The Pros And Cons Of The Cold War

Growing unease and suspicion between the world’s two most powerful countries, the United States and the Soviet Union, characterized the Cold War. Much of this unease stemmed from a lack of transparency between the two powers. Neither party was ever able to fully discern the intentions of the other’s foreign policy. Yet even when the leaders of the two countries came together and were relatively truthful with one another, this sense of unease only grew. Each leader made distinct arguments with unique underlying assumptions and implicit themes. The arguments and remarks presented by John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev at the Vienna Summit contributed to the growing bifurcation of the United States and the Soviet Union and helped set the

Kennedy worried about the spread of communism and that many would use Mao Zedong’s suggestion that “power was at the end of a rifle” to justify this spread (6). To remedy this issue, Kennedy suggested that both powers should not involve themselves directly in the struggle in “other areas” and should not subvert the “national interests” of the other power (5). Khrushchev believed that Kennedy’s concern about this issue imperiled Soviet national interests, as Soviet security ultimately depended on the success of ideas like communism in countries along the Soviet periphery (including Germany). Additionally, he argued that U.S. interference had indeed subverted Soviet national interests and had also impeded domestic development in countries like Iran and Cuba (10). Kennedy countered by altering the historical narrative presented by Khrushchev, saying that the U.S. had used the tool of intervention judiciously due to the fact that it had never intervened in Guinea or Mali, where the governments had been freely elected (11). The two nations disagreed over the efficacy and necessity of intervention to maintain the global balance of

The two only reached agreement on the issue of Laos due to Khrushchev 's flexible attitude regarding the situation in Southeast Asia (13). The fact that, despite pressing interests around the world, agreement could only be reached on the issue of Laos, may have rebuffed some of the leaders’ hopes for a period of relative détente. Both leaders also established nuclear testing as an important issue moving forward (16). Kennedy was fearful of nuclear testing because of the fallout material that could be circulating in the wind across the globe. Khrushchev was reluctant to establish a nuclear inspections regime that would both allow the potential for espionage and limit his autonomy. After the Vienna Summit, both powers would work to reconcile these differences and create an acceptable agreement (Leffler