The Cold War: Limits In Popular Culture

The Cold War was the name given to the political economic, military and ideological contention that occurred between the United States and its allies and the Soviet Union and their allies after World War II. The two forces never directly engaged in military activity in light of the fact that both had atomic weapons that if utilized, might have had crushing outcomes for both sides. Instead, proxy wars were battled. A proxy war results when contradicting forces utilize outsiders as substitutes for battling each one other and is ordinarily launched by a power that does not itself partake. The Korean and Vietnam wars are two examples of proxy wars on the grounds that the U.S. and the Soviet Union did not directly engage one another however, Soviet endeavors to spread and bring together both Korea and Vietnam under communist rule provoked mediation either by the United States and/or by their allies. These two occasions were simply a few of the impacts of the Cold War in Asia. This paper will examine each war individually and in more detail and endeavor to persuade that the Korean and Vietnam Wars were the immediate aftereffects of Soviet endeavors to expand communist influence in Asia and the United States and their allies' approach of forestalling and holding such endeavors.

As tensions continued to augment profoundly throughout the latter half of the Cold War period, they brought forth a movement from a previous bipolar conflicting course, to one of a more multipolar nature. These tensions were now not only restricted to the Soviet Union and United states, but amongst multiple other nations of the globe. It became a general consensus that a notion of ‘peace’ was sought globally, hence, the emergence of détente. The nature of this idea in the short term conveyed itself to be an act of change for the conflicting nations, however, in the long term it proved to be a blatant continuity, ultimately acting as a ‘mechanism for domestic fortification’ which prompted a more divisive tone. It became apparent that by the prime 1970’s Cold War countries were now seeking a state of relaxation in political and international tension, détente, through measures of diplomacy and negotiation. Actions, influences and treaties such as the Helsinki Final Act of 1975, the establishment of SALT 1, the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972 and the Shanghai Communique of 1972 evidently help reinforce that the concept of détente brought a period focused on lessening the tensions of international relations and ultimately achieve political relation for the future of the Cold War, although the success and impact of this era is abhorred by many historians who have concluded that détente didn’t activate any positive changes to the cold war, and was conclusively a failure.

This made Americans fear losing their jobs and maybe even becoming enemies of the state, even though most of them had never involved themselves with communist groups. The Cold War lead to a society where every man is against another, it divided the nation over a fight against society, and it caused a fear of a possible war.

Daisaku Ikeda, a spiritual leader for Japan once commented, ‘Japan learned from the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that tragedy wrought by nuclear weapons must never be repeated and that humanity and nuclear weapons cannot coexist.’ The world has experienced the bombings of Japan, of Pearl Harbor and the conflict of the Cold War, but even with these conflicts present in our history, warning us of the effects, these meaning have not carried through into society today. Currently in the Middle East, we are witnessing the elements of a modern day cold war starting to appear. Israel and Iran have been in arguments and disagreements about nuclear weaponry since 2012. Their different religious view and ideologies has flourished into more than a religious tension but that of a modern day cold way.

The novel, The Culture of the Cold War, is the all about the cold war and how that time period effected America in the 1960s. It talks about how the Cold War era haunted America with constant threats, and the talk of communism all across the nation. The author of the book, Stephen J. Whitfield, described that the Cold War gave the nation an identity crisis and that suspicion started to arise. The novel is very descriptive on that topic and elaborates on certain ideologies during that time.

As a result of the expanding threat of the Soviet Union, or its Communist ideals, America took a stand that lead to the Cold War. Although the war did not involve fighting directly with Russia, it still affected 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. The Cold War affected domestic policy in two different ways, both socially and economically. Socially, the intensive indoctrination of the American people led to a regression of social reforms. Economically, enormous growth spurred by industries related to the war was aided by heavy government expansion. However, New Deal economics felt the greatest impact of the Cold War. Economically speaking, the Soviets and the Americans, we as different during the Cold War as they were politically. The Americans advocated free market capitalism while the Soviets promoted communism. Both sides touted benefits of their system and deficiencies of the other while claiming greater freedom for their citizens. For the Americans, this meant championing the innovation and affluence that capitalism brought; while correlating communism with oppression. The civilian population in American was encouraged to build personal bomb shelters in the 1950s. This

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

economy. The war affected American society when the foreign policy proposed the idea of keeping Communism out. This idea eventually led to McCarthyism and anticommunist hysteria that completely ruined people’s lives like dark ages. During the Cold War, government accused many good citizens as communists or communist sympathizers, so they became the subject of aggressive investigations. Despite of accusations, McCarthyism also violated freedom of speech when academics and artists who have no affiliation with communism were harassed and blackmailed just for being outspoken. Fortunately, not all ideological climates of the Cold War brought hysteria to people because the idea of anticommunism positively impacted everyday lives of most American civilians when “national security agencies encouraged Hollywood to produce anticommunist movies … and urged that film scripts be changed to remove references to less-than-praiseworthy aspects of American history” (Give Me Liberty! 907). The spreading of anticommunism on media enacted to ensure American patriotism. It caused Americans to think it was their patriotic duty to buy consumer goods to contribute the economic growth in the nation. Moreover, the government helped

A dance-rock protest song from West Germany, during the Cold War partition of Germany. The song describes a nuclear war starting because of misinterpreted signals from a bunch of balloons.

Soon after the conclusion of World War II in 1945, Communism posed a threat in the United States. This threat, also known as the Red Scare, was triggered because of the tension between the Soviet Union and the United States. The tension between the two superpowers led to the beginning of the Cold War in the late 1940s. Because the Soviets were a communistic country, many Americans feared Communism because of the influence that it had in America. Many intellectuals supported Communism in the U.S. which led to more concern within the country. The communistic threat presented by the Soviets in the war led to the spread of Communism within the U.S. It was a fear that many Americans spoke out against in attempt to save the American

In What Ways and to What Extent Did the Hysteria of the Cold War lead to the Trial and Execution of the Rosenbergs?

During World War II, there was tolerance for communism in the United States, but after the war ended and the Cold War began, that tolerance was gone. The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union was being developed even before the fighting stopped. Multiple crises that follow each other one after the other over the years such as the Greek Civil War and the Korean war made the United States come to regard the Soviet Union as a hostile power committed to expanding communism worldwide. The fear that the American public felt from their domestic Communists came from their government’s attempt for gathering support for the Cold War. The effects of people such as J. Edgar Hoover and Truman dehumanized the American Communists to the

After world war one peace looked inevitable. Everyone was wrong about this because a few years later world war two erupted. This great war was supposed to be the war to end all wars. In this war it was crystal clear who was the good side and who was the bad side. Almost everyone figured that if the bad side was defeated then peace couldn’t possibly escape us again. We defeated the evil Axis powers, but of course another serpent would rear its ugly head from behind the curtains. This period of a “cold war” after world war two has become one of the most complex and studied eras since America’s birth. This state of paradoxes, paranoia, and public disorientation has only ended a few years ago, but its

In American society, there was a very rampant stigma around communism and the potentially negative effects it can have on the standard way of life present. This led to the McCarthyism Movement which led to widespread conformity in the United States. Any movement seen as leftist was immediately under scrutiny and it forced stagnant politics. Many people were arrested and called into question. This shows the fear that the Cold War instilled in the American people.

Think if you were in Nagasaki, And you watched your home get destroyed if you were lucky you may have died right away. Nevermind, the ones who die right away are the lucky ones the others will have radiation poisoning which will cause all types of cancers. And it will affect families for generation to come And not only will it affect humans it will affect animals.