Cold War - The U2 Incident Essay

After World War II, only two world superpowers remained: the United States of America and the Soviet Union. The contradictory political regimes of the democratic United States and the communist Soviet Union were believed to be mutually exclusive which increased bitterness between them. Inevitably, the apparent tension between the two superpowers led to the Cold War which lasted about 45 years. It was war without bloodshed or battle, instead it was a metaphorical war where the U.S and the Soviet Union increased their weapons and fought for political influence, one always wanting to excel or maintain within the range of the other. The United States’ desperate need to contain the communist political ideology from spreading any further and meet the Soviet Union’s increased development of nuclear weapons led to the their involvement in the Cold War. The impact the Cold War had on life during the 1950’s and 1960’s can be measured through the creation of the House Un-American

Over the past several decades, there have been great tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union which continue into what is known today as Russia. Suspicions and tensions between these two countries increased greatly during and directly after World War II, particularly between 1941 and 1949.

On April 25, 1945, World War II, the deadliest war in all of human history, was nearly over. The alliance between the USSR and the US was short-lived mainly due to the conflict between the ideals of communism and capitalism. Russian leaders Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin were ruthless in their elimination of those who had different ideas about Russia’s future. This caused great tension and the emergence of a new kind of war, a Cold War. If the Soviet policy was expansion, then the American policy was containment.

Although the Soviet Union and the United States fought together during World War II against the Axis Powers, the relationship between the two grew bitter going into the 1950’s Cold War. The Cold War left a dominant impact on the U.S. and American living throughout the 20th century. The fall out between the U.S. and the Soviet Union created various issues that United States dealt with (Suddath). The United States was a capitalistic country, while the Soviet Union, also known as the USSR, was lead by a strong communist influence. The expansion of Soviets into Eastern Europe fueled most of the fear the U.S. had of Russia, that they would attempt to influence many more countries.

Between 1945 and 1960, the United States was confronted with a colossal predicament. A Cold War had emerged between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. This war did not involve any direct attacks between the two, instead indirect confrontations. Subsequently, the war took a massive toll on the U.S. An era of high tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union posed a communist threat to America.

Taking place right after World War II (WWII), the Cold War was a “bloodless” war that was based off of both the United States and Soviet Union’s political views, taking place between the years 1947 to 1991. Miniscule physical battles took place under each’s command, but neither side had ever fought one another directly. The conflict remained nonviolent for the most part, affecting each nation and their allies in a plethora of ways possible. Events had occurred due to the actions and beliefs of others, creating a domino effect to fall within the States. As a result of this, the Cold War served as a turning point in the United State’s history, affecting all areas economically, socially, and politically.

In WWII, the US and the Soviet Union were allies as they regarded Nazi Germany as the mutual enemy, but this alliance eventually broke after Germany’s surrender (Trueman). One of the main reasons behind the tension between the US and the Soviet Union was the rising power and

this plane was overrun by the brave passengers that occupied the flight and was forced into

Throughout the middle of the twenty-first century, a series of tension and disagreement erupted between the United States of America and the Soviet Union of Russia. Because it was not a violent time of any major skirmishes or death, it was given the name The Cold War. This period lasted for roughly fifty years, from the end of World War II until the end of the century. Though there is much debate regarding when the Cold War officially began, there is strong evidence for all the events that contributed to the build up towards the war

During World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union fought on the same side as Allied Powers. However, even though the two had fought together, there was a tension between both nations. Americans had always been wary about the Soviet Union and the spread of communism throughout the world. The Soviets, on the other hand, resented America’s refusal to see the Soviet Union as part of the international community. After the war ended, this wariness and resentment had caused a mutual distrust and hostility between the two nations.

After the ravages of World War II, the United States experienced a long period of economic boom, thanks to industrial weapons work and to the low price of oil. At the same time, under this nationwide economic prosperity, Americans felt increasing fear in the looming shadow of the communist Soviet Union. The US seemed to be in a spiral. Sputnik’s successful launch increased tensions that had been building since the aftermath of World War II; while President Eisenhower and his administration instituted numerous measures to calm down the hysteria that pervaded the US, these attempts had no real effect on de-escalating tensions felt between both sides.

Several press releases by both the CIA and Presidential staff told the world that the U-2 had flown off course. It was an accident that the plane was in Soviet airspace instead of its target space of Turkey. (Beschloss, 1986) Khrushchev dropped the political bomb on 7 May and announced they had most of the U-2 and its pilot survived. (Brugioni, 2010) President Eisenhower reeled from the news, the Soviet trap worked perfectly. The USSR went on a propaganda tirade claiming the US hostile and wanted to wreck the Four Powers Summit. Later, Eisenhower said, “The CIA had failed to recognize the, ‘emotional, even pathological, reaction of the Russians’ to violations of their frontiers.” (Beschloss, 1986) The CIA, whether by arrogance or recklessness, never included the ramifications of failure into their mission planning. One flight simultaneously exposed to the world the America’s most effective espionage tool and destroyed US and USSR relations. Khrushchev infuriated by the crash, felt Eisenhower had personally slighted him, and demanded a public apology for the incident. Eisenhower refused saying the overflights were for the protection of America and the world as a whole. (Beschloss, 1986) The Four Powers summit ended after two days; years of planning a meeting of the greatest superpowers was for nothing. One of the great what if’s of the 20th century will be, “what if the Four Powers Summit ended

The Cold War, which started sometime in the 1940’s, was a large quarrel between the United States and the Soviet Union. This dispute involved a lot of propaganda and threats of nuclear warfare. Despite all of the trouble though, after over forty years of fighting, the two leaders of these countries (Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev) would finally work out a solution. However, although they did reach an agreement, there were many differences between these two men.

Following the end of World War Two (WWII), the United States as well as much of the western world was thrust into the escalating crisis which came to be known as the Cold War. As this new threat emerged looming over the United States and its NATO

The Crisis ended in Russia removing their nukes from Cuba. Although the US had to remove US Jupiter (a MRBM) from Turkey, the removal was already planned, and it was clear that the Soviets got the short end of the stick (The Cuban Missile Crisis). Russia looked weak in this situation because they succumbed to the US’s requests. For Russia to be apart of JFK’s assassination would be a way for them to show America that they still had power, and needed to be regarded as having such. Their missiles had been put in place as a form of protection against another American attack, so the removal left them vulnerable. But, Russia orchestrating an attack on America’s president would lead to dangerous consequences; nuclear war was almost reached during the Crisis. Russia understood that a third World War would be much worse than stepping back. For this reason, Russia would not have been involved in the orchestration of Kennedy’s assassination with Oswald; Oswald acted