Traveling through history from 1950 to 1990 and selecting one significant historical event has proven difficult. Each decade embodies at least two major events that result in the creation of smaller events. The United States in the 1950’s was a time of prosperity mixed with fear. As we travel forward through each decade, fear and confusion continue to grow, making peace more elusive. The United States continued fighting wars abroad while the American people were fighting their own wars at home.
Baby its Cold Outside
Both the Soviet Union and the United States wanted their values and economic and political systems to prevail, if either side had accepted the others ideas the cold war might have never occurred. Communism in the 1950’s was said to be against private property, the family unit, eternal truths, religion and morality; everything the United States not only embraced but also promoted (Hoven, Randall, 2007).
Following the dropping of the Atom Bomb on Hiroshima then Nagasaki, the Second World War came to an end in the summer of 1945; this marked the beginning of the Cold War (Davidson, Gienapp, Lytle, Stoff and Heyrman, 2005).
The United States and the Soviet Union each had nuclear weapons and were ardent enemies of each other. Both sides knowing if it were to fight the other directly the probability of using nuclear arms was likely, resulting in the destruction of the world, as we know it. Each embraced the use of non-military tactics, which proved less destructive than nuclear weapons.
Wartime alliances that existed during World War II had been stretched economically. American allies, France and Britain, struggled economically and were fearful that Soviet forces would take advantage of them while they were down. What these allies did not know was the Soviet Union was in far worse condition economically (GlobalSecurity, 2008).
The Cold War was a time of rebuilding economically for our allies and our enemies. Each suffered tremendous losses of...