The Cold War Influence on America Politics, Economy and Culture - Essay Sample

Introduction

The cold war is a marked by a period between 1946 -1919, a period that fell shortly after the Second World War. The cold war was caused by a drift in differences between the Soviet Union and the United States during the world war two. The two political groups had two diverse ideologies of which the Soviet Union ideology was communism and authoritarianism while the United States was democracy and capitalism (Shi and Tindall, 931). The two political rivals had a wide following each not only within their nation's locality but also across the world. The Americans were motivated to ensure communism failed not only in the United States but across the world. Comparing the cold war with prior wars, such as World War 1 and 2. The cold war was more of propaganda war than a military conflict. Although the cold war had military wars such as Vietnam and Korea featured, the war did not escalate much (Shi and Tindall 951). The cold war also is recognized for its massive influence on United States culture, economy and politics than any other battle experienced before. In this case, the cultural, economic and political impact of cold war on the United States will be explored.

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As stated earlier United States promoted capitalism which deal with the introduction of the free market Capitalism saw its ideology as a way of allowing its citizen to be free, and innovative. The communist, on the other hand, was viewed by the American as oppressive. Although each had its strength and weakness, the capitalist United States defied odds and evolved to be a world economic superpower a position the state has dominated over the years. The nation capability to emerge as an economic superpower has made the spread of the national ideology worldwide convincingly than the communists. The success, therefore, can be seen as a weapon of silence to the Soviet Union. The national financial capability led to the nation ability to boost its military as much of the wealth acquired were used to equip the military an also to support its allies (Shi and Tindall, 941)

Racism was a problem in the United States during and before the cold war. The black man in the United States was still being regarded as a second-class citizen and had minimal privileges (Shi and Tindall, 943). The propaganda of United State capitalism and democracy had the government and the state as whole to evaluate their policies. The country knows that to bring freedom to others across the world they needed to give freedom to their people. Enslavement was highly discouraged in this era, and people were rallied to allow every member of the state to operate freely as other American citizens without looking down on color. Significant cultural changes, as a result, were experienced in this era as politics, education, employment and other areas that the black people and other minority experienced segregation were made available for all people (Shi and Tindall 971). In a letter written by the first African American White House staff member Frederic Morrow, the problem of racial injustice was a problem to United States ideology, and the racial inequality problem caused the government many criticisms and narrowing the United States agenda from gaining strong grounds locally and internationally (Dwight, "Civil Rights - Emmett Till Case.", p n). The presentation of such issues in this era paved the ground for more cases of racial equality in United States

The most significant threat in America was communism and the government of the time was willing to do anything possible to stop the sprout of communism. The film producers were rallied to make films that had anticommunist, and any suspected communist were subjected to harsh judgment (Shi and Tindall. 956). According to the secretary of state in 1954, any possible mechanism whether military of self-mechanism was to be mobilized and submitted to any communist activist or group in the United States. Such mandate gave people power to execute judgment based on self-decision. The power was however, highly misused as there was no limitation (Shi and Tindall, 956). There was also the introduction of massive retaliatory authority. The massive retaliatory authority granted by the government was effective in eradicating communist people in the United States. The massive retaliatory force was not only applied in the United States but all other states that were close allies of USA (John, "The Evolution of Foreign Policy," Before the Council of Foreign Relations, p n).

Conclusion

Politically the cold war paved the way for the United States to gain colonies in other parts of the world. After World War 2 many European colonies left their territories and this created a vacuum of power in the decolonized states. The United States with it ideology of democracy spearheaded their intention to spread their ideologies in this nation, and a good example was Eastern Europe states. Although the Soviet Union showed interest in the decolonized countries most of the communist nations were weak due to the prior wars. They choose not to compete with the United States, which had shown considerable superiority in battle at that time and they left most of the states to be influenced by the United States ideologies primarily in Eastern Europe (Shi and Tindall, 931). The United States political superiority in this era was highly recognized, and as a result, many European states mainly from the East of Europe were willing to join forces with the United States in the fight against the Soviets propaganda. As a result of significant pacts such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, agreements that remain firm up-to-date (Shi and Tindall, 938).

Although the United States has managed to identify massive changes that were triggered by the cold war politically, economically and socially the differences between the two groups continue to course extreme tension worldwide. It is necessary therefore, for the two groups to bridge the gap by acknowledging the merits in each ideology to minimize the stress.

Works Cited

John Foster Dulles, "The Evolution of Foreign Policy," Before the Council of Foreign Relations, New York, N.Y., Department of State, Press Release No. 81 (January 12, 1954).

Dwight D. Eisenhower Library and Museum "Civil Rights - Emmett Till Case." Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Digital Documents Project. http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/dl/Civil_Rights_Emmett_Till_Case/EmmettTillCase.htmlShi and Tindall, "America": The Essential Learning Edition, Volume Two