History what was the cold war

In , shortly after the United States used the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, writer George Orwell used the term in an essay that explored what the atom bomb meant for international relations. Continue reading from National Geographic. The Cold War rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union lasted for decades and resulted in anti-communist suspicions and international incidents that led the two superpowers to the brink of nuclear disaster.

Continue reading from History. Read: Cold War: an Illustrated History. Read: Checkmate in Berlin. That would be a great mistake. Now Europe is quite secure. We also have to participate—we may not like it—in the defense of Asia. Skip past main navigation. JFK in History. Life of John F. Kennedy Life of Jacqueline B. Kennedy on the Economy and Taxes John F. Kennedy and the Press John F.

Kennedy and PT John F. The Cold War. The Worldwide Cold War. Identifier Accession. Rights Access Status. Relation Is Part Of Desc. Subject Geog. Type Category. Format Medium. Format Media Type. Creator Maker. Language ISO Type ARC. Title Folder. Rights Copyright Status.

Relation Container Digid. Rights Access Restrictions. Rights Access Restriction Note. American allies depended almost exclusively on their stance on communism.

The same applied for domestic policy. The Cold War affected domestic policy two ways: socially and economically. Socially, the intensive indoctrination of the American people led to a regression of social reforms. Economically, enormous growth spurred by industries related to war was aided by heavy government expansion.

However, New Deal economics felt the greatest impact of the Cold War. By the 's, New Deal reforms were often associated with the left. Its advocates were attacked for promoting programs close to the realm of socialism. The presidencies of Truman and Eisenhower kept away from the Rooseveltian ideals of social and economic reforms.

For veterans the economic future brightened as the government spent countless resources through the GI Bill, VA and FHA loans to help them buy new homes or receive an education.

Social reforms in the fields of civil rights, labor unions, working conditions, and women concerns were minimum and often ignored.

In human behavior, consensus to anti-communist ideals became the norm for everyone, especially government employees. Firm anti-communist demeanor was expected from everyone, particularly those in government. Campaigns to rid government of so-called "reds" became commonplace. In such a fervent era of anti-communism, the junior senator for Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy, employed this hysteria to prosecute countless government officials.

To promote liberal ideas, civil rights advancements or possible cooperation with communist states was enough to mark a person for persecution. Changes in the "conformity" of America however, did not occur until the end of the 's, coming slowly at first. Radulovich had been asked to resign because his father and sister were once accused of reading "subversive newspapers. Movies became a vehicle to exhibit the discontent against the system with films by James Dean and Marlon Brandon among a few.

After the war ended, these grievances ripened into an overwhelming sense of mutual distrust and enmity. In such a hostile atmosphere, no single party was entirely to blame for the Cold War; in fact, some historians believe it was inevitable. The containment strategy also provided the rationale for an unprecedented arms buildup in the United States.

To that end, the report called for a four-fold increase in defense spending. In particular, American officials encouraged the development of atomic weapons like the ones that had ended World War II. As a result, the stakes of the Cold War were perilously high. The first H-bomb test, in the Eniwetok atoll in the Marshall Islands, showed just how fearsome the nuclear age could be.

It created a square-mile fireball that vaporized an island, blew a huge hole in the ocean floor and had the power to destroy half of Manhattan. Subsequent American and Soviet tests spewed radioactive waste into the atmosphere. The ever-present threat of nuclear annihilation had a great impact on American domestic life as well. People built bomb shelters in their backyards. They practiced attack drills in schools and other public places.

The s and s saw an epidemic of popular films that horrified moviegoers with depictions of nuclear devastation and mutant creatures. Space exploration served as another dramatic arena for Cold War competition.

In the United States, space was seen as the next frontier, a logical extension of the grand American tradition of exploration, and it was crucial not to lose too much ground to the Soviets. In addition, this demonstration of the overwhelming power of the R-7 missile—seemingly capable of delivering a nuclear warhead into U. In , the U. Army under the direction of rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, and what came to be known as the Space Race was underway.