With Communism and Capitalism clashing on a world scale, the two superpowers continue to one up the other and cause immense fear. In America, citizens became extremely threatened as the Soviet Union had developed nukes not long after America and they were ahead of America in terms of space development. This called upon the government to find a solution for the millions of frightened Americans. The Eidenhower administration addressed the Cold War threats and fears fairly poorly and it was seen through the excessive military defense spending and various speeches on the threat of the Soviet Union. As the Cold War ramped up, so did the extreme military defense spending in America. Eisenhower's administration believed that in order to fight the …show more content…
This was their idea of how to stop American fears; however, they only grew larger. Not just political cartoons allow us to see this military spending. In a table made by the Statistical Abstract of the United States, Department of Commerce, we can see that from 1949 to 1959, the percent of Americans' budget spent on defense spending increased more than 25%. This was almost entirely due to Eisenhower and his administration's ideas on how to stop these threats. Although America was becoming a country not to mess with, with all of the bombs, Americans were still in immense fear. The more bombs made, the more destruction in both countries involved. American citizens feared a nuclear war and destruction, so this great increase in military spending only encouraged fear. Despite the fact that most military spending was on missiles and only caused more fear, some went into projects that were quite important. In an article written by the Saturday Evening Post, the author speaks of an act made by Eisenhower that connects 209 of the 237 cities with advanced highway roads and …show more content…
However, Eisenhower, being the president, wanted Americans to feel safe so even if there were to be a huge problem, he may tell the citizens that it is all good in order to increase productivity and decrease outbursts. This makes his speech questionable as we wonder if Americans were being hysterical for a reason or not. Unfortunately for Eisenhower this did not help the fears of the American people, as telling someone not to be scared whilst creating a military arsenal can be quite contradicting to certain listeners. Following this speech, similar speeches by political advocates started showing up everywhere. In a speech by John Foster Dulles, the secretary of state, he explains that Guatemala has become a threat and if communism were to touch America in any state regardless of size, then Americans would have to step up and sacrifice more and more until they can fully get rid of communism. Considering John Foster Dulles is the secretary of state, it is important to note that he most likely would have to dumb down the circumstances and speak in a way that all Americans will understand, which unfortunately can cause
The Soviet Union was responsible for the Cold War. There are many reasons for this. For example in Document A, written by Winston Churchill in March 1946. It states, “I do not believe that Soviet Russia desires war. What they desire is the fruits of war and the indefinite expansion of their power and doctrines.” The meaning of this quote is that the Soviet Union wanted the benefits from the war. On the other hand, the Us provide the necessary support for the Greek government. In Document B, a speech delivered by President Truman to Congress on March 12, 1947. It states, that “The United States has received from the Greek Government an urgent appeal for financial and economic assistance...Greece is in desperate need of financial and economic
The United States and The Soviet Union were originally joined together by the want to defeat The Nazi army, in 1941-1945. The alliance remained, and strengthened, among the two until the end of World War II. At the end of World War II, a rupture between the two occurred. The differences began earlier, but there was a straw that broke the camels back. The reason The United States and The Soviet Union’s alliance did not work out is because The Soviet Union and The United States were complete opposites, The Soviet Union proved to be faulty, and they were never truly allies.
Eisenhower’s dynamic conservatism now known as Modern Republicanism labeled him as a nonpartisan leader, who was fiscally conservative in reducing federal spending and socially moderate in maintaining existing social and economic legislation of the New Deal. With the policy shift of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, foreign policy in dealing with Communism went from containing it, to rolling it back. The Strategic Air Command was established as a fleet of super bombers that were equipped with nukes that would allow for massive retaliation in the place of a large standing army or navy, and the threat of massive retaliation was used to get the Soviets to surrender, and issued the Mutual Assured Destruction, where both sides knew that neither nation would declare nuclear war because it would result in total annihilation ...
A war does not necessarily require physical weapons to fight. From 1947 to 1991, military tension and ideological conflicts held place. Cold War is defined as a state of political hostility existing between countries, characterized by threats, violent propaganda, subversive activities, and other measures short of open warfare, in particular. The causes of the Cold War between United States and the Soviet Union were the mutual distrust that had taken place in World War II, intense rivalry between the two super powers, and conflicting ideologies. The two superpowers differed in views of political and economic principles and were eager to spread their ideologies to other countries. The United States were in favor of democracy and capitalism while the Soviet Union sought for the chances of influencing communism. Cold War did not involve the use of physical arms but was intensely fought. Propaganda, economic aids, Arms Race, and the creation of alliances were the main methods to fight the war. The use of propaganda played a crucial role in containment by criticizing the other power and raised the morale and spirit of their nation. The economic support for nations helped them recover from the desperate situation after World War II, which prevented the nations from falling under communism. Also, the Arms Race and forming alliances between the two main powers were important weapons for competition and rivalry in Cold War.
However, what made communism so dangerous can be succinctly described by Eisenhower, who compared the spread of communism to the domino effect. As his secretary of state, Dulles, put it, the propagation of communism “would constitute a threat to the sovereignty and independence” of America (Doc B). In addition, the Cold War also planted the seeds of rational fear of a global nuclear war. As Russia caught up to the United States in terms of technological advancements, they successfully developed the atomic bomb as well as the hydrogen bomb, which caused Americans to believe that the USSR would use these weapons of mass destruction to forcefully extend their ideologies to the USA. In fact, Americans were so frantic about a potential nuclear disaster that it prompted many families to purchase personal bunkers, stocked with enough resources to live for weeks (Doc C)....
Eisenhower served as the President of United States for a period of eight years. On January 17, 1961 he gave a memorable farewell speech which was broadcasted on TV. The speech is known for the vision of Eisenhower who predicted the strong influence that military-industrial complex will be created on the citizens of Unites States in future. His speech narrates his fears on the massive spending, concerns on planning and deficit spending. He is concerned for the Federal funding that might be more towards the technological and scientific developments. The basis of the speech is to achieve peace in the world and warn the nation for not being excited with the prosperous state and not live for the moment in the youth and glamour while aiming at an easy life. According to him, there are big chances that the power will be misplaced and this might persist but the nation must strive for a balance between the freedom and democratic processes. I think the standpoint of Eisenhower is not consistent with that of a military man as he wants the expenditure on the defense strategies to be lessened and want to promote the growth of the country by sparing the federal funds on other things than national defense. Though he believes that the country cannot risk the emergency improvisation, which is required for national defense. As he said that that “the country is compelled to create permanent armaments of vast proportions”
During the Cold War, the United States engaged in many aggressive policies both at home and abroad, in which to fight communism and the spread of communist ideas. Faced with a new challenge and new global responsibilities, the U.S. needed to retain what it had fought so strongly for in World War II. It needed to contain the communist ideas pouring from the Soviet Union while preventing communist influence at home, without triggering World War III. With the policies of containment, McCarthyism, and brinkmanship, the United States hoped to effectively stop the spread of communism and their newest threat, the Soviet Union. After the war, the United States and the Soviet Union had very different ideas on how to rebuild.
The Cold War was a time of fear for the American people in the aftermath of the second World War, but also was a key period in which different presidents began and led various programs to fight Communism, both at home and abroad. President Eisenhower was elected in 1952, and various actions he took throughout his two term administration both assuaged and increased American fears related to Cold War problems. Eisenhower’s policies and programs of the Cold War included MAD and McCarthyism, which caused domestic fears, Brinksmanship and the creation of highways to carry military equipment through the Federal Highway of 1956 in case of foreign war, and his creation of NASA and the National Defense Education Act of 1958 for a technology race with the Soviet Union.
The terms hawks and doves' were quick labels attached to politicians in order to categorize their views on war and foreign policies, as to make them understandable and accessible for the public. However, these labels were not always accurate and in some cases could be quite misleading; it would have been more accurate not to label individuals as either Hawks or Doves, but instead, what they stood for.
This world in arms is not spending money alone; it is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. ”The United States spends more money in defense than China, Russia, UK, France, Japan, India, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Brazil, Italy, South Korea, Australia, and Canada put together. As Leon Newton mentions in Revisiting Eisenhower’s Farewell Address, “When Eisenhower delivered his farewell address, he warned his listeners that the Cold War promised to be a long and chilling period in national security, and that the nation had no choice but to follow its long-standing values.” In Charles Johnson’s article, Empire v Democracy Johnson mentions a lot of things that I had never stopped to think about.
The political ideologies of the USA and of the Soviet Union were of profound significance in the development of the Cold War. Problems between the two power nations arose when America refused to accept the Soviet Union in the international community. The relationship between the USA and the Soviet Union was filled with mutual distrust and hostility. Many historians believe the cold war was “inevitable” between a democratic, capitalist nation and a communist Union. Winston Churchill called the cold war “The balance of terror” (1). Cold war anxieties began to build up with America and the Soviet Union advancing in the arms race for world dominance and supremacy. America feared the spread of Communism
The Cold War greatly impacted the United States' domestic policy, partly due to the “Red Scare” or the spread of communism worldwide and in the United States. Many American people were unfairly accused of being communists, this act was commonly known as McCarthyism. Furthermore, on the US homefront, most families feared a nuclear attack from then and still now rival country the USSR, most widely known today as Russia. This fear prompted the US to beef up its military and defense systems Nationwide, this effectively was a big spending point that caused the spending to decrease across the board including Public Education and many more. As a whole, the United States homefront was severely impacted by the actions taken by the US and the USSR, these actions single-handedly caused one of the scariest times in United States history.
World War II started around the year 1941 and ended around 1945. In 1941, in the first six months, Japan started winning the war with its attack on Pearl Harbor. However, in the four years between its start and end, there was massive destruction and a massive body count between multiple fights and wars; this was shown in battles like Pearl Harbor and the Doolittle Raid. When the war with Europe ended, the United States was officially getting riled up about technically still being at war. They wanted to figure out ways to end the war by either doing land evasions or dropping an atomic bomb.
even though these were the only potential military threat to the US. It was always the "political" threat of so-called “Communism" that was the primary concern. Of course, both the US and USSR would have preferred that the other simply disappear. But since this would obviously have involved mutual annihilation, the Cold War was established.
In 1945, most of the countries around the world are devastated further to World War II which had stroke the globe for six years. Only the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, also called USSR, seem to be in a stable economic situation despite weighty losses. Both states are considered to be the great winners of the war and this is the beginning of a confrontation between two superpowers but also the confrontation between two distinct ideologies: communism and capitalism.