Analyse the Role of Mistrust in the Development of the Cold War Between 1953 and 1975

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Analyse the role of Mistrust in the development of the cold war between 1953 and 1975. __________________________________________________________________________ The Cold War was still in its early stages in 1953, having only really been in existence for around seven years. However, the twenty-two years between 1953 and 1975 were not only extremely significant for the United States and the Soviet Union, but also for the rest of the world. In these years, fundamental ideological differences, mutual mistrust, and often irrational fear led both nations to act in ways that heightened the tensions between the two superpowers, and pushed the world closer to all-out conflict. On many occasions, this mistrust was born from a lack of communication, and what one nation perceived as a defensive and reactionary move, the other saw as an aggressive and expansionist show of intent. For the United States, it could be argued that the famous fear and hysteria over Communism was born in 1953. On June 19 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed, after being convicted of being American Communists, and conspiring to pass information about the American Atomic Bomb to the Soviet Union. This execution was extremely important, not only because it was the first execution of civilians for espionage in United States history, but it also confirmed to all American citizens that communist spies could be anywhere in the country. This was supported by the work of Senator Joseph McCarthy, whose extensive and often criticized work in searching out Communists in the US Administration and more general society created a hysterical fear of Communism throughout America. Beginning in 1950, but continuing until 1954, McCarthy, in his role as a United States Senator, carried out a huge number of high-profile investigations into the lives of American citizens, both public and private, and

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