Vernon Fisher Cold War Analysis

There have been various ideologies, events, and origins of the Cold War that have dominated American foreign policy from 1946 to 1989. The Cold War was a time of conflict between between the U.S. and the USSR; the two Superpowers saw each other as a threat. Thus they continued to fight to preserve their positions. Each side became involved in events such as the Korean War. They each stood behind the other nations fighting. Together the rise in communism, a rise of the Soviet influence dominated American foreign policy, and the creation of the Warsaw Pact.

Research this week was fruitful and my bibliography grew substantially. A large part of the reason for this growth was the mining of the bibliography of other sources. One of the most fruitful was, The Cold War in a Cold Land: Fighting Communism on the Northern Plains. The book provided me with a variety of both primary and secondary sources. The list of sources includes, books, articles, and government reports. A second book that provided more sources was, How We Forgot the Cold War. The bibliography provided some sources created by the North Dakota State Historical Society. In addition to these sources, I have been looking into newspapers. I have ordered some rolls of microfilm of the Griggs County Sentinel-Courier and am still waiting for them to arrive. I started with these rolls because they came from the paper closest to the geographic center of my research, as well as the dates of my research. In addition to the rolls, I have ordered The Cold War in a Cold Land, which provided a list of other newspapers that may be useful. In addition to ordering more microfilm reels that I will have sent to me at school, I will also have the opportunity to examine many more when I return home for spring break. Many are housed at the State Historical Society, just twenty minutes

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 American and Soviet Union space programs were in a race to space during the cold war. This space race reflected many political, social, and economic aspects of the cold war. The fact that both countries were in the middle of a cold war didn’t help.

The Cold war began due to political and military tension due to World War II. The Soviet Union and America were two world superpowers that fought for a change in government and world supremacy. America feared a communist expansion from the Soviet Union and created many policies, laws, legislations, and pacts to protect democracy on the home front as well as internationally. The Cold War stemmed from the Soviet Union’s failure to maintain their integrity to the group of nations in the Yalta and Potsdam Conference. Soviet leader, Stalin invaded Eastern Europe and started the communist expansion in regions that were promised to be untouched. The consequences of his actions resulted in the Cold War. American reactions to the Cold War were justified

The Cold War was an over 40 year war between the former World War II alliances The United States and The Soviet Union. This was a war that begun by political disagreements, harsh anti-communist words from Winston Churchill, and a power imbalance between The Soviet Union and The United States. Though it was a war, a new, lethal weapon was used to emotionally harm the opposing country rather than causing physical damage.

After the events of World War II, there was growing tension between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1946. This growing tension developed into the Cold War, which would dominate American foreign policy. Foreign policy changed within the beginning years of the Cold War, as both the US and Soviet Union wanted to assert their power without creating international conflict and devastation.

The freezing air is blowing as I lay in bed listening to the soldiers moan struggling to survive in this harsh war. There are many bitter conditions here at Valley Forge. There is a big risk staying here as we struggle to stay alive. My hut is filled with smoke and is surrounded by the cold snow. We have huts that are a few feet long and have a small fireplace on one side and a door on the other. The food here is horrible and barely keeps us alive. We get a small piece of meat each day and a little bit of cornmeal. I have decided to re-enlist for 3 reasons which are that I need to fight for a cause, to help the sick and dying army, and to get my family and aging mother into a free country.

The final conclusion of the Cold war has created dubiety in historians which they have stayed with their doubt on viewing the perspective if president Ronald Reagan actually won the Cold War. Some historians have came upon to conclude that it was Reagan’s policies help with the war.While on the other hand, historians may say that it was the actions of Gorbachev that held lead to the end of the Cold War. During 1940-1991 the Soviet Union was already facing economic problems, in which once Reagan raised the amount of money for the arms race, the Soviet union began to struggle.Not only that but, “The conflict was a geopolitical and ideological struggle, which not only involved armies and resources, but ideas and values”(Gurney pg.1).The Cold

In The Cold War: A New History, John L. Gaddis creates a thorough timeline of the events stretching from the end of World War II through the fall of the USSR which helps newer generations understand the gravity of the situation. As Michael Bechloss said “By 2006, Americans too young to have lived through the era of duck-and-cover drills require a scholar of extraordinary gifts to tell why nine presidents deployed our national treasure against an empire that broke apart so clumsily in the end.” This quote does an excellent job explaining how my generation and the ones following will have a limited understanding of the events surrounding the cold war and their role in shaping the world we know today. As Gaddis himself said in a NPR interview;

The Berlin Airlift- The airlift involved American, British, and French aircraft delivering supplies to West Berlin, which was blockaded by the Soviets. The Soviets wanted the US, France, and Britain to get out of West Berlin permanently, but the Americans won’t let that happen since they don’t want communism to spread. Aircraft from the non-Soviet occupation zones in Germany took off with supplies and landed in the airfields inside West Berlin. The airlift made it possible for the people inside West Berlin to survive, and the blockade was eventually lifted due to the embargo placed on products made in the Eastern bloc.

With this book, a major element of American history was analyzed. The Cold War is rampant with American foreign policy and influential in shaping the modern world. Strategies of Containment outlines American policy from the end of World War II until present day. Gaddis outlines the policies of presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, including policies influenced by others such as George Kennan, John Dulles, and Henry Kissinger. The author, John Lewis Gaddis has written many books on the Cold War and is an avid researcher in the field. Some of his other works include: The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1941-1947, The Long Peace: Inquiries into the History of the Cold War, We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War

The Cold War: A New History written by John Lewis Gaddis (a professor at Yale University who wrote other books such as The United States and the Origins of the Cold War and Strategies of Containment: A Critical Appraisal of Postwar American National Security) delivers a summarized, yet skewed interpretation of what had happened during the era known as the Cold War. Throughout the book, the author attempts to provide history of the Cold War, while adding in generalizations, incomplete facts, as well as flat out bias.

For example, his piece Sopla / Gust the wind, 2015 was made with letterpress on Revere Ivory paper (Chagoya, ULAE). The image depicts a priest with round ears resembling Mickey Mouse on his head using a child as a fire bellow. All the while, a group of mothers holding their children watch and point at the display in approval. I believe this piece is meant to represent the Disney corporation’s overwhelming influence on what parents allow their children to watch, including the highly Christian mentality

The Cold War was fought between the United States of America and the Soviet Union. The war was a battle to be the most powerful country in the world. Although the Cold War was not a violent one it affected many other countries besides the United States and the Soviet Union. Most of the battles were races to get the achieve technology. South Korea was deeply affected by the Cold War; “Letter to General-Lieutenant Hodge on Northern Korea Providing Electricity to Southern Korea” proves that South Korea’s debt to North Korea was directly associated with the Cold War. North Korea was also very much affected by the Cold War; “Soviet Report on Communists in Korea, 1945” validates the fact that the North Korean