1960s Cold War Essay

Conceptions of the Cold War

The Cold War was the time period following the end of World War II, when the world was basically divided between Communism on the one hand and Capitalism on the other. The West favored Capitalism and the East favored Communism. The U.S. was the main power in the West and Soviet Russia was the main power in the East. The economic approaches of the two powers were only part of the story, however; this was also a war for hegemony. The U.S. wanted to influence the world order just as much as the Soviets did. Each tried to spread their influence—the U.S. throughout Europe via the Marshall Plan (Hogan & Hogan, 1989); the Soviets throughout Asia and Latin America through subsidization of Communist takeovers. The scare of Communism taking over in the U.S. was evident: McCarthyism was the result of this scare, but the assassination of JFK in 1963 and RFK in 1968 only added to the paranoia. The Vietnam War, supposedly fought to prevent the Soviets from extending their Communist influence throughout Asia, added to the tension at home and abroad. The arms race escalated the tension that Kennedy had sought to de-escalate…

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…was taught that the Cold War was about hegemony, and all of these answers are consistent with my view, as there were really many facets to the Cold War. They all acknowledged Russia and the U.S as the main actors in the Cold War and the main event was identified as the Cuban Missile Crisis (the Bay of Pigs by the younger person, and simply “Kennedy” by the middle-aged person). What their responses show is that there is a common view across generations of what the Cold War was all about, and that propaganda used during the Cold War also served…