The Cold War from 1945 to 1960 exemplified the consequences of having two world super powers. Following the conclusion of World War Two, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as the top nations around the world. The two nations were polar opposites. The United States was a flourishing democracy and an ideology of freedom for citizens. The Soviet Union under the control of the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin was a strict totalitarian government with communist ideals. The Cold War period would represent the tension, controversy, and differences between the two nations attempting to be considered the top power militarily, socially, economically and politically. The origins of the Cold War can be explained in the vast number of differences …show more content…
Throughout the Cold War, there was a lingering fear of the domino theory. This meant if one nation fell to communism in an area, the surrounding nations would as well. There was also a fear of Communism reaching the shores of the United States and people beginning to promote it within the nation’s borders. The House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) emerged to combat communism that was in the United States. Also, Senator Joseph McCarthy made claims that he had names of communists in the State Department who were contributing to the demises of the United States during the Cold War. Through fear, interrogation and conspiracy, the United States hoped to eradicate communism at home and continue the good fight for democracy against the Soviet Union. People like the Rosenberg’s, and the Hollywood Ten were targeted as communists. The Rosenberg’s were executed and the Hollywood Ten were blacklisted in society. The patriotism and morality that was an underlying tone to why the United States was in the Cold War helped allow the U.S. to crack down on domestic Communism. However, the fight on domestic Communism can also be attributed to one of the consequences of the Cold War. The fears of communism allowed for hysteria, and paranoia to ensue. People in the United States were too afraid to speak out against things due to the fear of being called “soft on communism.” Also, many people …show more content…
The Soviet Union frequently backed groups that were leaning toward Communism in the hopes that they would adopt that policy. This can be seen in the case of the Korean War. In 1950, Koreans in the North invaded Southern Korea and were backed by the Soviet Union, along with China. Although, there was no victory in the Korean War, the Soviets showed they were willing to back those whose ideologies aligned with their own. This will also happen years later in Vietnam when the communist leader Ho Chi Minh comes to power, and during the Vietnam war will get assistance from the Soviet Union in his effort to stay in power. Later on in 1956, the Hungarians who were a satellite nation to the Soviet Union planned to revolt under the influence of the CIA. However, the Soviet Union stepped in and crushed the revolution due to the lack of assistance from the United States. In this instance, the Soviet Union proved it would rule with a stern hand in order to keep their ideology and their satellite nations. Those satellite nations allowed them to continue to be the top influencing communism power across the
Communists in a critical area of the state allowed the Soviets to gain secret information about atomic weaponry and US government political strategy. The hysteria grew as accusations from McCarthy were investigated
The Soviet Union was growing in power and the threat of a nuclear holocaust was on the forefront of American minds. Eastern Europe had become a conglomerate of Communist satellite nations. Threw in China and Americans began to feel they were surrounded by a Communist threat. Joseph McCarthy, U.S. Senator, made unsubstantiated claims that more than 200 "card carrying" members of the Communist party had infiltrated the United States government but held no proof to his accusation. McCarthy’s unsubstantiated claims ruined lives and led to increased hostility.
Sam Robert’s article, “A Decade of Fear” explains how McCarthyism turned Americans against each other by spreading the fear of Communism. Senator McCarthy informed the citizens of America about Communist spies deep within our government on February 10, 1950. He states “ I have here in hand list of 205-a list of names that were made known to the secretary of state as being a member of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the state Department.” This quote proves that McCarthy did infact say to the public that there were Communist spies in the United States. It spread fear into the citizens because they were afraid that the country will turn Communist because of the Russian spies in the government.
There was widespread fear that secret communism spies would come in and infiltrate the country without the people knowing. The United States citizens though these spies would destroy the country from the inside out so this fear forced immigration bans to be placed on people coming from communist countries or their allies. Even Senator Joseph McCarthy talks of the threat and fear of internal communism to be a menace in 1950. He wrote, “As one of our outstanding historical figures once said, “When a great democracy is destroyed, it will not be because of enemies from without, but rather enemies from within.” Every United States citizen was fearful of this happening so they were not hesitant to expose anything that they believed could lead to communism playing into the mass hysteria.
McCarthyism caused Americans to turn on each other due to fear, unawareness, and propaganda. Clearly due to McCarthyism, fear evoked betrayal among Americans in the 1950’s. One reason McCarthyism sparked paranoia is due to the rapid rate of communism spreading
Joseph McCarthy produce a series of investigations and hearings during the 1950s in an effort to expose supposed communist infiltration of various areas of the U.S. government. The fear of Russia played a major factor in McCarthyism. Around those times there was a deep fear among the American people and government of Russia. This allowed for a much easier path to investigate the alleged communists without any pushback. As McCarthy built up speed there was less and less pushback and more support from pouring in from all corners of America.
Joseph McCarthy made a list of anyone he or anyone else thought was suspicious of being a communist. The government did this in fear of communists taking over the nation. Americans got in the habit of saving and stocking food and supplies because they didn't know what the future held. Bomb shelters were being made when the fear of the Soviet Union bombing them from not wanting to fall behind the Americans became reality. The Americans didn't want to fall behind the Soviet Union so decided to reduce spending on education to focus on sciences to go to the moon.
Effects of Cold War on United States domestic policy and society As World War II got closer to an end, the U.S. and the Soviet Union gained great power, and the competition with these two countries increased in many fields like the development of nuclear technology. However, at the same time, relationships between these two countries deteriorated especially due to the conflict of the ideology which is defined as the Cold War started in 1947 and ended 1991. Both domestic policy and society in the U.S. were greatly affected by the Cold War. However, the effect on American society was mostly negative as the conflicts of citizens due to fear of Communism and effect on normal life show.
Sam Roberts in the article, A Decade of Fear, argues that Americans turned against each other because of McCarthyism. Roberts supports his claim by explaining, contrasting, and demonstrating. The author’s purpose is to persuade the audience in order to assure Americans that McCarthyism was extremely impactful. The author writes in a speculative tone. I strongly agree with Roberts claim.
During the 1950s, America was on edge, as Russia’s dictator Stalin bolstered the kind of government that went against what World War II was fought for. As communism developed into a shunned philosophy, it nonetheless spread into other parts of Asia, such as Korea, China, and Vietnam. As a safeguard against its potential arrival to the United States, the American society became paranoid and
In the 1950’s the cold war had begun. The fear of retaliation from communists was at large. Some Americans believed that communists were amongst them plotting. This lead to a dark time in history when American opportunity became limited for many. Most rights were limited, normal life was disrupted, and the most necessary human right may have been taken.
Since the early 1900’s, the United States had been undergoing a domestic battle with Communism in America. After the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in the Soviet Union, the fear of Communism spreading in America and across the world overwhelmed the United States government. The threat of Communism in America threatened its traditional political and economic system which resulted in a strong tension between the Soviet Union who was wanting to spread it across the world. The
People thought that because the Russian czar had been overthrown and executed by strikes that the labor unions of America were being taken over by Communist immigrants with the same goal in mind. Soon, people became obsessed with the Communistic threat coming from Russia following World War II which led to violence and disregard of civil liberties. “The U.S. government, mainly the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) led by Democratic congressman Martin Dies, Jr., had launched an investigation designed to target suspected Communist Party members in all areas of life, including government, educational institutions, labor unions, and the entertainment industry. The repression engendered a climate of fear throughout the country, as people were afraid to speak out as the accused found their names on blacklists, which hindered their employability and ruined many lives.” (Travino, Marcella Bush. "
America sought to prove capitalism was the best, and while USSR starved, America grew: one clear winner. One thing not explicitly mentioned in any of these sources was the use of proxy wars as kind of experiments to see which system in practicality was better. One of them still relevant today is the Korean war. The Soviets aided the northern regime of the North, while the U.S. armed the aspiring for democracy south.
Over the course of history, several global conflicts have threatened the world. The Cold War is among the most significant conflicts the world has ever faced, that took place in 1945, two years after the 2nd world war. It was the first total war between economic and social systems, and an industrial test to destruction, between the two biggest superpowers at the time, the United States and the Soviet Union. It was a race for world domination and a contest between communism and capitalism that lasted up to 46 years. However a second more threatening cold war is on the horizon.