How did the Cold War affect domestic policy and American Society?
The late 1940′s were a time when much change happened to the American society. As a result to the expanding threat of the Soviet Union, or its Communistic ideals, America took a stand that lead it to the Cold War. Although the war didn’t involve fighting directly with Russia, it still affected the American society and domestic policy. The war affected America so much that it lead to a fear of livelihood; precisely when Joseph McCarthy began his “witch hunt”. The Cold war lead to an enlarged fear of nuclear war; as well, it affected many of the domestic policies. Even if the fear of impending doom was to be set aside, there would still be the fear of being accused as a
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This made Americans fear losing their jobs and maybe even becoming enemies of the state, even though most of them had never involved themselves with communist groups. The Cold War lead to a society where every man is against another, it divided the nation over a fight against society, and it caused a fear of a possible war. Despite the name being a “cold war”, the possibility and threat of a real war was always looming over the heads of Americans. The Russians had now built weapons that could wipe everything of the face of the earth. What affected Americans the most was The Cuban Missile crisis. The fact that the war could start with a single press of a button really frightened the Americans. People were trembling at the sound of war, they even began to build bomb shelters in their homes that they can run to, in case of a bombing. (Document 3) Moreover, these bomb shelters became very popular during these times, I believe this displays how much this war scarred the Americans; even though, it wasn’t technically a physical war they were scarred of what it could bring to them if it progressed to the next level.
The Cold War changed American society by introducing both foreign and domestic fear into the lives of Americans. It brought neighbor against neighbor, and a trembling thoughts to all Americans. It gave an upper-hand to the men in the branches of Federal Government, and especially to the HUAC; moreover it
The Cold War at Home led to a Red scare threatened American values and ideas. This resulted in McCarthyism and continued the Cold War. The Red scare was the fear of soviet expansion and communist infiltration, which intensified the Cold War. “The Red Scare led to a range of actions that had a profound and enduring effect on U.S. government and society.” (http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/red-scare) Many during this time were analyzed such as federal employees so it could determine their trust to the government. The red scare also led to a lot of trust issues in the
In the late 1940s, in which this era had a big impact of change in American society. This time frame also marked an end to world war II, which left europe broken into many parts,but this also marked the beginning of a new war. This new war will occur due to the expanding threat of the soviet union, and its communist ethics. America has taken a step further, which had lead the beginning of the cold war. Although this war hadn’t been fighting directly with weapons, it still had affected the U.S. domestic policy and the american society.The cold war affected the domestic policy and American society by establishing a fear of communism at home and a competition with the U.S.S.R.
The Cold War brought out the suspicious side of the American population. Our government had fired or forced resignations of thousands of government employees. The Justice Department had begun prosecuting eleven leaders of the Communist Party, who were later convicted and imprisoned. Two trials became the center of attention, one against former State Department official Ager Hiss and another against Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. Americans were fearing that communist spies
The Cold War propelled the United States of America into a seat of previously unattained power in the world . American citizens spearheaded the push toward advancement in their search for the epitome of happiness: the “American Dream”. Post-war paranoia was driven by the supposed threat of the spread of communism, which Americans feared could interfere with the freedoms and liberties the founding fathers fought to achieve. This paranoia eventually controlled the thoughts and actions of citizens everywhere. The Second Red Scare spread across America like a virus, leaving a trail of dread and despair in its wake. The fear of the growing communist regime, a lack of trust between citizens and the government, and a zealous streak of American pride drove the U.S. toward internal conflict and potential devastation.
economy. The war affected American society when the foreign policy proposed the idea of keeping Communism out. This idea eventually led to McCarthyism and anticommunist hysteria that completely ruined people’s lives like dark ages. During the Cold War, government accused many good citizens as communists or communist sympathizers, so they became the subject of aggressive investigations. Despite of accusations, McCarthyism also violated freedom of speech when academics and artists who have no affiliation with communism were harassed and blackmailed just for being outspoken. Fortunately, not all ideological climates of the Cold War brought hysteria to people because the idea of anticommunism positively impacted everyday lives of most American civilians when “national security agencies encouraged Hollywood to produce anticommunist movies … and urged that film scripts be changed to remove references to less-than-praiseworthy aspects of American history” (Give Me Liberty! 907). The spreading of anticommunism on media enacted to ensure American patriotism. It caused Americans to think it was their patriotic duty to buy consumer goods to contribute the economic growth in the nation. Moreover, the government helped
The genuine dangers to American natives amid the Cold War were gone for their flexibilities and lifestyle. Everything that characterized the American country and its nationals was being debilitated at it’s extremely center. The philosophies, values, and solaces Americans were so pleased with were under assault by comrade countries, with Russia in
From the 1930’s to the 1950’s, many things were happening in the world. America went through the Great Depression and soon entered into World War II. But yet, one of the main topics during the 1930’s and 1950’s was Communism. Communism was a domestic threat to the U.S. because the country was afraid Communism would ruin the American way of life, the Soviet Union wanted to spread Communism all over the world, and some U.S. citizens participated in helping the Soviet Union secretly.
The Cold War was a pivotal time in American history. To a greater degree than most other wars, the Cold War affected American society in unfathomable and profound ways. More specifically, American culture transformed immensely during this time. From a constant state of anxiety, to changes in media and the arts, to McCarthyism; the Cold War fervently affected the quality of life, personal expression, and American politics. Predominantly, the Cold War inflicted fear and apprehension within the American people that was so overpowering that it affected every aspect of their lives and overall American culture.
The western hemisphere feared many things, but they were most afraid of communism in the eastern hemisphere. Communism is a political system where resources in a society are owned by the public or the state, and which later the wealth is divided. These actions caused the Red Scare in America. The number one supporter of the Red Scare was Joseph R. McCarthy (History.com Staff). The Red Scare was the fear of communism. This threatened the politics, culture, and society. The Red Scare also affected people personally. People saw their lives being interrupted with problems. For example, they were taken from everything and many lose their jobs.
The Cold War lasted for forty years, from 1945 to 1985. Few historians took the time to address the events as they unfolded thus leaving most people with little or no explanations of the development of the war. During this fearful period, nine presidents served Americans and each president thought that the war carried a lot of dangers for forty five years. Accordingly, young Americans, Soviets and other citizens of the world require the services of a scholar with extraordinary gifts to provide insight why nine cold war presidents and several other nations deployed vast resources against an empire scrambled so clumsily in the end. With respect to this need and desire, the author of The Cold War: A New History presents an excellently documented panoramic view of the Cold War with full illuminations and shrewd judgments that bring the four decades of United States-Soviet enmity to life for the general readers.
The late 1940s and 1950s marked the height of the Cold War era; many Americans were frightened about what might happen in the future.
The Cold War took a lot of affect on the United States Domestic Policy and American society. Domestic Policies were changed due to the world affairs, and the American society had a dramatic change from the war. The United States Government became extra secure and protected. Many new political cartoons were created from the fear of Communists and other big events and things that were happening during this time period. War was the leading problem in the US during this time period. Many citizens became upset and protested. Also, many American citizens were scared because they heard many people talking about the war,and what was happening and took as many measures on safety as they possibly knew and could. Later, through science, we have learned that many of their tactics when it came to protecting themselves would not even have worked.The United States spend a lot of extra money during this time period to keep up with the war. (DBQ questions)
The Red Scare was a phenomenon during which an intense fear of communism overcame the majority of the American population, influencing everything from movies and television to national security. It effected America in the way that when this overwhelming fear came, there were many consequences, one of which being a national “Witch Hunt” looking for suspected communists. McCarthyism was developed during this time period which was an anti-communist movement during the 1950’s. It was intended to uncover and persecute those with perceived ties to communism within the US government, universities, and entertainment industries. This shaped America during the Cold War, because all these influences on what communism was and the fear it created, caused the Americans to completely reject it and that’s when situations such as the witch hunt occurred. This fear also intensified their want to beat out the Soviet Union; no one wanted to live under communist control because the fear of destruction they had. This is why anyone who was suspected to follow or have any connection to the communist party was immediately prosecuted or ‘blacklisted’. Being blacklisted meant that you were unable to get a job in most industries and the only way you could regain freedoms such a working was to leave the country and start over again. All of these factors created an American society that was less than desirable in the 1960’s. People feared for their lives if communism were to ever reached America and
The Cold War was a state of political and military tension stemming from World War II fought primarily between the United States and the Soviet Union. Although the start and end dates of the Cold War are frequently disputed over, it is generally accepted that the conflict started at the conclusion of the Second World War and stemmed from the social climate and lingering tensions in Europe and the increasing power struggles between the Soviet Union and the United States. Along with economic separation between the USSR and the West, the threat of nuclear war was a decisive factor in the start of the Cold War. The words, images and films of these two countries were prevalent and significant throughout the entirety of the Cold War and fuelled the various conflicts and tensions between the US and USSR. This thesis will be developed and proven in this historical essay. First, the war of words led directly to, and intensified the fear of communism in the US, causing detrimental social effects on the American population and with which Senator Joseph McCarthy rose to power in the American political landscape. Second, the propaganda of the US and USSR maintained the social and economic conflict between the two countries throughout the entirety of the Cold War. Finally, the revival of Catholicism and religious freedom through speech by Pope John Paul II resulted in the formation of the trade union Solidarity which in turn led to the eventual demise of Communism that ultimately
The Cold War was a great nuclear game of chicken that lasted nearly half a century. At the conclusion of World War II, a decisive shift in the global system left two great world powers remaining, the United States and the Soviet Union. The latter was at a greater disadvantage after the war and had the enormous task of rebuilding the war-torn country while the United States had secured its spot on the world stage with the atomic bomb. The Cold War was inevitable. With the advent of nuclear weapons, the Soviet-American conflict was born from irreconcilable views and ideologies that were drenched in mutually deep-rooted resentment that can be traced back to the Russian Revolution of 1917.