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Cold War Politics

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The Cold War soon begins after the end of WW2 when Truman, the successor of Roosevelt became president in 1945 due to ideological differences between the two superpowers, United States and the Soviet Union. The Cold War had a massive impact on US politics as could be seen through the creation of political consensus between the Republican and Democrats in relation to the policy of containment that includes the Marshall plan, the establishment of the NATO, the NSC-68 report and also the Truman Doctrine as the response of George Kennan’s containment theory, which caused US politics to be specifically targeted at the Soviet Union. While there are political consensus to contain Communism, the Cold War had primarily polarised politics when McCarthy …show more content…

The Cold War had greatly influenced the result of the Congressional elections and Presidential election with regards to the Red Scare. The Second Red Scare began as the Cold War intensified in the late 1940s and early 1950s, that represented the widespread concern Americans had towards the fear of Communists subversion within the government and society, which led to a range of actions including McCarthyism and the HUAC with the role of Senator Joseph McCarthy impact in American Politics being the most notable and significant. Soon after defeating the Democratic party in the 1946 Wisconsin U.S. Senate Election through his smear campaign, Senator McCarthy was being advised by anti-communist name Edmund Walsh to capitalise on Americans' fear of Communists and by February 9 1950 he claimed that he had a list of 205 people in the State Department who were known members of the American …show more content…

Furthermore, McCarthy had also helped to defeat a number of liberal Democrats, including Adlai Stevenson and Harry S. Truman in the November 1952 Presidential elections with the help of the Republican party accusing Truman for being “soft” towards Communists. This is significant as even McCarthy had reached his downfall when he overreached his power with his investigation against officials in the U.S army, he had severely damaged the Democratic party as the Republican had gained substantial power due to his effort and even managed to gain congressional power in the November 1952 congressional elections and contributed to the victory of the 1952 presidential election.

To conclude, the Cold War had hugely affected US politics towards the Soviet Union through prioritizing the containment of the spread of the Communism and while the fear of communist had create some consensus between the Republicans and Democrats towards the policy of containment under the influence of Domino theory, it had primarily polarised politics in a way that favours the Republicans by granting them victory in various general elections and congressional elections and eventually the presidential election in

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