The Specter Of Communism

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 success of communism had an immense impact on the world, especially in Western countries. The United States considered communism to be a real threat to democracy. Historically, critics point out that most communistic societies have faced periods of famine, and nearly all severely repress their citizens. Censorship is rampant, and any political opposition is strictly stopped. Anti-communists also argue that communism essentially causes a worse form of the class struggle in capitalist societies. This is because communist societies involve a ruling class which have all of the power, which is inevitably used to treat ordinary citizens poorly. These ruling classes have more privilege and power than the upper classes of the capitalist societies they strove to abolish.

Between 1945 and 1960, the United States was confronted with a colossal predicament. A Cold War had emerged between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. This war did not involve any direct attacks between the two, instead indirect confrontations. Subsequently, the war took a massive toll on the U.S. An era of high tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union posed a communist threat to America.

Although the Soviet Union and the United States fought together during World War II against the Axis Powers, the relationship between the two grew bitter going into the 1950’s Cold War. The Cold War left a dominant impact on the U.S. and American living throughout the 20th century. The fall out between the U.S. and the Soviet Union created various issues that United States dealt with (Suddath). The United States was a capitalistic country, while the Soviet Union, also known as the USSR, was lead by a strong communist influence. The expansion of Soviets into Eastern Europe fueled most of the fear the U.S. had of Russia, that they would attempt to influence many more countries.

“We shall pay the price, bear any burden, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” (John F Kennedy) Before the Cold War, Russia and the United States fought next to each other in World War II. The U.S even gave them millions of dollars worth of weapons and other support to help defeat the Nazis. But when Joseph Stalin took over, created the Soviet Union and started spreading communism the U.S had to do something about it. During the Cold War the United States and the Soviet Union were pitted against each other, each with hopes on spreading their own but very different governments and requirements, taking extreme measures like containment, the Truman Doctrine, Berlin Blockade, or the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The Cold War Era was a time in history where there was hostility between many different countries. The one most notable was the hostility between the Soviet Union and United States, the fight between Communism and Capitalism. As the most dominant country the U.S. offered assistance to countries threatened by Communism. They felt that Communism was wrong and was not the right way to run a government. Between the years 1945 and 1980 the United States and Soviet Union’s relationship was ruined, which caused a lot of distrust between the two. The two countries never went to war, but there were a lot of disagreements, among them the U.S. was a democracy and the Soviet Union was under a dictatorship. Leading up to the Cold War America became

After World War 1, the world was left displaced with different types of governments. Communism arose as one of the prominent governments in the world, causing a big conflict. At that time, Catholics stepped up in the attempt to end Communism. One person who played a main role in leading the Catholics against Communism was Bishop Sheen. Sheen writes, “Sheen advocated a militant stand by the Church along with a militant spirit of democracy, confident that the Church's position would be vindicated, and that good would triumph over evil”. (An American Catholic Response to the Twentieth Century Pg. 67). Fulton wrote many books, bringing the church together to go against Communism. The Paschal Mystery that Fulton wrote about was the ending of Communism

Shortly after World War II, the world’s two most powerful nations, the United States and the Soviet Union, emerged as arch-adversaries and in doing so, they created a rivalry that casted a shadow over international affairs for decades known as the Cold War. The Soviet Union saw the United States as a ruthless, imperialist power whose goal was to destroy communism and encourage the growth of a capitalist world. In contrast, America saw the Soviets as a ruthless, imperialist, and totalitarian power whose goal was to destroy democracy and encourage a Communist revolution through expansion. Therefore, the United States’ actions toward the Soviet Union was justifiable after World War II. American diplomat George Kennan said how the Soviets were

The Cold War started in 1947 and “consisted of propaganda battles, economic warfare, proxy wars, and arms race, the cold war touched virtually every corner of the globe in the years after World War II” (Etheridge 1). This wasn’t like any kind of war the U.S. had been involved with in the past because there was no real fighting in this “war.” This was between two former Allies who teamed up to take down Germany, Italy, and China in World War II. It’s the United States vs the Soviet Union. It’s safe to say that “the relationship between the U.S. and its former wartime ally had deteriorated considerably” (Weaver 1). This put the country on alert because they weren’t sure what to expect after coming off a big four-year war. The United States got involved in the Cold War because the Soviet Union was trying to influence other Eastern countries to turn to communism as their primary government. They didn’t want the world to be overrun with a Communist government so the U.S. had to step in to try and put a stop to the madness of the communist influence. The “American participation in the cold war represented a sharp break in the history of American foreign relations” (Etheridge 1) because many U.S. presidents followed George Washington’s advice and “avoided political and military participation in the world” (Etheridge 1). This led to “the Soviet Union [overthrowing] the democratically elected

This site has series of debates on the USA as a communist state, this has several debates going on at the same time to make you think about the USA as a communist state. It also covers what would happen if the us fell to communism today. and if the us will ever fall. Currently the debate has a seventy five percent chance to fall to communism. The leading argument on the page says that the legislative branch is no longer respected by the executive branch and how they will take control as a dictator. Like in 1984 how we have big brother in control. It brings up how our own government is turning against us and homeland security is trying to squash local militias. Personal favorite speaks of how trump has rapidly passed his executive orders as

The show also didn’t show the political tension of the decade. One of the if not the biggest political tension of this time was McCarthyism. This was what really sent off the red scare. In 1950 Senator McCarthy gave a speech where he said he knew 205 communist who worked for the Department of State. He reported 81 cases the day of his speech and skipped many numbers and repeated the same flimsy evidence. The Senate called for a full investigation and many peoples lives was ruined due to all the false accusations. All of this lasted until 1954 when McCarthy attacked the military with his claims and the military questioned McCarthy's methods and credibility. Then poll after poll the citizens turned on McCarthy, then McCarthy’s colleagues censured

For Freud, communism is based on a contradictory assumption because it in no way alters human nature, instead it alters the motivations by which it operates. Aggression predates the ownership of property. It has also served throughout history to fix communities together against persons outside. Which is where prejudice originated from, for example, the Jews in the Middle Ages were the victims of prejudice by Christians. Freud believes the primal instinct of human beings to be aggressiveness. Freud considers the primary aims of civilization are to protect man from the dangers of nature and restrain the inclination to aggression. Of the Ten Commandments, Freud objects to the ninth commandment "Love thy neighbor." Freud objects mainly because

were not something that people disliked. The jobs they had to do were fair jobs and they made fair money. Women also worked during this time. Everyone held their own weight in a communism society. Women working brought in two sets of incomes into the household. This also made life a little easier. In order to have citizens obtain luxury goods, Gerhard described how he tried to obtain a car, “This coming March I could buy a car, if I had the money. Ten years ago I put my name in, and now I’ve learned that I can buy a Mazda 323. But it costs 25,000 Marks, which I just don’t have.” Here it shows how a simple luxury good that is so easily obtainable in America. The types of markets in East Germany were restrictive and extremely hard

In the years leading up to World War II Americans feared the Russians and Joseph Stalin, dictator of the Soviet Union from 1929-1953. His self-centered and blood-thirsty characteristics were one to fear as millions of his own people were killed during his reign (Joseph Stalin). Russia was under communism which contradicted the American democracy. The Cold War was never “America against Russia” instead the two countries fought through what is called a Proxy Wars. A proxy war is a confrontation between two powers where neither directly engages the other.

Amid World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union battled together as partners against the Axis powers. Then again, the relationship between the two countries was a strained one. Americans had long been careful about Soviet socialism and worried about Russian pioneer Joseph Stalin's overbearing, ruthless tenet of his own nation. As far as it matters for them, the Soviets disdained the Americans' decades-long refusal to regard the USSR as a honest to goodness a portion of the universal group and additionally their postponed section into World War II, which brought about the passings of a huge number of Russians. After the war finished, these grievances aged into a staggering feeling of shared doubt and ill will. After war Soviet expansionism in Eastern Europe powered numerous Americans' reasons for alarm of a Russian plan to control the world. In the mean time, the USSR came to despise what they saw as American authorities' hostile talk, arms development and interventionist way to deal with worldwide relations. In such an unfriendly air, no single gathering was completely to fault for the Cold War; truth be told, some historBy the time World War II finished, most American authorities concurred that the best protection against the