Focus Questions History

What series of events and ideological conflicts prompted the war? What prompted the cold war really were the inevitable manifestations of the ideological differences between the two great powers. Despite the creation of the UN, the Soviets and the Americans’ relationship began to degrade as soon as the war ended, with the USSR attempting to expand its influence in Poland, Iran, Romania, and Bulgaria. The policy of containment soon was put in place with Britain unable to give aid to Greece and Turkey, who were fighting soviet influence as well. The Truman doctrine vowed to aid European countries who were threatened by the Soviets. With the looming responsibility detailed by the Truman doctrine, the Marshall Plan (which gave financial aid and support to rebuilding European countries that might fall prey to soviet influence in their weakened state after the war) was passed as a nonviolent approach to dealing with communism. Many other conflicts added to the separation between Russia and the U.S.; like the Korean war, the democratic reconstruction of Japan, the Chinese revolution and America's refusal to recognise their new communist government in the UN, and the NSC68. Ultimately, America's commitment to “freedom” bound itself to be involved in Soviet affairs, and by that same obligation created a rift between the two powers. How did the Cold War reshape ideas of American freedom? With the soviets clearly representing an anti-american model, the U.S. shifted its definition of freedom to best oppose the soviets ideals. American culture underwent a cold war of its own, with art being used as a symbol for freedom of expression to juxtapose the USSR. The CIA funded the museum of modern art and various international art programs to further this notion. The American sentiment additionally became of anti-totalitarianism, once again because the USSR had come to embody the opposite. Human rights became a big deal after the atrocities of WWII, with the UN defining the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights. This era marked the beginning of other countries being held accountable internationally for their actions. While advocating for freedom, the UU.S. could not fully back a concrete obligation to it internationally because of its segregation, kind of ironic right. What major policy initiatives did Truman undertake? Trueman furthered FDRs ideas of progressivism and advocated for a less racist U.S. His fair deal resembled the new deal, and focused on raising the standard of living for the lower class. Trueman faced many rioting issues due to the post war drop in salary, he addressed them with his “fact-finding-boards”, which pushed for wage increases to help quell workers. His greatest initiatives came with the black population, who were newly empowered with the human rights boom following WWII. Under Truman, many progressive states raised the standard of living for blacks, and a new black voting campaign pushed black voting registration up to an all time high of 20%. What effects did the anticommunism of the Cold War have on American politics and culture? American politics and culture fell into the unfortunate but also seemingly unavoidable trap of engaging the cold war ideology. Increasingly, American sentiment grew to target and harass those who might represent their enemies in the soviet union. There exists not a better example of this than the Mcarthy hearings, which baselessly accused dozens of innocent Americans of treason or spying. The mass hysteria culture of fear and demonization rose during this period, with abuse and harassment cases against communists becoming more frequent. Conservatives and white supremacists would increasingly use communism as an excuse to label and fight people with contrary opinions like the NAACP. This movement got to be known as anti communism, and took its hold in every aspect of American life, from holywood to W.E. DuBois.