The period following WWII, known as the Cold War era, spanned form 1945 to 1965, and was defined by the ongoing conflict between the Soviet and American nations. This era was defined by more than tension between two countries, but became an age of constant fear. The American people were afraid of communism and of subversion and aggression acted out on the American people by the Soviet nation. This fear ultimately infiltrated every aspect of American life, heavily impacting governmental policies and political agendas, as the nation’s leaders acted to protect the American people.
One of the cultural issues that created the tension and political approach to the Cold War was America’s recent victory in Europe. Emergence from WWII had strengthened the American identity and given the American people, and political powers “confidence in the nation’s institutions and ideals” (Browne & Cottrell 3). As a result, the nation was united in its dedication to showing strength, and to responding to a “perceived peril” (Browne & Cottrell 3). As such, the nation responded actively to the ideological conflict between American democracy and Soviet communism, creating a tension, and a growing concern of physical confrontation between the world’s two first nuclear superpowers (Lefeber et al. 300).
The fear of communism lead to the strong belief that it was essential to “contain” communism, or keep it from spreading outside Russian boarders, as a result, a strong nuclear policy was developed. This was largely the result of certain high-level political and military figures pursuing the strategy that America needed to demonstrate its strength by being ready and able to “wage nuclear war” (Browne & Cottrell 3). The political pursuit of “first strike” capability which ensured that America had the power to “wipe out Russion in one strike without fear of” reprisal (Lefeber et al. 300). As a result, America lastingly maintained “overwhelming superiority of the Russians in deliverable nuclear warheads and bombs” (Lefeber et al. 302).
However, not all political powers took an equally force dependent approach to relationship with Russian. Other political powers believed that the best way to deal with the tension between American democracy and Russian communism was to minimize aggression between the two nations, through acceptance. These parties viewed Russia as a nation living an alternative political structure, but did not see them as having endless ambition to form a communist empire (Browne & Cottrell 3). These political powers pushed for increased neutrality and acceptance, and reduced anti-communist decision making, in order to reduce tension in foreign policy (Browne & Cottrell 3, Lefeber et al., 274).
One of the resulting pieces of legislation, born out of fear of the communists and attempts at containing their influence abroad, by strengthening resistance to their policies within America was the Truman Doctrine (Browne & Cottrell 12; Lefeber et al. 227). The Truman Doctrine stated that “the United States would support free people who were resisting subjugation y armed minorities or by outside pressures.” Logistically, this resulted in the United States funding the economic and physical reconstruction of a variety of areas of Europe that were heavy hit by WWII, including France, Italy, Germany and Austria in order to prevent the communist parties in those nations from rising to power. Similarly, the USSE was offered identical aid under the condition that they abandon communism in order to receive the much needed assistance (Browne & Cottrell, 12). Ultimately, while there was a high level of support for the ideals of the Truman doctrine, there was growing concern that the doctrine could be abused, providing a blank check for economic and military support around the globe, in any case where communism could be viewed as a threat (Lefeber et al. 228). This was unpopular among many high-ranking officials.
In addition to the Truman doctrine, a second significant piece of legislation was passed in direct response to the perceived threat of communism. This was the passage of the Federal Loyalty Program, in March of 1947 (Lefeber et al. 232). The legislation was designed to determine who was loyal to the American government and to “root out” those that were loyal or sympathetic to the communist position (Browne & Cottrell, 49). The program allowed employees to be fired from government positions in any case that had “reasonable grounds exist(ant) for belief that the person involved in disloyal” (Lefeber et al. 255). Following the passage of this act, Congress passed the “Taft-Hartley Act” which forced union officials to verify, with the signing of a legal document that they have no communist affiliation, or relationship with subversive groups (Browne & Cottrell 36). This spiraled outward into the creation of the, now infamous, blacklist of the mid to late 1940s. “Both congressional and state committees began grilling individuals about their involvement with such organizations” leading to blatant discrimination, rampant assumption, and a variety of unjust detainments (Browne & Cottrell 36; Lefeber et al. 255).
These two pieces of legislation, when taken together, resulted in mass hysteria and growing paranoia as the American people were led by their political leaders to believe that communist and communist spies, bent on ruining the nation were hiding everywhere. While there were, beyond the shadow of a doubt, some legitimate threats that resulted from the tension between the two nations, the fear of Soviet activity, and the resulting mistreatment of innocent American citizens was magnified significantly (Browne & Cottrell 37).
The Cold War era was defined by a growing tension between the United States and America. Fresh out of a war against Hitler, the American people were not only strengthened in their resolve to defend democracy and liberty, but also empowered by their recent victory. This made them zealous in defending the ideals and agenda of the American government against perceived threats. As a result, a growing tension mounted between the United States and Russia, because of a significant conflict in ideologies and a wariness surrounding communism. This ideological conflict resulted in the generation of political polices intended to contain the spread of communism and protect the American way of life from its influence. However, what it succeeded in doing was breeding a culture of fear, and allowing that fear to further dictate American political policy. This is most visible in the passage of the Truman Doctrine, the Federal Loyalty Program, and the Taft-Hartley Act. These both set up America to be responsible for providing unlimited financial support to those nations who faced the threat of communism coming to power, and creating a culture in which Americans were suspected of subversion and wrongfully accused of and jailed for communist sympathies whether they were actually involved in the communist party of not. Ultimately, the demonstrates that fear controlled every aspect of American life, heavily impacting governmental policies and political agendas, as the nation’s leaders acted in extreme ways, or passed extreme policies in a mislead effort to protect the American people.
Works Cited:
Browne, Blaine T., and Robert C. Cottrell. Modern American Lives: Individuals and Issues in American History since 1945. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2008. Print.
LaFeber, Walter, and Richard Polenberg. The American Century: A History of the United States since the 1890s. New York: Wiley, 1975. Print.
