What Caused The Cold War Essay

The Cold War was a state of tension between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, better known as the USSR, lasting almost forty five years from 1947 to 1991. There are an abundance of reasons as to why The Cold War broke out after World War II including the fear of communism, and the competition of nuclear weapons. The Cold War also heavily impacted the United States of America politically, socially, and economically. One of the causes of The Cold War was the fear of communism. The President of the United States at the time was Harry S. Truman. His main focus during this time period was to prevent the spread of communism at all costs. Truman soon realized that Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union, could not be trusted, leading to the Policy of Containment getting put in full effect (book). The purpose behind the Policy of Containment, also known as the Cold War Foreign Policy, was to “restrict the …show more content…
As one can observe the mutual tension between the United States and the USSR, it is very likely to have controversial beliefs and opinions. By the end of World War II, the United States and the USSR were polar opposites. With the fear of communism being spread around the United States, citizens found themselves voting for presidents who were strictly anti-communist and very passionate about it like: Truman, Kennedy, Nixon, and Reagan. These presidents focused on battling the Soviets politically. In addition to presidential elections, senator Joseph McCarthy started the anti-communist campaign in 1950 (powerpoint week 10 slide 15). Senator Joseph McCarthy spent nearly five years trying to expose communist in the United States to try and protect the US Government. During this time, American citizens were very limited to their freedom of speech, in fear of being accused of being unloyal to the United States Government and being