What exactly was the Cold War? The Cold War was basically a war between the United States and the Soviet Union which never became “hot”. It was based upon ideological differences, the United States’ capitalism versus the Soviet Union’s communism. It was a competition to see who was better. After World War II the Cold War began. George Kennan, known as the “Father of Containment”, said that the Soviet Union was impervious to logic of reason, but only sensitive to logic of force. He said that we needed to contain communism else it would spread. President Truman used this theory to try and contain its spread. The Truman Doctrine would support free people that wanted to resist being taken over by communists. Truman thought that once a
…show more content…
There was espionage and spying, going on in America at the time. Alger Hiss worked in the State Department in the government, and was exposed of going to communist secret meetings. He claimed to have never gone, but it was found out later in Soviet archives that he was in fact leaking American information. Another example was the Rosenburg family. Ethel and Julius were husband and wife, and Ethel’s brother worked at Los Alamos. He passed information to Julius, and Julius then passed it to the Soviet Union. Ethel’s brother used a plea deal and exposed Ethel and Julius, where they were sentenced to death. Americans were also fearful because of “McCarthyism”, which was like communist witch hunts. People would accuse others of being communists, when there was no way to prove you were not. The Cold War reached its climax in the form of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Fidel Castro became leader of Cuba after the Cuban Revolution, and became communist. It was found out that the Soviet Union was transporting nuclear warheads to Cuba. Obviously, the United States did not like that, so they blockaded Cuba to intercept the Russian Navy that had the warheads. It was a tense standoff, with both countries ready to go war if it came to it, but the Soviet Union pulled their ships back at the last second. The United States then agreed to take their warheads out of Turkey as long as the Soviet Union took theirs out of
There was espionage and spying, going on in America at the time. Alger Hiss worked in the State Department in the government, and was exposed of going to communist secret meetings. He claimed to have never gone, but it was found out later in Soviet archives that he was in fact leaking American information. Another example was the Rosenburg family. Ethel and Julius were husband and wife, and Ethel’s brother worked at Los Alamos. He passed information to Julius, and Julius then passed it to the Soviet Union. Ethel’s brother used a plea deal and exposed Ethel and Julius, where they were sentenced to death. Americans were also fearful because of “McCarthyism”, which was like communist witch hunts. People would accuse others of being communists, when there was no way to prove you were not. The Cold War reached its climax in the form of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Fidel Castro became leader of Cuba after the Cuban Revolution, and became communist. It was found out that the Soviet Union was transporting nuclear warheads to Cuba. Obviously, the United States did not like that, so they blockaded Cuba to intercept the Russian Navy that had the warheads. It was a tense standoff, with both countries ready to go war if it came to it, but the Soviet Union pulled their ships back at the last second. The United States then agreed to take their warheads out of Turkey as long as the Soviet Union took theirs out of