Truman's Rivalry: The Cold War

Harry S. Truman, the 33rd American President, greatly influenced the development of the Cold War. He earned presidency of the United States in the year 1945, shortly after Roosevelt passed away and two weeks before Adolf Hitler committed suicide. During his 8 years of ruling, Truman believed that communism was not right, which led to tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, also known as the Cold War. Where both Soviet and American policies had divided Europe into a Soviet-controlled bloc in the east and an American-supported grouping in the west. He took the side of those who shared his beliefs. Truman’s main goal was to contain the Soviet Union’s power and keep the U.S on top.

Despite the slogan proclaimed in Truman's speech about "the US support of free people in their struggle against armed minorities or external pressure,"(Containment and the Cold War: American foreign policy since 1945, the US support was, depending on the region, more or less. In addition, it should be noted that the permission of these free peoples to use military force to protect their freedom was not always asked.

he first chapter of The Cold War: A New History begins by comparing the United States to the U.S.S.R. and talking about the similarities between the two. It also talks about Communism and how Marx deemed it necessary in order to build up the economy. Lenin tried to implement Communism in Russia. They were not quite ready for that kind of system, so Stalin tried to modernize the economy. The U.S.S.R. had more casualties in World War II, but things were not necessarily looking great in America either. U.S. citizens were afraid that the Great Depression could return. Many Americans were tired of helping out other nations and just wanted the war to be over completely. John Lewis Gaddis, the author of The Cold War: A New History, is talking about the fact that just because the war was over, Americans were not necessarily at peace. There were many different economic and social factors that the United States had to deal with in the post World War II years.

Could you imagine living in a time of constant fear of nuclear war? For many people living today, this was once a daily reality. From 1945 to 1991, the two world superpowers, the United States and the USSR clashed in a series of ideological political battles that completely changed and defined the post-WWII world. This was known as the Cold War. After founding and developing Marxist ideologies over two world wars, the USSR naturally wanted to spread communism across the world.

Though the end of World War II made the United States a global superpower, it also prompted new challenges for the President to tackle. Diverging aims for the postwar world divided the previous World War II Allies, and sparked a Cold War which heightened tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. The struggle to contain Communism abroad as well as the unresolved issue of crippling inequality at home called for a strong leader to make effective use of his authority and firmly resolve these issues. From 1945 to 1964, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson emphasized Cold War Liberalism, which supported equality and democracy while combatting Communism abroad. Similar to Social Welfare Liberalism

As time passes by many new marvelous inventions, and ideas arise. But, somehow we as humans tend to repeat actions that have already been done. A perfect example of this would be the creation of the Monroe Doctrine in 1823 and Truman Doctrine in 1947. Although these doctrines were established for their respective times, their purpose remained the same. Both were used to provide foreign countries with military support in case they were being threatened by other nations. Additionally, these doctrines were also used for the United States’ benefit because in the Monroe Doctrine, the United States forbade European powers from trying to conquer South American countries; in the Truman Doctrine, the United States tried to contain communism and to stop its spread across Europe. The Monroe Doctrine and the Truman Doctrine were used to help other countries against hostile powers, and at the same time these doctrines helped the United States to become and to remain a world power during the Imperialism and Cold War era.

The end of the Second World War brought dramatic changes to the world, including the role of the United States. In an effort to maintain a global position of dominance, the nation engaged in a Cold War with the Soviet Union. While Americans supported a capitalistic model of society, the Soviets supported a Communist one. These two world powers fought to exchange socioeconomic models for alliance and support from third-world countries. The US was frightened by the spread of Communism, especially to their own nation.

An event which resulted in the change of relations between the USSR and Western Allies between 1945 and 1949 was the bombing of the cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US, using the first ever atom bomb. The United States and the Soviets were considered to be the most prominent superpowers in the world as of the time; both were extremely wealthy, and most importantly, both had great military capacity and were in competition with each other to gain the upper hand in that field. So, inevitably, when President Truman of the US took the leader of Russia, Joseph Stalin, aside to inform him that they had gained nuclear capacity and that they were planning to utilise it against the Japanese just under two weeks before proceeding to do so on the 6th

The Cold War lasted forty plus years and these conflicting ideologies threatened peace throughout the world, consequently the battle verses communism and democracy was at the root of the Cold War conflict. Social, political, and economic conditions of the world were influenced by the ongoing threats of the Cold War. In the Soviet Union, communist rulers firmly controlled all aspects of Soviet life and they dominated Eastern Europe through imperialism. The Soviet government held a tight grip on its citizens and used fear to control them, hence western influences were forbidden because the government thought it would poison and threaten their beliefs. The government and economy was often unstable and was frequently on the verge of collapse,

The Cold War caused people to question the United States’ government’s reliability and strength, which negatively affected America’s domestic affairs and foreign policies. Citizens lost respect and trust in the government and other civilians, due to several threats within the country and worldwide. People were left questioning their rights and safety due to the second Red Scare, which threatened the coming of power of communism within America. Various forms of propaganda advertised fears, causing panic to spread throughout the country. Russia’s gain of power throughout Eurasia showed off the USSR’s strength and abilities, threatening the Western Powers. The arms race caused tensions between the U.S. and USSR, bringing them closer to the brink

"The Cold War was an ideological contest between the western democracies especially the United States and the Communist countries that emerged after the Second World War" (Tindall 972). The United States and the Soviet Union had differences over issues such as human rights, individual liberties, economic freedom, and religious belief. "Mutal suspicion and a race to gain influence and control over the so called nonaligned or third world countries further polarized" (Tindall 945). After the WWII Soviets dominate European countries and thought the U.S. had the same motives.

The era of the Cold War was a tumultuous time where conflict arose in many aspects of American culture and international wars waged to prevent the spread of Soviet influence over other nations. U.S. foreign policy would see much intervention, where nations were used to engage in proxy wars. The United States’ domestic politics would see much panic among congress and many senators, where the looming fears of Soviet influence and communist spies altered how politicians and lawmakers conducted themselves and how laws were passed. The influence the cold War held on American society would have many civil liberties violated and ignored, tensions would erupt consequently leading to protests which see the fabric of tear as demonstrations and

Some historians believe the Cold War was inevitable because of the hostilities from both America and the Soviet Union after World War II. America believed that the USSR was an expansionist country trying to spread an evil, communistic idea throughout the world. Although the countries never directly fought against each other, as they only fought in proxy wars, there was still extreme conflict. The United States responded to the Soviets actions in Germany, Europe, and their national actions. These responses were justifiable, or so many Americans at the time believed.

Fearing they would fall under Soviet influence, Truman wanted to supply them monetary and military help. In response to the Truman Doctrine, Congress granted $400,000,000 to the

Around 1945, tensions began arising between the US and the USSR, which lead to the Cold War. During a 40 year time period, each nation tried to spread their political and economic systems. Both the US and the USSR wanted to spread their ideologies across the world. The origin of the Cold War was distrust; in “fighting” this war, the political and military tactics were the most effective.