American Anticommunism During the Cold War

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Recommended: Impact of cold war

Subsequent to the conclusion of the treacherous Second World War,

America prepared itself for a period of peace. This peacetime was

short-lived, as America’s tolerance for communism receded this issue

became the forefront for American concern. The United States of

America, also referred to as the USA or US, regarded communism as a

strategic threat due to its hostility to private property and free

markets, policies that many Americans associate directly to political

freedom.

Throughout the intense period in history identified as the Cold War,

America’s attention was, for the most part, politically and

economically occupied by the threat of global left wing expansion and

methods aimed towards the prevention of such an occurrence.

McCarthyism, the Marshal Plan and the Truman Doctrine are a few of the

tactics employed by the USA as a form of resistance against communism.

The constant fear of communism was largely intensified following the

declaration of Chinas political status, the Korean War and the

Rosevelt's case. Julius and Ethel Rosevelt were trialed and convicted

of treason to the state in the early nineteen forties. Author S.

M.Harrison confirms that many historians believed that if America was

ever to be defeated, it would not be by enemies from without, but

enemies from within. The couple were executed for delivering

confidential American nuclear information to the soviets. The soviet

denotation of the possession of atomic power further heightened the

USA’s fear of communists. The capitalist versus communist war in

Korea, in 1950, and Chinas communist revolution, were to result in

Americas initial revolt to the ...

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Melbourne

§ unknown.(2004).‘US McCarthyism’(online)

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAmccarthyism.htm

§ Schrecker, E.(2004).“McCarthyism”.(online)

http://www.writing.upenn.edu/wafiries/50s/schrecker_age.html

§ Hammer, J.(1980). ‘History in the Making’.Macmillan Education:

London

§ Unknown.(2004). “Cold War”. (online)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/mccarthyism

§ Painter, D.(1999). ‘The Cold War’. Routledge:London

§ Harrison, S.(1987). ‘Conflict in the 20th Century’. Macmillan

Education:Hampshire

§ Wilson, T.(2004). “Marshal Plan”.World Book Encyclopedia. World Book

Inc: Chicago. Vol 13

§ Ross, S. (2001). ‘Causes of the Cold War’. Hodder Childrens Books:

Great Britain

§ Kaufman, B. (2004). ‘The Containment Policy’. World Book

Encyclopedia. World Book Inc: Chicago. Vol 4

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