TAKING SIDES John Lewis Gaddis, in his article insisted that Stalin, as a unique powerful and uniquely malevolent historical actor, must bear the greatest responsibility for the Cold War. In my opinion, Stalin cannot be the only one responsible for the origins of the Cold War. As we know, Joseph Stalin was an evil dictator, propelled by an evil Communist ideology to attempt world domination. But also it is important to mention that the Cold War was also the result of the suspicion and rivalry between Truman and Stalin. Also, the Cold War was caused by the social climate and tension in Europe at the end of World War II and by the increasing power struggles between the Soviet Union and the United States. Economic separation between the Soviets and the west also heightened tensions, along with the threat of nuclear war. Moreover the contradictory agreements Roosevelt negotiated with Stalin and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at Yalta in 1945 failed to establish a successful framework for peaceful postwar cooperation between the Soviet Union and the West. In the article, “The Atomic Bomb and the Origins of the Cold War”, Martin J. Sherwin mentions that instead of promoting American post war aims, war time atomic energy policies made them more difficult to achieve. American’s aggressive efforts to contain Soviet influence, to intimidate the Soviets with the atomic bomb and to pursue American economic interest around the globe were also responsible for starting the old War as well as economic interest around the globe were responsible for the Cold War. We can conclude that Stalin’s continued threats of aggression, and the Soviet’s development of an Atomic weapon led to the United States to counter that development by building more arms itself, and that the foreign policies adopted by mainly capitalist countries was a form of threat to