How Did The Cold War Affect The American Psyche
When analyzing the ways in which the Cold War manifested itself in the American psyche throughout the post-war period, the need to maintain order at stability at home are central. Beginning after WWII, Americans looked for a “return to normalcy” to cope with the losses of wartime; the results were magnificent—large economic boom following a short recession, massive consumer revolution, and advances in science, health, and technology. Together, this created an overall wave of optimism that provided safety and insulation from the undercurrents of domestic and foreign issues during the era. Early civil rights issues like segregation became known due to the 1954 Brown v. Board decision as well as the Montgomery Bus Boycotts; clandestine, CIA-led
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As evidenced by Truman’s 1947 executive order establishing a loyalty program for government employees, the government actively engaged with morals policing to project a carefully crafted American image into the world. Although the executive order makes no mention of sexuality or even moral behavior, the State Department relied on civil service rules, which forbade the appointment of those who were known to have displayed "immoral or notoriously disgraceful conduct." By the time McCarthy's infamous February 1950 charge about card-carrying Communists in the State Department made national news, the department had been dedicating two full-time investigators of the Security Division to detect homosexuals and devote themselves to "the study of the problem (Shibusawa, 729)." Were it not for Truman's "loyalty order" the State Department may not have expended as much time and energy as it did to identify and expel homosexual employees. Potential propensity for disloyalty; however, lacked the physical markers used to reject individuals military service or citizenship, such as flat feet, hookworm, or syphilis, and the implementation of the order proved difficult. Still, the pressure was on to rout out possible "security risks" among the civil servants. That they
As evidenced by Truman’s 1947 executive order establishing a loyalty program for government employees, the government actively engaged with morals policing to project a carefully crafted American image into the world. Although the executive order makes no mention of sexuality or even moral behavior, the State Department relied on civil service rules, which forbade the appointment of those who were known to have displayed "immoral or notoriously disgraceful conduct." By the time McCarthy's infamous February 1950 charge about card-carrying Communists in the State Department made national news, the department had been dedicating two full-time investigators of the Security Division to detect homosexuals and devote themselves to "the study of the problem (Shibusawa, 729)." Were it not for Truman's "loyalty order" the State Department may not have expended as much time and energy as it did to identify and expel homosexual employees. Potential propensity for disloyalty; however, lacked the physical markers used to reject individuals military service or citizenship, such as flat feet, hookworm, or syphilis, and the implementation of the order proved difficult. Still, the pressure was on to rout out possible "security risks" among the civil servants. That they