In early February of 1945 Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, and Franklin D. Roosevelt met to make a plan for the postwar world. This was called the Yalta Conference, and because of it the world was set up for a confrontation that would last for 45 years. As a result of this conference the Soviets gained most of Eastern Europe and half of Germany, and the Allied powers kept control of all of Western Europe and the other half of Germany. The Soviets gained a lot of power from this conference and used it in hostile ways, such that in the US the tensions were high and fear of communism was growing. US citizens felt as if communism could take away their right to life and liberty, and this was reflected in the acts of the government. The rivalry …show more content…
During the outbreak of the Cold War, the US was affected in its domestic and foreign policy through a culture of fear and the subsequent need to contain communism through military, economic, and social policy measures. During the beginning of the Cold War the US was affected greatly in its domestic policy. The red scare is a term that describes the hysteria about the perceived threat of communism in the US during the outbreak of the Cold War. In the US there was a huge panic about communism destroying the American way of life. People felt that the fate of the world was unknown as “Nobody knows what Soviet Russia and its communist international organization intends to do in the immediate future, or what are the limits” (Document A). As a reaction to this new fear of communism, programs such as the Employee Loyalty Program instituted …show more content…
After the Yalta Conference, Winston Churchill stated that, “this is certainly not the liberated Europe we fought to build up. Nor is it one which contains the essentials of permanent peace” (Document A). The US knew that the, “Soviet policy... [would] be directed toward weakening of power and influence and contacts of advanced Western nations” (Document B) and that something had to be done to stop the spread of communism. The US felt that communism could be a threat to the peace of the world and capitalism so they needed to show that they would take any measure to stop the spread of communism. This led to efforts such as the Berlin Airlfit where the US sent supplies to thousands of East Berliners who were suffering to drum up support for the US in a communist state. Also to stop the spread of communism the US implemented the Marshall Plan where $13 billion dollars would be given to Western European countries to rebuild democratic government’s. The US held the position that “the United States should do whatever it is able to do to assist in the return of normal economic health in the world, without which there can be no political stability and no assured peace” (Document C). During this time China also fell to communism, which was a crushing blow to the democratic side of the world. The US government and General MacArthur felt that “There are those who claim our strength is