Explain Why The Us Won The Cold War

The United States won the Cold War due to its military, economic, and political impact. The United States won the Cold War because of the military growth and impact during the Kennedy Administration, the economic success of the space race, and the political achievements under the Nixon Administration. To begin with, the Kennedy Administration’s impact with the policy of Flexible Response was important in the Cold War and established the U.S. as the military superpower it is today. Kennedy’s secretary of state, Robert McNamara, explained that “the Kennedy administration worried that [the] reliance on nuclear weapons gave us no way to respond to large non-nuclear attacks without committing suicide”. . . . We decided to broaden the range of options
to fight limited wars. And matching the Soviet Union’s nuclear power, the Soviets dismissed the threats. The Flexible Response greatly changed the nation's path during the Cold War by rising to Soviet threats with a political policy opposed to war, making the U.S. the strongest military today. Also, the U.S.'s economic success in the space race during the Cold War was important. In fact, “as a result of the space program, universities expanded their science programs. The huge federal funding for research and development gave rise to new industries and new technologies” (620). Moreover, the U.S. getting a man on the moon before the Soviet Union boosted American pride and faith in the space program. This sparked a new interest in science and technology and led to new industry growth. These new industries and people wanting to learn about and work in them led to economic growth in the U.S. It opened new doors for business and consumer goods. In addition, the new foreign outreach effort under the Nixon Administration led to political achievements and U.S. success. Nixon wrote in his memoir, “I knew that Zhou had been deeply insulted by Foster Dulles’s refusal to shake hands with