Cold war

Name:

Course

Tutor

Date

Roughly dated between the years 1947 and 1991, the cold war was considered a state of political and military instability between the west (United States of America and its allies) and the east (Soviet Union and its allies) (Maus, 2003). The war arose after the end of the World War where both the United States and the Soviet Union formed an alliance to defeat the Nazi German; after the victory they were left as two politically and economically stable powers. The cold war rose as a result of the tension between the Soviet Union and the United States.

The war was characterised by indirect and psychological attacks between the two super powers with each hitting the others allies; both groups possessed highly destructive ammunition so both were mutually assured of destruction. Over the decades the three super powers fought for Germany with America’s then standing President Truman hoped that the Soviet Union would give up but until the 1980s Germany was divided into four occupation zones (Isbouts, 1999). Three were controlled by the west with the help of France and Great Britain while the Eastern side was controlled by Moscow communists.

The American government feared slow communism progression so it came up with a policy known as the containment policy. The main objective of the containment policy was to ensure that the Soviet Union operated only among its territory not beyond. This policy was developed by America’s Ambassador in the Soviet Union known as George Kennan. Another policy that was developed was the democracy policy which President Harry Truman came up with during a Congress meeting (Beacham, 2004). The policy advocated for democracy and it supported that the majorities’ opinion ruled over the minorities’. The democracy policy was America’s main strategy and objective as the Cold War developed over the years.

Apart from President Truman, other U.S.A presidents presided over the Cold War, President Harry Truman was the first President to take America through the Cold War and the Korean War, and he gave the order for an atomic bomb attack. In 1952 the United States citizens chose Dwight D. Eisenhower, a former military leader who safely drove the democratic world through the Cold War and he managed to make peace with Korea. He managed to steer America through eight years of peace and prosperity during the 20th century. In the cold war he had the opinion that the home was the strength of the country, dynamic conservatism was xhis economic approach in which conservative was aligned with money while freedom was aligned to human beings. Throughout his reign there was peace in the United States. President John F. Kennedy drove an unsuccessful CIA ship borne operation through the Cold War. President Richard Nixon tried to take control of the Cold War by trying to improve the relations between the United States and its two communist opponents, China and the Soviet Union. President Nixon’s Government took the advantage of drawing in China to be its ally in the process hoping that the Soviet Union would also join hands; as anticipated relations with the Soviet Union improved (Maus, 2003).

With each presidents approach, these approaches had an impact in the foreign policy between the U.S and other nations, this lead to a series of downfalls and improvements in the economy, with President Truman’s policy people were able to freely invest hence improving the economy and its ally nations were able to freely do trade. While Nixon also improved the countries international relations with the other super power Nations hence reducing destruction and nuclear war. President Eisenhower managed to steer the country through prosperity and peace for Eight years which lead to great improvement of the economy.

Protests against the Vietnam War lead to the coming up of Sit Ins which was made up of groups of Hippies around American Universities. Hippies though a minority became a huge influence in the American culture; in music, dress and lifestyle. They advocated for a life free from violence and the struggles of the modern life, they formed groups that promoted peace love and drugs. They formed groups that shared what they hard, all as one big family.

These were the impacts that the cold war had on the American people and the economy and through the years the Cold War could be concluded to be a brutal era in the world but one that lead to the development of different things that were advantageous to the economy and the people but to some extent such as the hippie culture, had a negative impact.

References:

Beacham, T. Gilmartin, B., Grobman, S, Ling, C., & Rhee, V. (Producers), Libretto, J. (Director). (2004). Let freedom ring: Moments from the civil rights movement, 1954-1965 [News program]. New York, NY: NBC Universal

Isbouts, J., & Johnson, B. D. (Writers), & Johnson, B. D. (Director). (1999). Superpowers collide [Television series episode]. In J. Florescu, J. Isbouts, & B. D. Johnson (Executive producers), Inside the Cold War with Sir David Frost. Los Angeles, CA: Porchlight Entertainment

Maus, D. C (2003). The Cold War. San Diego: Greenhaven Press.