What Is The Theme Of Innocent Weapons By Margaret Peacock

Dr. Margaret Peacock, author of Innocent Weapons, is a history professor at the University of Alabama. Dr. Peacock looks at The Cold War from a different perspective than most; her book explains how images of children in America and the Soviet Union had massive effects on the war. She describes how emotionally charged photos of children during the war were basically used as weapons domestically and abroad. By listening to her lecture, I could see that she is greatly devoted in researching and helping people better understand how children were depicted in society during The Cold War. The Cold War could be characterized as a war of economic and political actions. Since the United States and the Soviet Union never actually opened fire on one another, there was no distinct means of reaching victory. Both these governments wanted to use the faces of innocent children to rally people to war. Soviet and American politicians worked hard to bring forth an image of a perfect Cold War child. They wanted their citizens to look at happy photos of young children so their people would want to fight in order to defend the innocent. The image of happy American or Soviet children gave reference to viewers that

Stalin, the leader of the Soviets, believed that if he could make his people think that all the children were happy and were excited about their future, then they would rally behind him. The American government was trying to do the exact same thing. They believed that if the citizens of the nation thought the children were in good condition, they would think the nation is in good condition also. This competition to rear “the perfect child” was all a ploy to get the support of more people. Each of these nations claimed that if you supported them in this war, this generation of children would be able to sustain higher quality of life than ever