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Conception of the Cold War

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Conception of the Cold War
Paul Tate
SS310-02: Exploring the 1960s - An Interdisciplinary Approach
Kaplan University
March 10, 2013

Conceptions of the Cold War
The cold war was quite enticing, yet filled with uncertainty, the expectations of the interviewees are each different, yet intriguing in the following synopsis of their opinions pertaining to the cold war. The first interviewee concept of the cold war was “Armageddon waiting to happen “as stated in her own words, she went on to say that “the world will probably come to an end soon”. Her understanding of the cold war was that the Russians are going to destroy America with very powerful atomic weapons, because we, the United States gave them the technology. She is now about sixty three years old, and felt that the world would suffer because of Russia’s disdain for the United States. Her definition of the cold war was very close to the definition, defining the cold war as a proxy war between the United States and the Soviet Union. She called the Soviet Union Russia, when I questioned her understanding of the difference between the two terms. She still is worried about an atomic holocaust. I think her understanding of the cold war is very similar to that of this course, because in no uncertain terms, did she not relay the thought that the cold war was really a confrontational, anticipatory battle between the United States and the Soviet Union.
“I heard that we were doomed to die, because the Soviet Union is going to use an atomic bomb on us” this was a quote from the second interviewee. This gentleman exclaimed that “we must attack Russia first, before they attack us”. What a profound thought, back in the seventies, this interviewee, who brother was a Vietnam vet, who has since past on, intimated that we do not stand a chance with a war against the Soviet Union. I think his definition of the cold

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