How Did The Cold War Containment

The Cold War era was guided by the policy of “containment”. The word was mainly used only in its foreign policy version, first articulated by George F. Kennan in 1947. Through actions of the United States, the power of the Soviet Union would not endanger national security if it could be contained within a clearly defined sphere of influence. (The Sources of Soviet Conduct) However, this term also describes the United States government’s response to other postwar domestic developments. Although many Americans did find freedom to rebel and express individuality, the American homefront was greatly affected by domestic containment in which public policy, personal behavior, and even political values were focused on the terrifying destructive potential
One of the most personal ways that Americans worked to contain communism was in their own homes, within their own relationships and families. Proscribed gender roles and family structures became weapons with which the Cold War was waged. Psychologists, writers, and advertisers scorned all women who challenged social norms by continuing their education, rejecting dominant beauty standards, or remaining single. Fear of communism in the Cold War era also went hand-in-hand with fear of homosexuals. People that self-identified as homosexual or were rumored to be gay were labeled “security risks.” Throughout the 1950s, the federal government held a number of investigations to identify and eliminate homosexuals that worked for the government. (US Senate Investigation “Sex Perverts” 1950) Psychiatrists and psychologists argued that both homosexuality and communism were diseases that often resulted from psychological problems, early childhood development problems, or any childhood trauma could cause someone to be susceptible to the perceived illnesses of homosexuality and