Second World War Dbq Analysis

After the second world war, the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union quickly deteriorated as the lack of trust between their leaders and political systems increased. This ultimately caused the world war, which endured through the late 20th century. Immediately following the war, Americans immediately began to fear the spread of communism, and this angst reflected into the arms race that was developing during this time. President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s foreign policies however, were unsuccessful in calming the fears of his American people. The Eisenhower administration was able to somewhat ease American frenzy but failed to make peace with the Soviets or prevent the spread of communism, which was the center of Americans’

And mistrust had reached an all time high in the U.S.. Americans feared that if “communism captures any American State” it would “increase the danger to the entire free world... [and] endanger the peace of America” (document B). Ever since John Winthrop’s speech “City Upon a Hill,” which had outlined American superiority, Americans became hysterical that the United States’ superiority in its way of life might be ruined by the very real threat of communism, seeing as it had already spread into Eastern Europe. The rise of McCarthyism, a time in which Senator McCarthy accused American citizens of being communists, directly reflected the fears listed above. If this had taken place in any other situation, McCarthy’s accusation would have been dismissed being that they had little to no evidence to back them up, however, it continued for many years. With the given success of McCarthyism, it was believed that Communists had already infiltrated the American government and could destroy the America’s way of

had one of two options to calm American anxieties: to contain communism or make peace with the soviet union. They did neither. The Eisenhower administration did very little to establish the safety of Americans to reduce the “multiplicity of fears” (Document A) which was left gripping the U.S. As seen in Document C, Eisenhower created fallout shelters in case of a nuclear attack. He was committed to protecting American safety, which can be seen in document H due to the increased federal spending. However, Eisenhower failed miserably with foreign affairs and as a result, was forced to take full responsibility for the incident in which a U.S. plane flew over the Soviet Union which persuaded then Soviet leader, Khrushchev, to withdraw from their Paris peace talks. And with the making of Fidel Castro’s communist government in Cuba, it was established that the United States could not contain communism in Europe. So, as they failed to make peace and contain communism, they failed to address the fears of their American people. Leaving them unsatisfied with his presidency and further electing John F. Kennedy, who would “oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty…” (Document