United States History The Cold War (1945-1991)

University:
Concordia University Wisconsin
Course:
HIST 1215 | American Civilization II
Academic year:

2021
Views:

359

Pages:

1
Author:

Cyncuncewc3b4

The Cold War (1945-1991) At the end of WW II there were two superpowers: the US and the Soviet Union. The USSR was a communist dictatorship, while the US was a capitalist democracy. The Cold War involved these 2 countries competing to see whose way of life would rule the world. ● During the Cold War, the main US foreign policy was called containment: Its goal was to stop the spread of communism. (Some examples of how containment was used are: the Marshall Plan, Truman Doctrine, Berlin Airlift, Korean War, Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam War. Be sure to review details of these examples!) ● During the Cold War, the US and USSR were involved in an arms race and a space race. After the USSR launched the first satellite (Sputnik), the US was determined to be the first to the moon, which happened in 1969. Inside the US, the Cold War was a time of fear, and the two main fears were: ● ● Fear of communism: McCarthyism “Witch hunt” for communists inside the US (people who were called subversives) It illustrated that sometimes fear can lead to the violation of people’s rights. The fear of atomic war: the US was obsessed with atomic war, so people built bomb shelters in their backyards and schoolchildren were told to “duck and cover.” Besides being remembered as a time when the Cold War was at its height, the 1950s are also remembered as a time of economic prosperity; automobiles became even more important after a US highway system was built. Many people from the cities moved out to newly constructed suburbs.