What Are The Long And Short Term Effects Of The Cold War

The cold war was a global, geopolitical, struggle between the democratic United States and the communist authoritarian Soviet Union (America A Concise History pg.730). It was a fight for nuclear power, proxy wars, and ideological influence. Although the Soviet Union and the United States once were allies during World War 2 the only issue the super power’s shared was their “commitment to defeating the Axis power (America A Concise History 731). The issue between the two quickly escalated and spread to the rest of the world. The third world was a term used for “developing or ex-colonial nations in Asia, Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East” (America A Concise History 751). The United States primary goal was to stop the spread of communism in certain countries. Although the Soviet Union and the U.S never fought, in the third world many lives were lost because of civil war and other issues affected those parts of the world.
Vietnam had surrendered to Chian in the north and Britain in the south. In 1955 anticommunist Ngo Dinh Diem with the support from the U.S became president of Vietnam claiming South Vietnam to be the Republic of Vietnam. After five years of the birth of the Republic f Vietnam, Eisenhower wrote a letter to Diem applauding him and the Vietnamese people for gaining independence in a “situation so perilous that many thought it was hopeless.” Eisenhower also mentions that there were “3 times as many children enrolled in school” and that there will be more hard work ahead, but he assured the people “that for as long as our strength can be useful, the United Starts will continue to assist