Presidents During the Cold War The Cold War, while not a lethal time, was possibly the most dangerous time in American History. The United States went through three different presidents during the Cold War. Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy all dealt with the containment of communism in different ways, with Truman and Kennedy looking for slower and more methodical approaches, and Eisenhower, being a war hero, aiming to maximize the use of our military. The Cold War could have easily become WWIII, and if it had, we probably would not be a country today. The Cold War also pushed us to further develop our technology, helping us become the highly advanced America we are today. According to Ayers’s book, The Cold War was a time when we were at a point of high …show more content…
Eisenhower. One of his greatest strategies when it came to dealing with communism was called “brinkmanship.” According to Ayer’s book, this was when the U.S. would make threats that were dangerous enough to get results without actually having to follow through. In other words, going to the “brink” of war. Eisenhower expressed multiple times in his Eisenhower Doctrine, given on the 5th of January, 1957, that he was ready and willing to give economic aid to any democratic country that needed it. He said that the same went for military aid and military use (Eisenhower). He was possibly the most willing to take immediate action out of the three of these presidents. There were even times when he considered something called “massive retaliation” which, according to American Anthems, was when the U.S. responded to a problem with a force of a much greater magnitude. Eisenhower was also the creator of the Domino Theory, which stated that a political event that happens in one country will affect many other countries (Ayers). Eisenhower demonstrated great power while combating communism, but the U.S.A. would be changing again
When first entering class, I thought the Cold War was only an arms and space race between the Soviet Union and the United States. I never exactly knew where, when, or how the Cold War had been fought. However, I quickly came to learn that the Cold War was an expansive escapade to dominate international affairs. The Cold War expanded like a curtain slowly falling over the globe. The war soon encompassed most of the world and had made its mark on almost every continent on Earth. Some of the locations that took effect were Asia, the Middle-East, various countries in Africa, Europe, the Caribbean Sea, and most obvious of all, the United States.
The last way that we were affected by the Cold War was the fear of losing. When the Soviet satellite, Sputnik, was launched we poured our education funding into science and math to catch up to Russia in the Space Race. We hoped that this would help us win the Space Race (document 6). When the Vietnam war started, we created a draft to put every eligible man over the age of 18 in a draft. This was to help us assure a win in the war with more manpower (document
The Cold War could be described as one of the most 'distant' wars in history because there was no direct military fighting involved, only threats and fights through other countries. Although, many lives and money was lost, it was not as fatal and severe as World War II. In 1947, or right after World War II, the Cold War began due to conflict between the United States and Soviet Union. It ended on December 26, 1991 and the United States endured most of the damage that was a result of the war while Russia became a larger territory through the countries they gained power over. The war took place in the U.S., USSR, Europe, Cuba, Vietnam, Greece, Korea, East Asia and South America and lasted for over forty years. Although both contributed to the war, the United States should be blamed for the increasing tensions of the Cold War because of the NATO, Marshall Plan and Truman Doctrine.
The Cold War took place after World War II between the years of 1947 and 1991. It was a struggle for supremacy between both the United States and the Soviet Union. The Cold War was to dominate international affairs for decades. Major crises occurred such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, Hungary and the Berlin Wall being just some of the resulting issues. For many, the growth in weapons of mass destruction was the most worrying issue because it is always unknown as to what they could be used for. Neither side ever fought the other because the casualties would be tragic, but they did ‘fight’ for their beliefs using client states who fought for their beliefs on
She is scared to go outside. She is afraid of the whole city exploding. She has hope, though. She is hoping that one president will figure out how to end the Cold War. There were three presidents during the Cold War. They were President Truman, President Eisenhower, and President Kennedy. Both President Eisenhower and Truman believed strongly in the Policy of Containment, while President Kennedy believed in Flexible Response (Ayers 819). Containment was a policy made in the 1940’s to stop communism from going to more countries/cultures(Ayers 819). All of the presidents used economic aid, but each used it differently. Economic aid is help from a developed country to a less developed country (Ayers 886). They also used foreign
The Cold War was a time where the U.S. was transitioning into the world’s greatest power. There was so much political unrest in Russia that it was no surprise when the two most powerful countries came to a head.
The Cold War was called Cold War since it was not a bloody war but, a political war. The Cold War was war between The United States and the Soviet Union it caused separation between these two countries for 45 years. Both these countries fought for the spreading of their political beliefs, bringing controversies between these two countries. The U.S as usual became involved in other country affairs and did the most possible to stop communism from spreading. The U.S teaching their civilians how wrong communism was and the dangers of communism created changes during the 1950’s and 60’s, causing fear and terror of ever being attacked or “bombed”. The Cold War changed lives in the 1950’s and 1960’s and can be measured politically and socially; the struggles between democracy and communism still exist in the 21st Century through North Korea and South Korea.
In the early years of the Cold War, President Truman set out to prevent the spread of communism and the influence of the Soviet Union. Truman’s earliest attempts to contain communism involved economic assistance to noncommunist countries. While this assistance worked well in Europe, helping to stabilize it after World War II, it was not enough to prevent communist forces from winning the Chinese civil war. The war in China and a year later the war in Korea would prove that economic measures alone would not be enough to prevent the spread of communism and that a larger military presence was needed. With this mindset, President Eisenhower would use the threat of nuclear retaliation to detour any further communist aggression. It was also at this
Eisenhower used the power of Massive Retaliation which is where the United States would use every weapon in their power against to Soviet Union if they were to go to war, including nuclear war(Ayers 850). He used many forms of military use here is one. The United States will send troops to the Communist countries if they try to start war(Eisenhower sentence 27). The U.S. will send troops if they try to invade other countries. He also believed in Brinkmanship which is where countries go to the brink of war but they never actually go to war or fight(Ayers 850). Eisenhower also sent troops in the middle east Economic aid so they didn’t end up falling to communism(Eisenhower sentence 18). The United States will also send help to other countries to try to stop the spread of communism(Eisenhower sentence
The Cold war was a rivalry between two states that was led by the United States, Great Britain, and Communist being involved and led by the Soviet Union. The Cold War’s impact shaped up our lives into becoming something new and something different, World War II made us realize how horrible such things can become and lead up to if we keep our mouths shut and don’t say a word after what happened to the millions of Jews, Communist, and more died due to Hitler’s power overcoming, The Cold War has shaped up our lives in every country to becoming something new and to have a different kind of mindset and to keep allies with other countries with one another in case something as horrible as World War II ever comes to happen again.
The Cold War was a very important time in the history of the United States. It was a war between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R or otherwise known as the Soviet Union. This was was a fight between capitalism and communism. There were many deaths in crises that were caused by the Cold War. Some of these crises include the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, Hungary, and the Berlin Wall. Like all wars go, there are many consequences and sometimes tragic things that can happen to the countries that are participating in the war. Economies could collapse and then after the war one country could just be stuck in a large hole of debt. Some of the areas that were affected by the war were social, economic, domestic or political, and international/
After the French gave in to communism, the US did not let that go. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s team instead decided to build a nation, known as South Vietnam, and fabricated their government. They then sent US troops to train South Vietnamese soldiers in order to fight against the North since the US didn't want to risk the North’s troops to beat the South and pull them over into communism. If the North were to take the South under their control it would make it easier for surrounding countries to be either beat by the big communist army, or be more accepting of the idea of being a communist country. This problem is known as the domino theory.
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
The Cold War was the most important historic event in the 20th century after the Second World War, from 1945 till 1991 between two most powerful countries in that period – Soviet Union and USA. The Cold War invested a lot in world politics. What is the Cold War? This was a war for dominance in the world. In 1945 the USA was the only one country in the world that had the nuclear weapons. But in the 1949 USSR started to learn their nuclear weapons. In further developments forced the USSR was soon created by nuclear, and then thermonuclear weapons. (Isaacs J, 2008) Fight has become very dangerous for all.
Chinese involvement in the war, which lasted another two years, resulted in a stalemate. After Truman, President Eisenhower devised his own foreign policy. His “New Look” involved using massive nuclear arsenal for military leverage, manipulating Third World countries with CIA, and doing everything possible to contain the spread of communism.