Cold War Liberalism Essay

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Cold War liberalism was an important way of thought and political belief that began at the end of WWII. This term was used to describe liberal politicians who believed in achieving civil rights and inclusion for all non-whites, but they did not want to take political risks to achieve this. Though Cold War Liberalism helped America in certain ways, it did not satisfy all the demands of inclusion. Cold War Liberalism specifically encountered problems with race, class, and gender. In terms of race, Cold War Liberalism only supported the Civil Rights Movement to a certain extent and it most certainly did not support the Black Panther Movement. With class, Cold War Liberalism only seemed to be helping white middle-class citizens, but they were still …show more content…

Cold War Liberalism did not believe that radical changes were needed to be made but they supported new government programs. These programs “supported the aid for education and housing, gradual progress in civil rights, and aggressive military containment of communism abroad” (The Movements of the New Left 5). Though Cold War liberalism supported change, they implemented no means to achieve it. They emphasized that they wanted to achieve civil rights for all individuals but did not want to take political risks to achieve this goal. Essentially, Cold War Liberalism was the creation of the Democratic Party and some Republicans who wanted to defend and extend the New Deal (C.D. 10-26-16). Cold War Liberalism was limited to what they could accomplish because of those who supported this movement. At that time, the Democratic party was split into two factions, on one hand, was the Northern liberals but on the other side was Southern white conservatives. These Southern conservatives were not supportive of great changes, especially in terms of race because they did not believe in full racial equality. According to the National Review, white individuals firmly believed that they were the superior race and would “take whatever measures necessary to make certain that [they have] its way” (The Rise of Conservatism in America 52). Therefore, the Democratic Party needed to appease all their supporters to a certain extent to ensure their people were put in government