...Effect of War American Intercontinental University Abstract The following paper will look at a couple of major consequences the cold war had on the United States as a society. The paper will also go into the way the cold war affected the American population as a whole. The paper will also look at the reason the war could have been beneficial or detrimental on the United States. Cause and Effect of War The cold war took place during the mid-40’s and on into the late 80’s. The cold war got its name cold war due to the fact that there was not an active war at all. The cold war later on would cause other hot conflicts or active wars to arise in different parts of the world it led to destructive conflicts like the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The inactivity of the cold was partially due to the fact that the weaponry was stronger than ever, the world had been introduced to nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons if set off could literally destroy the world. This was something on everyone’s mind. The cold war was a long period of tension and hostility between the United States and the Soviet Union. The cold war was a conflict that began at the end of the second world war by the two dominant powers or the superpowers left from the aftermath of world war one. The United States and the Soviet Union both had their views; the Soviet Union advocated communism and most Americans wanted freedom or Democratic society. The Soviet Union wanted to spread it’s ideology of communism worldwide;...
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...The Cold War The Cold War by Jeremy Isaac and Taylor Downing is a book about the history of the U.S. In this book the author talks about how communism has been a part of U.S. history since the eighteenth century. Soviet Union leaders, such as Marx, Lenin, and Stalin continued to spread communism to other nations. The Cold War was not a war of weapons but a war to stop the spread of communism. The book goes into details about how the United States used every media outlet to convince the public of the horrors of communism. America was never really threatened by the Cold War. It was nothing more than two super powers battling for control. This book informs us that the start of the Cold War was caused by U.S. fear of the spread of communism and other events. The authors Sir Jeremy Isaacs is a British television producer and executive, winner of many BAFTA awards and international Emmy Awards. The other author Taylor Downing is an award winning TV producer, head of independent production company Flashback Television for 25 years and writer of best sellers. The two put together a very informative book covering the 50 yearhistory of America. I. The Iron Curtain: America knew they could not trust the Soviet Union under Josef Stalin leadership. During the invasion of Germany the concerns about the Soviet was put aside. During World War II the U.S. and Soviet became allies. Stalin used aggressive tactics to gain control of countries near the Soviet...
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...American policymakers? Abstract In this paper, I will discuss the policy of America during the Vietnam conflict and how this resulted in the unnecessary Vietnam War. I will discuss why the U.S. thought the domino theory would suit the American policies during this time period. Also, I will analyze why the domino effect was not suited well for America. America thought that if communism were to takeover Vietnam, then it would eventually leak out into the surrounding region. This was incorrect and in this paper, I will discuss why it was invalid information. This paper will also examine why American policymakers exaggerated the stakes of the Vietnam War and why this led to unnecessary involvement in the Vietnam conflict. Even as the US realized that the stakes had been exaggerated and that the domino theory was implausible, they continued their involvement in the war. As for sources, I will utilize the sources provided for us by the teacher. These sources are Chapter 10 from LeFeber and History in Dispute: Was US intervention in Vietnam justified? These sources will help me explain why the US’ tried to base their policies off of the domino theory and why this was not the best policy. Also, I will conduct my own research using the online database JSTOR. I will also utilize the Pentagon Papers, a source I found online. Together, all these sources will help me formulate and discuss my viewpoint as to whether or not the Vietnam War was a result of the wrong judgments of American...
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...Were the policies of the United States justified during the Cold War? Would you like it if you were forced to think and act in a certain way? In the past, there were countries, such as Germany, that tried to use force to make other people think the same way as they do, by killing people that were different, or thought differently. The United States and other countries didn't feel that they could just stand around and let things like this happen. The United States worked with others in the United Nations to put policies in place to protect and keep peace between nations. The Cold War is a good example of the United States working with others in order to protect against the spread of communism. It was called The Cold War because there wasn't ever an actual face to face conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union (New World Encyclopedia). Do you think the policies of the United States were justified during the Cold War? The foreign policy of the United States during the Cold War had support due to the direct conflict of goals of the U.S. and how the spread of communism could prove dangerous for Americans. The primary goal of communist nations was to ensure peace by forcing their views and beliefs on everyone else (Doc 12). For example, Stalin already had a dominating influence over several countries because of setting up Soviet-controlled governments in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Once they were in power within the country,...
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...throughout the Cold War. Revolutions begat, molded and then finally brought an end to the Cold War. In 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution forced Vladimir Lenin, the new communist leader, to withdraw from World War I on the side of the Western Allies and to sign a separate peace agreement with Germany. The suspicions that this aroused among the Allies were the seeds of the Cold War. In 1949, the New Democratic Revolution of China ended the Kuomintang (KMT) rule and established a communist government, thus guaranteeing the existence of the Cold War. Throughout its existence, the Cold War appeared to be something that was constantly present and unchanging. However, revolutions in Europe and Asia after 1953 continued to shape the Cold War until revolution inevitably destroyed in 1989. In 1954, after failing to contain communism in Korea, America involved itself in the Vietnam Conflict. At this time, France had just lost control of its colonial holdings in Vietnam. After the French were defeated by a communist contingent lead by Vo Nguyen Giap at Dien Bien Phu, the French decided that they could no longer retain their Indochinese colonies. In the summer of 1954, France and Vietnam signed the Geneva Peace Accords. It was agreed that Vietnam would be temporarily divided along the 17th parallel such that the north would be communist and the south would not be. As a result of this, the United States decided to intervene in the South Vietnamese affairs in an attempt to contain communism as they...
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...McCarthyism 1947-1954 Claudia Richey His/145 February 14, 2012 Kenneth Yates What was the “Cold War?” The subject researched for this paper is describing the Cold War or the Red Scare; others call it the Red Menace. The Red Scare was the most important political and diplomatic issue of the last half of the 20th Century. Cold War enemies were the United States and the Soviet Union. The Cold war got its name because both sides were terrified of a real war directly between the two major nuclear missile countries in the world. In a war nuclear weapons may destroy everything. So instead, they fought each other indirectly bringing the cold war of words to light. They played a game of chance with problems in different countries of the world. They used words as weapons. They threatened and denounced each other. Both sides tried to make each other look foolish. Senator Joseph McCarthy was the prime instigator of this conflict between America and the Soviet Union. Anticommunism and McCarthyism Differences Even though anticommunism and McCarthyism are usually placed together, they are not the same. The meanings of both seem similar but are have differences in the meanings. Anticommunism is beliefs, social values and political, opinions where one part of government holds all the power. McCarthyism accuses men and women unfairly of communism, destroying the reputation of these people. They were placed on what is called a “blacklist”. Because President Eisenhower...
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...McCarthyism Paper Write a 700- to 1,050-word paper written between 1947 and 1954 to see how these events were covered by the media. (New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, and Christian Science Monitor) About anticommunism- Anti-communism is a set of beliefs, social values, or political opinions that communism or a one party system form of government that holds all power, including the economy is not acceptable. -great anti-communist frenzy in the late 1940s and early 1950s that had corrosive effects on American life. Known to many as “McCarthyism,” after the Wisconsin senator who became the most famous and notorious voice of anti-communism for a time, the post–World War II Red Scare was a widespread phenomenon that affected almost every area of American life. The early years of the Cold War coincided with a time of economic anxiety as the nation attempted to adjust to conversion from war to peace; but by the early 1950s, the American economy entered a period of high economic growth and stability. McCarthyism during this period- Whereas, McCarthyism unfairly targeted and investigated men and women for being suspected of being a communist often destroying reputations and causing employers to place suspects names on the so called "blacklist" for fear of risking his or her own reputation (especially Hollywood) destroyed by the powerful Senator Joseph McCarthy. Throughout the late 1950's and even until the end of the cold war McCarthyism...
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...broke out between the Unite States and the Soviet Union in what was known as the Cold War. The west was concerned with anti-Communism becoming a part of its domestic politics. It had become an obsession of most conservative politicians to expose what they call Communist subversion and at the same time dealt a blow to the liberal causes. The interest of the Soviet Union was in the control of strategic interest. In addition the Soviet Union was determined to create a secure sphere for itself in Central and Eastern Europe as protection against possible future aggression from the West (Brinkley Ch. 29). These different views were the bases for the Cold War. Not only did the cold war have international consequences but also create a division within the United States. Since Communism was a major concern, the spread of anti-Communism was introduced as a way to protect the fundamental way Americans lived. In addition anti-Communism gave birth to McCarthyism. I will discuss the differences between anticommunism and McCarthyism, the perspective from which the media covered anticommunism and McCarthyism, how the American foreign policy decisions were affected or impacted by anticommunism and finally how Americans’ lives changed because of the Red Scare. To gain a clear understanding of the differences between anticommunism and McCarthyism, a brief definition of Communism must be given. Communism is a distinct socio-political philosophy that is willing to use violent means to...
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...The Cold War was an indirect interaction between the U.S.A and the Soviet Union. The different ideas of government were one of the main reasons of why there was a war between the U.S and the Soviet Union. Not only that, many factors came along with the war, starting from 1945 other Countries and Nuclear weapons created tension between them. Economic competitions, policies, and plans also contributed to the creation of the Cold War and the finalization of it in 1991. The presidents at the time also influenced in big decisions making, and lead to a better or worse situation not only in the U.S and the Soviet Union, but also in many countries that were involved. During the late 19th Centaury the Soviet Union (USSR) was encouraging the pro-communist...
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...The Cold War and U.S. Diplomacy Sean DeMeis Professor Torres July 25, 2012 POL 300 Truman’s term in office started after Roosevelt had died 3 months into his fourth term. Truman's presidency was eventful in foreign affairs, with the defeat of Nazi Germany and his decision to use nuclear weapons against Japan, the founding of the United Nations, the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe, and the Truman Doctrine to contain communism. President Truman was avidly participating in foreign affairs. This paper is going to focus on the topics surrounding the Truman Doctrine. “At the end of WWII it was immediately apparent that Russia meant to draw as many countries as it could into its sphere of influence, if not into actual dominance” (Spalding, 2005). Both the British and the Americans became alarmed as country after country did, indeed, fall under Russian influence. During the War, the British had been a moderating force in the middle and Far East. But the cost of the war had drained them. As hostilities ended in the joint effort to defeat Hitler, Russia's intentions very soon became obvious. President Harry Truman, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill, after many conferences, decided that steps had to be taken to stem the advance of Communism. Churchill had long been suspicious of the Soviets, and it did not take long for Truman to achieve the same level of mistrust. This led to Truman’s crusade to contain the expansion of communism throughout the world. Truman was hard-nosed...
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...Reagan Analysis Paper Reagan Analysis Paper Introduction Ronald Wilson Reagan was the fortieth president of the United States. A two term president, he served from 1981-1989. President Reagan won a landslide victory over Jimmy Carter running on a political platform consisting of jump starting the economy and bringing inflation down. This was to be accomplished through lowering taxes and cutting government spending. Many people consider Reagan an outstanding president but this paper contends he was an overrated president. This is based on the management of three issues facing his presidency. These are: economic policies, ending the Cold War, and the Iran-Contra affair. Economic Policies Throughout Reagan’s campaign he assaulted the Carter administration’s free-spending (Moss & Thomas, 2013, pp-208-210). He made promises to cut spending, but ultimately spent more. The most common misconception is that Reagan saved our economy with his famous Reaganomics. This of course included the modern trickle-down theory or supply-side economics, which included major tax decreases, specifically on the wealthy. These tax decreases, coupled with high military spending, created a massive debt and led the country into one of the worst depressions since the Great Depression. When Reagan entered the presidency in 1981 the national debt was at $900 billion. By the time he left it had over tripled to $2.8 trillion. To top it off, many of the military projects the money was used...
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...Anticommunism and McCarthyism Travis Hall His/145 4/27/2011 Richard Pinder At the end of World War II, there was a continuing state of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars and economic competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union, commonly known as The Cold War. These two superpowers conflicted and were competitive about many things, but none greater than the difference in government. The Soviet Union, being a communist country was highly unfavorable to the majority of the world. The United States attempted to use containment as a primary strategy to keep communism away from its shores. This strong resilience prompted the phrase, anti-communism, which simply means against communism. Even though America maintained itself as a democracy, there was a sweeping fear that communism may infiltrate the American government. Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy became the most visible public face during this period. Senator McCarthy helped to perpetuate this fear, by making claims that there were an extremely large number of Communist and Soviet spies inside the United States federal government. This brought about the coining of the phrase McCarthyism. McCarthyism has become a common phrase for making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. McCarthy’s method used the fears of Americans to perpetuate...
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...Assignment 3: “World War II Through The 1970’s” Joseph L. Carter History 105 June 11, 2012 Professor Everett Hardy Strayer University Delaware County Campus Analyze the facts that war and propaganda had on American society World War 2 and the 1970’s. Looking at the history of the United States, never had the country seen such dramatic changes in the social, economic, and political structure that happened at the end of World War II. Multiple events throughout this period guided the direction of the United States government and the attitudes of Americans. This paper will provide a look into the evolution of the United States by analyzing the most significant events in the five decades after World War II. The 1950s brought about a new look into the foreign affairs for the United States government and the American people. After the victory of World War II, two allies of the war, the United States and the Soviet Union became bitter enemies that tried to secure a position of world leader. The Soviet Union had its Communist Manifesto that according to the Decades Project (1999) website stated, “a mission statement that provides that communism requires a world revolution and the destruction of capitalism in order to succeed”. This was a direct threat to the American Way of life, and started the beginning of the Cold War. With different ideals and hunger for power, both sides began to build up military strength, especially...
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...Contributions of the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. to the Cold War Student’s Name Course Institution Instructor Date Contributions of the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. to the Cold War Through an analysis of the Soviet Union’s perspective of communist-based system, the United States technological advance in manufacture of atomic bombs and missiles to bring the rest of the world to their knees, and post war estrangement of the Eastern European nations by the Soviets; this paper argues that cold war was totally inevitable. Cold war refers to an era of competition, tension and conflict only without real war, between the East and the West; associated with mutual percept of ill intentions between military-political coalitions. In the year 1945, the Soviet Union and the United States had forged great friendship due to their joint efforts to triumph over Nazi regime in the Second World War. The outstanding political, economic and ideological divergence of these two nations frequently barred them from arriving at a consensus on major policy issues as some almost brought them to the verge of war. ("The Soviet Union and the United States - Revelations from the Russian Archives | Exhibitions - Library of Congress", 2016) Initially, the government of United States was unfriendly to the Soviet Union rulers for withdrawing Russia out of the First World War and was against their communism-based ideology. United States government later was offering relief program to the famine in the Soviet Union around...
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...The Cold War During World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union were allies, fighting against Germany and Japan. During World War II, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill needed Stalin and the Soviet forces to help defeat Germany. When the “Big Three” met at the Yalta conference in Crimea, Soviet Union, in February 1945, Roosevelt was convinced that he still needed the support of Stalin to defeat the Japanese, because the United States had not yet tested the atomic bomb. The American Truman Doctrine of containment was meant to keep a lid on Soviet military adventurism that might spark a Third World War and a nuclear exchange. Despite revisionist historians trying to read all kinds of sinister subtext into our actions from 1945 to 1991 this simple objective was the only really important thing to the US during the Cold War. Everything else is smoke and mirrors. The primary threat was an unstable world that would descend back into WW III and a nuclear confrontation. The American policy called the Truman Doctrine of containment was not some hysterical fear that the Communists were going to invade America. The fear was that one of their little military adventures would get out of hand and blow up into a worldwide military confrontation that would end in a nuclear exchange. The policy was intended to keep a lid on small and/or regional wars and confrontations and keep them small and regional. Americans were in fear that maybe...
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