The objective of this paper is to ascertain public understanding of the Cold War. Three people have been questioned for this interview project, each from different backgrounds and generations. Each were asked the same questions and some of their answers were similar when it came to the basics, but the incidences that occurred seem to be less clear.
While the United States and the Soviet Union were allies during World War II, once the war was over the two countries became at war over which was politically correct, democracy or communism. Totalitarian governments were taking over countries around the globe while the United States’ and her capitalist allies were determined to fight communism. The two super powers of the globe never waged physical war on each other, but they fought like children to be first, always trying to outdo the other to become the world’s most powerful country (U.S. History, 2014). It is important for both sides to remember that even though it took many decades for the battle to be over, military confrontation is not always the answer to solve differences.
Regardless of age, all three persons interviewed associated Russia with the Cold War. But, Freda Ray remembered how words like, “Kremlin, Red Square, and the atom bomb were words used in almost every news cast. I also remember something about a red phone, or maybe it was a red button, but it was the president’s direct line to Russia”, Ray, September 7, 2015).
Zach Cyrus, a young adult in his mid-20’s, just recently graduated from college. “I don’t remember if we studied it in high school or not, but in one of my classes at Fairmont I remember that we discussed that we had a U-2 spy plane that discovered nukes and there was about a two-week argument over it between us and the Russians”, (Cyrus, September 6, 2015). On the other hand, Deb Fout could not remember studying the Cold War in school, “That was a long time ago. I remember the wars that came about because of the Cold...