The Cold War sparked a competition between capitalism and socialism/communism, as both Americans and Soviets tried to present their way of life as superior. Thus, the politics of the Cold War shaped the way Americans viewed their own society in that Americans believed that they had a more successful economy and that American families had more choice in their lifestyle. This influenced domestic developments as a way to prove that American family life was stronger, and that American women were better housewives as a result of technological advancement. However, the politics of the Cold War also increased conservative thinking and reinforced traditional gender roles. The politics of the Cold War resulted in Americans comparing their economic …show more content…
However, it seems like Americans also reinforced traditional gender roles as a result of the Cold War. Americans prided themselves on their freedom of choice, especially in regards to family life, in which “every woman should be able to choose whether she wants to devote her days to her children and her home or to a career girl’s job.” However, the politics of the Cold War actually restricted some of the choices of women. The emphasis on proving that American family life was better than that of the Soviets resulted in an increased value in traditional gender roles. The various magazine articles and books instructing women on how to be better housewives and utilize the modern technology portray an incentive for women to stay home. If Americans were to prove that their families benefited from the kitchen appliances and prepared foods that were boasted at the exhibition in Moscow , it would seem unpatriotic if a woman decided to focus her energy on working instead of ensuring American superiority at home. Thus, Americans could be seen as hypocritical, as they portrayed their nation as a society filled with choices, but in doing so could have restricted the choices of their woman in an effort to beat the Soviet
After the end of WW2, two major governmental institutions, the USA and the USSR, with conflicting political ideologies and agendas, set forth to dominate each other in international politics. This period of time, also known as the Cold War, initiated an era of crazed hysteria in the United States as these two governments frequently clashed and bitterly fought. As a result, the frightened public grew delirious as the world grew dangerously close to a calamitous nuclear war, which ultimately prompted the Eisenhower administration to hinder the spread of communism and encourage the U.S. population to rapidly pursue higher education for the future welfare of this nation. One of the biggest fears of the American people is that the concept of communism contrasts drastically from the concept of capitalism, which the United States was essentially founded upon. The United States, as the public believed, was not a land of perfect communal equality, but rather a land of equal opportunity.
In the end, it is clear that in recent decades, the domestic ideology and cold war militance have risen and fallen together. Immediately after World War II, stable family life seemed necessary for national security, civil defense, and the struggle for supremacy over the Soviet Union. For a generation of young adults who grew up amid depression and war, domestic containment was a logical response to specific historical circumstances. It allowed them to pursue, in the midst of a tense and precarious world situation, the quest for a sexually-fulfilling, consumer-oriented personal life that was free from hardship. But the circumstances were different for their children, who broke the consensus surrounding the cold war and domestic containment. Whether the baby-boom children will ultimately be more successful than their parents in achieving fulfilling lives and a more just and tolerant world remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: gender, family, and national politics are still intertwined in the ongoing saga of postwar cultural change.
The United States were in favor of democracy and capitalism while the Soviet Union sought for the chances of influencing communism. The Cold War did not involve the use of physical arms, but was intensely fought. Propaganda, economic aids, Arms Race, and the creation of alliances were the main methods to fight the war. The use of propaganda played a crucial role in containment by criticizing the other power and raising the morale and spirit of their nation. The economic support for nations helped them recover from the desperate situation after World War II, which prevented the nations from falling under communism.
During the Cold War, the United States engaged in many aggressive policies both at home and abroad, in which to fight communism and the spread of communist ideas. Faced with a new challenge and new global responsibilities, the U.S. needed to retain what it had fought so strongly for in World War II. It needed to contain the communist ideas pouring from the Soviet Union while preventing communist influence at home, without triggering World War III. With the policies of containment, McCarthyism, and brinkmanship, the United States hoped to effectively stop the spread of communism and their newest threat, the Soviet Union. After the war, the United States and the Soviet Union had very different ideas on how to rebuild.
The foreign and domestic policies during the Cold War lead to both the separation of world powers and the fear of political and social systems throughout the world. After World War 2 had ended, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union heighted. The agreements made at the Yalta Conference between Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt , were not being followed by the Soviets. The Soviet Union kept the land they reconquered in Eastern Europe and did not enforce a democratic government in those countries, as they promised. Instead, the Soviet Union decided to continue spreading communism in their reconquered lands. The United States’ feared the spread of communism and attempted to do anything in its power to stop it. Before the United
“In the wake of the Cold War, Americans felt it was their patriotic duty to buy consumer goods to help the economy grow. In turn, the U.S. became the world’s dominant economic power” ("Cold War Influences on American Culture, Politics, and Economics").
QUESTION 2: The Cold War is an international conflict, a global fight between the United States and the Soviet Union that began in Europe in the wake of World War II but quickly expanded into Asia and the Third World. These international events, however, undoubtedly influenced domestic American politics between 1945 and 1965. How did the international Cold War shape, influence, or change domestic American politics in the first twenty years of the conflict? II. BACKGOUND
The American Yawp states, “And for all of the postwar celebration of Rosie the Riveter, after the war ended the men returned and most women voluntarily left the work force or lost their jobs” (3). The resemblance and/or uprising that the idea of women taking on jobs liken-to women of the Soviet Union. The Role of Women in the Soviet Union states,
With the beginnings of the cold war the media and propaganda machine was instrumental in the idea of the nuclear family and how that made America and democracy superior to the “evils” of the Soviet Union and Communism; with this in mind the main goal of the 50’s women was to get married. The women of the time were becoming wives in their late teens and early twenties. Even if a women went to college it was assumed that she was there to meet her future husband. Generally a woman’s economic survival was dependent on men and employment opportunities were minimal.
The 1940s provided a drastic change in women’s employment rates and society's view of women. With the end of the Depression and the United States’ entrance into World War II, the number of jobs available to women significantly increased. As men were being drafted into military service, the United States needed more workers to fill the jobs left vacant by men going to war. Women entered the workforce during World War II due to the economic need of the country. The use of Patriotic rhetoric in government propaganda initiated and encouraged women to change their role in society. Yet, at the end of the war, the same ideas that encouraged women to accept new roles had an averse affect on women, encouraging them to leave the workforce. The patriotism promoted by propaganda in the 1940s, encouraged Americans to support the war effort and reinforced the existing patriarchal society. Propaganda's use of patriotism not only increased loyalty to America during the war, but also, increased loyalty to the traditional American patriarchal values held in society.
The Cold War hindered social reform in the United States because of the increase in the separation between individuals and the failure of the government to resolve the issue of inequality within the United States. Social reform can be defined the use of common goals to bring about change within the political and social aspects of society. From the 1940s to the 1990s, the Cold War was the main focus of society. This conflict was a systematic response to various pressures and fears that had not been resolved by World War II. The government shifted its focus away from dealing with the social issues that already existed in the United States to focus on the nuclear threat and the communist threat that existed abroad.
The cold war was a significant event following the WWII. The Cold war was caused by the USA’s fear of the spread of communism. This event had many impacts on Canada. The cold war had stimulated the Canadian Military to prepare to defend the Soviet Attacks. The Citizens are preparing for the Doomsday event of the Weapon of Mass Destruction. The government of Canada had decided to become a peace keeper, but eventually they become bounded with United States to defend against communism. Canada played an important role in the Cold War and the Cold war definitely had huge impacts on Canada.
Since the Russian Revolution in 1905, the world housed suspicions regarding communism. These suspicions grew through both World War I, blossoming into a direct confrontation between Communist Russia and Capitalist America. Following the acts of World War II, the Cold War erupted. During the Cold War, United States foreign policy grew gradually aggressive, reflecting the public sentiment.
The post-war world left the Soviets and the United States in an ideological power struggle. The origin of the cold war is hard to pinpoint. There were several issues and disagreements that led to it. The political differences between the 2 nations were absolute opposites. America was a democracy, a system that allows its citizens to choose the political party in which runs the government. The Communists were led by one of the most vicious dictators in human history, Joseph Stalin.
Due to the idealization of domesticity in media, there was a significantly stagnant period of time for women’s rights between 1945 and 1959. Women took over the roles for men in the workplace who were fighting abroad during the early 1940s, and a strong, feminist movement rose in the 1960s. However, in between these time periods, there was a time in which women returned to the home, focusing their attention on taking care of the children and waiting on their husband’s every need. This was perpetuated due to the increasing popularity of media’s involvement in the lives of housewives, such as the increasing sales of televisions and the increase in the number of sexist toys. During America’s involvement in World War Two, which spanned from 1941 until 1945, many men went off to fight overseas.