Dbq Essay On The Cold War

In the 1950s the rumor of communism in the U.S. spread so quickly and people everywhere were developing unfounded fears. Mass hysteria took over the U.S. with worrying of communism. In the 1950s children were paid to spy on their teachers and teachers were paid to spy on their students. This show how far the paranoia went. If people in society would have taken the time to rationalize and figure out another way to handle these insane situations, less damage could have been done.

The Korean War was a proxy war fought between the United States and the USSR, for the purpose of gaining power and political influence in other parts of the world. Since the end of WWII, the USSR and the United States became very hostile against one another, creating what came to be called “The Cold War“ coined by Bernard Baruch in 1947 from the lack of there ever being direct battles against one another. From the result of the bitter and cold rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union came a large chain of indirect battling over political influence in developing or war-torn countries. As this feud occurred the people of the United States mainly wanted there to be a change in Korea out of this war [Doc E], but what was occurring

In mid 50’s, Senator Joseph McCarthy suggested that “the Soviet Union had a conspiracy to place Communist sympathizers into key positions of American life” (Rogers, Thomas, 2008). Due to these accusations there were purges and show trials of those accused of “un-American” behavior, meaning that if they said something bad about their own country

The Cold War was a long period of tension between the democracies in the Western part of the World and the communist countries in Eastern Europe. The United States led the west and the Soviet Union led Eastern Europe. The Cold War ended in 1991 after the Soviet Union fell. After this war, Russia and America’s relationship was going on a downward spiral. The contemporary relationship between Russia and America does mark a Second Cold War, because just because Russia and America have similar hopes to achieve they both have completely different ways of achieve those goals, and in many cases these differences in opinions have caused problems between the two.

Canada has many factors that cause it to be the strong and independent country it is and is seen as today. The cold war is a factor that shaped Canada’s independence and why people see Canada as such a strong country. Canada joins the U.N( United Nations). The U.N was created Oct 24, 1945. The U.N is an organization of countries that work together to prevent war, improve living conditions in other countries, defend human rights etc.

During the 1950’s and 1960’s, America was in fierce competition with other world powers, but primarily Russia. Examples of this are the space race, the nuclear arms race, and many top secret government projects that were meant to gain an advantage against warring countries. Russia was responsible for the famous Russian Sleep Experiments and many nuclear bomb detonations. But, America was far from innocent when it came to experimentation during this time.

Through this demonstration more than five billion dollars was put into training relating to Science and the humanities, encouraging the Americans yearning to win the Space Race. (John F. Kennedy *6) This created intensified the tensions between the Soviets and the U.S. because it left both nations competing to have the upper hand in nuclear weaponry technology

The American people feared the spread of communism and nuclear war in the aftermath of the Second World War, while President Eisenhower addressed these fears by having strong domestic and foreign policies. The fear of communism carved a deep sense of mistrust in American people. They believed anything that was said and blindly followed people who were in political power without any basis of evidence. The fear of communism created a sense of “hysteria” (Document A) within the general public and even in people in government.

Communism in the Cold War "The seeds of totalitarian regimes are nurtured by misery and want, they spread and grow in the evil soil of the poverty and strife. They reach their full growth when the hope of a people for a better life has died. We must keep that hope alive." as said by Harry S. Truman on march 12, 1947 in The Truman Doctrine.

The US and the USSR were the main to participants in the Arms Race that followed WWII. The US began the Arms Race already equipped with the technology to form atomic bombs, like they had demonstrated in WWII. However, they were surprised with how quickly the USSR caught up to them when they tested their first atomic bomb in 1949. Both sides were fearful that they would be caught in a “missiles gap,” meaning that they had less missiles or warheads than the other side. Therefore, both sides frantically constructed weapons to maintain an advantage, pouring out their money and damaging their economies.

The Cold War was a tension between United States and the Soviet Union in 1945 until 1989. Some of the causes that led to the Cold War is the Red Scare, and Nuclear Arms Race. In the early 1950s, a threat posed by communists in the United States called the Red Scare. The Nuclear Arms Race was a completion authority in nuclear warfare between the United States and Soviet Union. They used nuclear weapons to fight with in the Cold War such as the AN-22 gravity bomb and ASMP attack missile.

In the 1950’s there was a general theme of anti-communism; and the rise of mccarthyism in american politics led to increased politics in Hollywood Films. Mccarthyism is defined as “a vociferous campaign against alleged communists in the United States government and other institutions carried out under Senator Joseph McCarthy in the nineteen fifties” After World War II, many events in the United States and abroad increased the American fear of communism. For example, the Soviet Union used an atomic bomb for the first time in August 1949. Also, the communist party won the civil war in china and established the China we know today. In the early nineteen fifties, The House Un-American Activities Committee (or HUAC) began a campaign to “hunt” communists

The United States saw communism as a threat known as the “red scare” that was continuing to spread across the east. Communism and capitalism both required the demise of each other to succeed, and become dominate. Both side looked for a way to gain the upper hand over their opposition. The fact that both sides had been stockpiling nuclear weapons since the end of the 1960’s was cause for a major problem in the power struggle. Neither side saw the benefit of letting a nuke off the chain because of the idea of mutually assured destruction.

The Cold War lasted forty-four years and left a lasting social impact on the United States. The spread of communism and The Soviet Union left many Americans in a constant state of fear and paranoia. The space race between the United States and The Soviet Union significantly impacted the education system in the United States and the curriculum that was taught for years to come. The social emphasis on gender caused a crisis on American masculinity and feminism by influencing many to assume certain gender roles and feel that they were not masculine enough or too feminine because of their view on communism. The Cold War socially impacted the United States through fear, education, and gender.

As nation after nation joined the Warsaw Pact, many Americans, from civilian to political leaders, began to fear socialism penetrating America’s shield of democracy. The Rosenberg Trial further solidified such fears in the American mind. In these trials, Russian spies embedded in the American government were unmasked and executed. Discovering communists within our own governing bodies sent the public into a paranoid frenzy. The Congress formed the HUAC, the House of Un-American Activities Committee, and began aggressively pursuing communist sympathizers suspected of collaborating with the USSR.