare would lead to significant changes in religion, as America presented itself as a God fearing nation to combat the USSR’s status as atheist, society, with American culture being warped to display its stance against communism and inspire a sense of fear towards it from the populace, and technology as both America and the USSR rushed to be the first to reach milestones in an attempt to ultimately prove their own ascendancy.

Communism is good for the economy, but it bad for people who want their own decision. Communism doesn’t valve creativity, you barely can have rights and indifference toward the environment. Russia justify a massive buildup of U.S military forces, a situation that kerman deplored as wasteful and counterproductive. The fear of communism form the United States a manifestation of political anxiety over the infiltration of international influences. Some examples of this was the red scare after WWI, and the cold war.

Towards the conclusion of World War II, domestic and international conflicts arose regarding different strategies against Japan. Although President Truman himself faced internal conflict, he authorized the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, forcing domestic compromise; however, the lack of international compromise between America and Japan was devastating. The detonation’s detrimental effects forced Japan’s immediate surrender and catapulted the world into the Cold War. Today, the effects linger in the form of arms races, nuclear proliferation, and continued debate on nuclear weapons.

Throughout the 20th century, the world has seen a number of major revolutions worldwide as well as unbearable wars filled with bloodshed such as the two world wars, the Chinese and Spanish civil wars as well as the Russian Revolution. However, a war that extended throughout the majority of the 20th century would be the Cold War that lasted for 46 years from 1945 up until 1991 (The George Washington University). Many would not consider the Cold War to be war in the traditional sense due to the fact that direct confrontation between the two nations that were majorly involved; the USA and the USSR, was absent; hence its name. The word “cold” symbolizes its inability to officially “blow-up” as some would say; thus, remaining an era of intense tension between the two world powers (citation).