Cold War Dbq

Tensions were very high between the Soviet Union and America at the end of WWII, and would only continue to escalate. America and the USSR rarely agreed and during WWII they were only able to work together because of the common enemy of Germany. At this point in time the USSR was communist and expanding their hold on land around them. At the Yalta conference in 1945, America and Great Britain agreed to give the Soviet Union control over Poland and Ukraine, and in return the Soviets agreed to use free elections in those countries. The Soviets went back on their word and ruled with communism. As well, the Soviets believed the Americans were not giving enough land to their nation. Tensions between the countries reached a boiling point and the

In The Washington Post a political cartoon titled “Well, I Got That In, All Right” was printed to talk about the current downfall of the American budget (document F). The cartoon depicts a shed titled “Budget” with a giant missile called “missile programs” shoved inside. All of the other programs like “civilian services” and “ school construction” have no room inside the shed so they are falling away. The cartoon symbolizes the fact that people were so afraid of not being well defensed in their army that they were ignoring every other problem and need. While the missile programs continued to grow, other important programs were suffering. The everyday American citizen who would see this cartoon in the paper would finally think about the serious issue of neglected programs like welfare and schools, which they would not have been concerned about before because of the overwhelming amount of fear about war and defense. As the cold war went on, the rest of the country was in danger of suffering and the fear of another depression had started to

John Foster Dulles said “If world communism captures any American State, however small, a new and perilous front is established which will increase the danger to the entire free world”(document B). John Foster Dulles was the secretary of state during the Cold War and the political official were of most importance during this time. They were who everyone would look to for guidance and aid. However, in Dulles statement he was just spreading fear and paranoia about communism. He was feeding the fire of fear towards communism. To him it was so important that not even a single state falter for a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Furthermore, People were so afraid communism would spread to America that no one trusted each other, because anyone could be a spy. One of the most controversial moments was when Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were discovered to be spies for the communist nation. The Rosenbergs had been feeding the USSR information about nuclear weapons and radar, sonar, and jet propulsion. The discovery of these two spies set America into a frenzy of mistrust. Anyone could be a spy and the threat of communism was all anyone would talk of think about. Although communism was such a major problem in the U.S. at the time, Dwight D. Eisenhower’s administration did not help to end the fear, rather fuel