The Cold War

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Recommended: Short note on cold war

When one hears the common phrase, “The only good commie is a dead one,” the Cold War comes to mind. This war, cold because of no direct violence towards each country, was a major contribution to future wartime diplomacy. The clever Americans used many tactics to create a “cold” war that would benefit them in every aspect. The fear of communism consuming smaller countries exaggerated the possibility that America’s economy could be jeopardized. Politicians also helped guarantee anti-communist principles in the United States. Imitating the government, the media and other political figures helped create a frenzy of fear. The United States was more to blame for the Cold War than the Soviet Union.

After World War II, the French, the British, the United States, and the Soviet Union divided Germany into four different territories. The capital of Germany, Berlin, was completely enclosed in Soviet territory (The American Pageant, 867). With the Soviets supporting communism, the Americans wanted to make sure that it would not spread to weak nations. For this reason, after the Soviet Union initiated the blockade between East and West Germany, the United States initiated the Berlin Airlift. During the Berlin Airlift, planes flew thousands of tons of supplies every day to the people of Berlin for nearly a year (The American Pageant, 868). The United States did not want to combat the Soviets physically, but they did stimulate some aggression when they responded to their blockade with the Berlin Airlift. This one-way “trade” ultimately helped the economy of Germany, which encouraged the government to turn towards capitalism instead of communism; it helped the United States by increasing global trade. The Americans were then face...

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...d the Soviet Union created, the United States’ civil liberties were vulnerable because of communism. With the economy of the United States being threatened, Americans tried to jumpstart the global economy. The leaders of the United States introduced foreign policy designed to impede the flow of the communist “river” of influence. The media helped create mass-hysteria that painted normal people as communists. The United States’ government and Americans were solely responsible for the Cold War.

Works Cited

Kennedy/Stanford University, David M. The American Pageant: A History of the

Republic. 13th ed. 2006.

Nagle, Michael. "Part II, Lecture 11: The Early Cold War (1945-1961)." Part II,

Lecture 11: The Early Cold War (1945-1961). Cengage Learning. 21 Mar.

2009. .

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