How Did The United States Prevent The Cold War?

The United States’ alliance with the Soviet Union began to crumble throughout World War II. Fueled by ideological differences, this climate of mutual mistrust between the two nations became known as the Cold War. Conflicts over Poland, a symbol of WWII, continued to divide these two nations apart as Stalin wanted a buffer in Eastern Europe to prevent another invasion. This is best represented by the concept of the “Iron Curtain” dividing Eastern and Western Europe. As a result of being unable to remove the Soviets from areas already under their control, the US implemented the philosophy of containment, as developed by George F. Kennan, to prevent the spread of communism. This philosophy materialized into policies such as the Truman Doctrine
After Harry S. Truman won the election of 1948, Truman created an extension of the New Deal called the Fair Deal, as the New Deal programs were extremely popular among Americans. First, the Fair Deal sought to raise the minimum wage and extend Social Security payments to cover additional workers. Next, he wanted to provide federal aid to public education. Third, he supported expanding Civil Rights legislation to end discrimination in public places. Lastly, he supported a National Health Care Plan to help people pay for medical costs. However, out of his four plans, only the minimum wage increase and the extension of Social Security had passed. In 1952, Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected president. Eisenhower had a domestic set of ideas called Dynamic Conservatism, which sought to reduce the size of the government, balanced budgets, and cut taxes and spending on government programs. In reality, however, the government actually grew during his Presidency, some budgets were balanced, but not all; income taxes and spending were each initially cut by ten percent, but then spending increased; and finally, Eisenhower led support for the Highway Act, which was a huge public works
Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy from Wisconsin became increasingly popular during this time of hysteria as he was the chairman of this committee. McCarthy used aggressive tactics and unsubstantiated charges against individuals, even pinning a father against his own son. Joseph McCarthy and the HUAC did not care whether or not their actions were ruining people’s careers and lives. The HUAC first targeted the film industry in 1947, as they believed that communist propaganda was being spread through US films. In response to the HUAC accusations, Hollywood executives created a “blacklist” of people who they thought had Communist backgrounds. About 500 actors, writers, producers, and directors were on this list, and all of their careers were ruined. McCarthy also falsely accused government officials of being communists, but he never produced a single name. This created a hysteria in the US called McCarthyism. This led to an increased hysteria as people were worried that the communist party was gaining power and would overthrow the democratic government of the United