How Did The Cold War Change The World's View Of Communism

From the start of the Cold War to present day, the world’s view of communism has changed dramatically. Pre-Cold War, the world didn’t view communism as evil. People saw it as just another form of government. A couple of key events changed that. Since the Cold War, the world’s view of communism has gone from neutral acceptance to fear and terror. The events that changed people’s minds were McCarthyism, the Arms Race, and nationalism.

McCarthyism was one event/era in American history that changed people’s views on communism. McCarthyism was when Republic senator Joseph McCarthy made hundreds of accusations against people in government claiming that they were communist spies or had been planted there by communist countries (Document 6). The idea that there could be communists in the government scared US citizens to death. The people’s fear bolstered support for wars overseas against countries that could have potentially become commmunist (Document 8). McCarthyism incuded a fear into people that commmunism wasn’t just a far away idea but that it could actually influence their country and lives. …show more content…
The Arms Race was the race between the Soviet Union and the United States to create nuclear weapons. The Arms Race reached a point where both countries accepted the MAD doctrine or, Mutually Assured Destruction (Document 6). The MAD doctrine was where both countries accepted that if either attacked the other, it would cause complete annihilation of both sides. This was the first time that humanity had the ability to completly destroy itself. The potential destruction of the world was what caused people to fear communism even more (Document 7) since communist countries were the ones actively going out and trying to convert other countries to communism and provoking the United States (Document