The Cold War: The Rise Of Communism In The United States

During the cold war, the United States engaged in many aggressive policies both at home and abroad, in which to fight communism and the spread of communist ideas. Faced with a new challenge and new global responsibilities the U.S. needed to retain what it had fought so strongly for in World War II. It needed to contain the communist ideas pouring from the Soviet Union while preventing communist influence at home, without triggering World War III. With the policies of containment, McCarthyism, and brinkmanship, the United States hoped to effectively stop the spread of communism and their newest threat, the Soviet Union.

The Cold War was a pivotal time in American history. To a greater degree than most other wars, the Cold War affected American society in unfathomable and profound ways. More specifically, American culture transformed immensely during this time. From a constant state of anxiety, to changes in media and the arts, to McCarthyism; the Cold War fervently affected the quality of life, personal expression, and American politics. Predominantly, the Cold War inflicted fear and apprehension within the American people that was so overpowering that it affected every aspect of their lives and overall American culture.

The United States after the cold war was (“an era that ended when the Soviet Union collapsed on Dec. 31, 1991”.) The confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union defined the Cold War period. (The collapse of Europe framed that confrontation). After World War II, the Soviet and American armies kept Europe busy. The post cold war had two phases that happen two years apart. The first one was from Dec 31, 1991. The second phrase lasted until September 11, 2001 (9/11) and until now. The initial phase of the post-Cold War world was built on two assumptions. (“The first assumption was that the United States was the dominant political and military power but that such power was less significant than before, since economics was the new focus. The second phase still revolved around the three Great Powers — the United States, China and Europe — but involved a major shift in the worldview of the United States, which then assumed that pre-eminence included the power to reshape the Islamic world through military action while China and Europe single-mindedly focused on economic matters.”) After the Cold War, the United States was withdrawing from Afghanistan and having a second thought on the relationship between global preminence and global omnipotence. Things that happen in 1991 will never be the same again. The Gulf War was an international conflict that was caused by Iraq’s invasion by Kuwait on Aug 2, 1990. A response from the U.S was that the United States and its

The Cold War took a lot of affect on the United States Domestic Policy and American society. Domestic Policies were changed due to the world affairs, and the American society had a dramatic change from the war. The United States Government became extra secure and protected. Many new political cartoons were created from the fear of Communists and other big events and things that were happening during this time period. War was the leading problem in the US during this time period. Many citizens became upset and protested. Also, many American citizens were scared because they heard many people talking about the war,and what was happening and took as many measures on safety as they possibly knew and could. Later, through science, we have learned that many of their tactics when it came to protecting themselves would not even have worked.The United States spend a lot of extra money during this time period to keep up with the war. (DBQ questions)

Over the course of the history of the United States of America, there have been numerous threats from various international countries. And with these numerous threats come different responses from the United States. Such as the French and the British during the 1790s, the U.S. government created the Alien and Sedition Acts The U.S. also had conflict with the British over the territory of Oregon,which ended in the creation Oregon Treaty. Later during World War 1, the U.S. , under President Woodrow Wilson, declared neutrality at the beginning of the war but were very straightforward that is the Germans continued the engaging in unrestricted submarine warfare against American ships supplying goods to Allied nations would result in an American Declaration of War. Over time the U.S. has become more upfront and stern with their reactions to threats from international nations. And it expanded to post 1945, when there was an impeding spread of Communism in the United States. And the way the the U.S. responded was similar to the their past course of response.

All through the Cold War the United States attempted to contain or squash developments that it saw as dangers to American financial or security objectives, in Europe, in Asia, in different parts of the alleged Third World, and at home. Communists, patriots, individual voyagers, neutralists, and activists for popular government and human rights, at different times, felt American rage in the half-century after 1945. In no spot, be that as it may, did American exertions to attest its hobbies and impede the will of the local populace happen as seriously or shockingly as in Vietnam. Despite the fact that a little, immature nation which has been subjected to violence and resistance through the years, not to

The author of The Devil We Knew wrote this book from a standpoint of displeasure at the way the government handled the Cold War. I believe that H.W. Brands was not alone in this feeling of the government failing its people. The Cold War was the third war in a very short period of time. During the first two wars 100,000 Americans and millions of non-Americans were slaughtered. The feeling of continuous war and death to simply be in another war was more than some people could stand (VI). Thus, their fear took on the image of communists, they became the scapegoat for everything we feared.

What if you were forced to adopt a standing on the government? During the Cold War, which was in 1947 and continued to 1991, America forced its democratic views on a lot of communist countries. America helped decrease communism in many different parts of the world and many different countries. The two places in which America helped exterminate communism in, I will be focusing on are Russia or the USSR as well as Greece and Turkey. During the Cold War America stood for democracy because the whole “war” was about exterminating communism and promoting democracy.

After WW2, United States became the greatest power in the world; many American politicians thought that Unites states should play the role as a leader to “lead the rest of the world to a future of international cooperation, expanding democracy, and ever-increasing living standards (Give me Liberty P952).” They wanted to express the idea of equality, civil rights, and the freedom to the world, and hoped to build an easier world for democracy and capitalism. However, Soviet Union, which was the only power that could rival the United States, claimed that communism could make the world more organized and ordered. Both countries hoped to expend their influences around the world, and their confliction generally turned to be a cold war, in other words, a battle between Capitalism and Communism. The cold war coincided with the civil rights movement in the United States and had a strong influence on Africa-Americans’ action of pursuing racial equality. Although some left-wing activists in the united states pushed the blacks and some whites into fear of speaking for the Africa-Americans, cold war still provided the blacks a good opportunity and a great starting reason to fight for their civil rights and also enabled the U.S government realized the importance of racial equality for their promotion of democracy because of domestic and international pressure.

Essay Topic #2 - Using documents 1.1-1.6 and your wider knowledge, evaluate the assumptions underlying Soviet and US polices at the end of the Second World War.

The conflict in ideologies between capitalism and communism resulted in one of the greatest conflicts of the twentieth century. The belief that freedom and democracy would die under communist rule caused the United States to start a conflict that would last for decades. The decisions made by the United States in W.W.II caused tensions to rise between the U. S. and the Soviet Union. Fear of Communism in capitalist nations, caused the United states government to use propaganda to raise Cold War anxieties. Furthermore, the American media influenced the attitudes of Americans, making a hatred of communism spread though the nation. Thus, the United States caused the conflict known as the Cold War, through its political policy and propaganda. The political relations going on in Europe during and directly after World War II had an enormous effect on laying the foundation for the Cold War. War time conferences such as Yalta and Terhran harshened the relationship between the communists and the capitalists. At the end of W.W.II American policy towards the Soviets changed drastically. The change in president in 1945 caused relations with Russia to worsen. Furthermore, other political contributions to the Cold War entailed the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. The division of Europe between the west and east drew physical borders which outlined that the war of misinformation that had began. Also treaties of the post war world further separated the two super powers

During the time period of 1947-1991, the United States and the Soviet Union had a disagreement, which then became the Cold War. The Cold War was started because of the reason that the United States refused recognition to the Soviet Union. They refused recognition of the USSR because they did not want to honor their debts. "Politically speaking, the United States and the Soviet Union were polar opposites at the end of WWII. Decolonization by European countries and the withdrawal of Axis forces of occupied lands left a “vacuum of power” in Europe and around the globe (Fry).

After World War II, a majority of Americans would say that communism was the world’s biggest threat. Because America is the known as “the land of the free, and the home of the brave” they were worried that communist wanted to destroy their freedom and corrupt them. Communism is a theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.

Communism is an ideology that has a very long history more than one-third of the globe. This ideology is followed by Russia, Cuba, Laos, China, North Korea, and Vietnam. This ideology is the source of many revolutions and conflicts throughout the history likes the English Civil War, the Bolshevik Revolution, the Vietnam War, the Korea War and the Cold War. However, what makes Communism different from other ideologies is its origin, its policy, and its effects on the poor and the working class.

The Cold War occurred after the traumatic events of World War 2, that lasted almost 50 years, beginning in 1945 and lasting through 1991. Even though, the United States and the Soviet Union were allies during World War 2, political tensions arose between the two nations that resulted in the production of nuclear weaponry, race of producing superior space mechanisms, and billions of dollars spent.