All About the Cold War

Written by: Anna Pafenberg

After WWII, Americans were fearful of communist powers. Countries such as Russia especially were a large threat, but why did we go to war? Actually, there were no weapons fired during this time from 1947 to 1991. The ‘war’ was simply a fearful time involving nuclear weapons, other countries, and ultimately an agreement of peace between Russia and the United States.

Fresh after WWII, American hopes were running high. President Truman was running on the victory from the great war, but there was still hostility in the rest of the world. Russia had control of Satellite Countries. They were called that because they could not escape the hypothetical orbit of the Soviets. These countries were under communist rule and had harsh living conditions. In the meantime, America was looking to support any country or organization that was anti-communist. Sometimes this meant supporting dictatorships that were against communism. This ultimately caused the Vietnam War. A brutal war fought over nearly 20 years with the US supporting South Vietnam to fight the North Vietnamese communists. Truman knew that Russian soldiers were obsessed with the idea of revenge. They still controlled Berlin after the fall of Nazi Germany, and in 1948 stopped food supply trucks from coming into the West Side of the city. The United States sent in the Berlin Airlift, sending in food and materials to West Berlin. The states also sent in $13 billion to the Satellite Countries who were in need. 

When president Eisenhower was elected he believed in the Domino Theory. This was the idea that if one country fell to communism that many others would too. The main goal of the US was to keep communism contained. Because of this new era, the new way to fight wars was through nuclear warfare. Instead of weapons and combat, nuclear developments became the top priority. The US and Russia were fighting to be the first to have a nuclear missile. Also, whoever got to space first could use it to their advantage when fighting with the missiles. Thus began the nuclear arms race and space race. Russians were the first in space, but we were the first on the moon. 

The height of the Cold War was during President Kennedy’s administration. It had been discovered that Cuba had been holding Russian missiles on their land. Kennedy ordered a naval blockade and said that if any ships came close the United States would board and search the ships. This is an act of war, but the ships simply approached the others, and then backed away. This was the closest we have ever gotten to having nuclear war. Many Americans were seriously scared that it would happen. 

Ronald Reagan ended the Cold War by signing a treaty with the leader of Russia Mikhail Gorbachev called the Intermediate-Nuclear Range Treaty. This and the fall of the Berlin Wall as well as weakening Soviet power led to the end of the Cold War.