ipl-logo

Cold War DBQ

703 Words3 Pages

Effects of Cold War on United States domestic policy and society As World War II got closer to an end, the U.S. and the Soviet Union gained great power, and the competition with these two countries increased in many fields like the development of nuclear technology. However, at the same time, relationships between these two countries deteriorated especially due to the conflict of the ideology which is defined as the Cold War started in 1947 and ended 1991. Both domestic policy and society in the U.S. were greatly affected by the Cold War. However, the effect on American society was mostly negative as the conflicts of citizens due to fear of Communism and effect on normal life show. The Cold War, especially the arms race which promoted both …show more content…

In the beginning of the Cold War, President Truman signed an executive order to investigate all employment of the Federal Government(Document 1). Audience for this order was not only people who hire people for Federal Government jobs, but also citizens. Even though the United States officially tried to ban communism, the President suggested eliminating communist ideas from society which instilled fear of communism. HUAC established in 1938 also increased the fear of communism by investigating communist(Document 2). This picture shows that HUAC uses its power to accuse people and spread the fear of “being communist”. Even though the main purpose of publish this picture for the Washington Post was to criticize HUAC, it also engaged in the spread of Red Scare. Court case of Soviet spies Rosenbergs also affected American society by dividing people’s ideas(Document 5). For some, “execution of Rosenbergs was deserved punishment” and for others, “the Rosenbergs were scapegoats for Cold War anxieties.” Therefore, this trial case divides the community in half by revealing individual’s ideas about the Cold War. McCarthyism which makes accusations of treason without evidence can be related to all of these. McCarthyism spread social paranoia that all individuals could be treated as communist who were trying to betray the country. Therefore, McCarthyism also promoted the spread of Red Scare and divided American society. These events especially prove that the fear of communism due to the Cold War caused undesirable results for American

Show More
Related
584 Words | 3 Pages

Since the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, which established a Communist government in Russia, Americans viewed the Soviets as a threat to all capitalistic countries. The revolution left Americans and the government in fear of communism taking over. This view led to anti-Communist hysteria, also known as the Red Scare of 1919. Another anti-Communist movement came about in the 1940s and 50s. This Second Red Scare became known as McCarthyism due to Joseph McCarthy's actions during his campaign.

Read More
965 Words | 4 Pages

The most significant factors that led to the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union were ideological differences, unequal war costs, and lack of trust. The United States and the Soviet Union went from being allies to being enemies through their ideological differences. Document A states," ...that capitalism

Read More
982 Words | 4 Pages

McCarthyism caused Americans to turn against each other because individuals were becoming unemployed, fear of nuclear war, and everyone was questioning the government’s loyalty. Clearly, McCarthyism resulted in individuals becoming unemployed to turn Americans against

Read More
382 Words | 2 Pages

The Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union had major effects on many regions in the world. After World War II came to an end the United States and Soviet Union started to show differences which turned into conflicts affecting not only both sides but many other regions in the world. Countries started to take sides either communist or non-communist (Doc1). As Winston Churchill describes it as The Iron Curtain Over Eastern Europe (OI). The city of East Berlin in Germany had the dose of communism in that Soviet Russia controlled the sector (3a).

Read More
570 Words | 3 Pages

In WW2 the United States and the Soviet Union were allies. So what caused all this tension and rivalry between them in the first place? That eventually led to the Cold War. There were three main reasons that I believe were the stepping stones to this, difference in government, distrust and anger. At the time Russia was a Communist country meaning that no one owns land, or their own property, and instead of like the US where some people are more wealthy than others, everyone is at the same level.

Read More
493 Words | 2 Pages

After World War two the U.S. and the Soviet Union initially had an ideology and political rivalry between the United States and USSR that gave way to the start of the Cold War. This period was known as the Cold War because there was no large-scale fighting between the two superpowers. The Cold War impacted more than world events and U.S. foreign policy, It impacted U.S. domestic policy and American society because after WW ll the U.S. decided to spend 64% of the money more on military defenses than education. They had also taken away the freedom of speech, took away passports, it was a struggle for Paul during this time in June 1956.

Read More
720 Words | 3 Pages

Imagine the wicked House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) arrest an innocent man. The HUAC does not arrest the man because he has committed a murder, but because he is a communist. Many communists became victims of HUAC in the Red Scare crisis of the 1950s. These communists made the right decision to speak out for their freedom and against injustice. These communists also spoke out for their freedom of different beliefs.

Read More
3563 Words | 15 Pages

However, newly released archival materials such as the Venona intercepts show the extent of Communist subversion in pre- and post-war America. There were indeed hundreds of Communists working for Moscow, directly or indirectly, in the United States during the Roosevelt and Truman administrations. The problem that plagued Joe McCarthy was that by the time he surfaced with his accusations in the 1950’s, the key Soviet spy networks had all been closed down. For decades, many people believed that anyone who was accused of being a spy for the Soviets in the '50s was in fact just another innocent victim of the McCarthy’s witch hunt. Although it is true that McCarthy’s witch hunt did ruin the lives of innocent people, the fact is there were witches to be hunted and there had been a threat national security presented by communist spying and subversion in the 1940’s.

Read More
972 Words | 4 Pages

The Cold War essentially began due to political and military clashes between the two countries. After WW2, the United States sought for stronger united Germany and independent nations in Eastern Europe. The United States president

Read More
790 Words | 4 Pages

The near crippling panic following the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet Union (Modern day Russia), is known as the “Red Scare”. The “Red Scare” was solely based on a government official, Joseph R. McCarthy, accusing members of the opposing force, left-wing liberals, of being communist spies from the Soviet Union. These unsupported accusations made against someone or a group is also known as McCarthyism. These accusations against other members of the government sparked a wildfire of fear among civilian life within the US. This ever growing fear of communism invading the american way of life was implanting paranoia within the nation’s people on a private and public level.

Read More
231 Words | 1 Pages

Sam Robert’s article, “A Decade of Fear” explains how McCarthyism turned Americans against each other by spreading the fear of Communism. Senator McCarthy informed the citizens of America about Communist spies deep within our government on February 10, 1950. He states “ I have here in hand list of 205-a list of names that were made known to the secretary of state as being a member of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the state Department.” This quote proves that McCarthy did infact say to the public that there were Communist spies in the United States. It spread fear into the citizens because they were afraid that the country will turn Communist because of the Russian spies in the government.

Read More
608 Words | 3 Pages

The Soviet Union was on the verge of a nuclear war, so McCarthy put fear in everyone because no one had any idea who was a communist and who was not. He made everyone afraid to trust people, even the friends other had. They were afraid that they would be accused

Read More
1181 Words | 5 Pages

During this time period the United States faced many things. They dealt with spies, and being accused of being a spy, to the Vietnam War, and the tragic deaths that came along with the fight. People during the beginning of this time period lived in fear. They were living in a time were McCarthyism was a large part of the American people’s lives. Though McCarthyism was short lived, the Cold War continued between the United States and Russia.

Read More
738 Words | 3 Pages

Sam Robert in the article, A Decade of Fear, argues that Americans turned against each other because of McCarthyism. Robert supports his claim by explaining, contrasting, and demonstrating the effects that McCarthyism had on humanity. The author’s purpose is to persuade in order to convince the reader that McCarthyism sparked betrayal and fear among Americans. The author writes in a tone for his educated audience. I strongly agree with Robert’s claim.

Read More
489 Words | 2 Pages

The House Committee on Un-American Activities’ (HUAC) investigation in the 1950s accused figures who exercised their freedom of speech, leading to mistrust between the citizens and government, thus proving those in power have the tendency to abuse it and citizens must be vigilant in speaking up against the government. HUAC’s role was to investigate communist infiltration in the government and social figures. In the questioning of Arthur Miller, the officials of HUAC believed that since Miller believed it was socially acceptable to write about communism, he was directly supporting and encouraging it. Miller was outraged at this accusation, and expressed to HUAC the fault in their accusation by saying, “You fail to draw a line between advocacy and essence. Our law is based upon acts, not thought”.

Read More

More about Cold War DBQ

Open Document