In 1950 the McCarran Internal Security Act passed and required communist organizations to publish their records, and register with the government. When the Soviets successfully detonated a nuclear weapon in 1949, it took America by surprise. The speed at which Soviet technology was advancing drew suspicion to a conspiracy that American atomic secrets were handed over to the Soviets. These fears were found to be true in 1950 and masterminded by members of the Communist Party Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. On April 5, 1951 the Rosenberg’s were found guilty and sentenced to death.
To what extent did the nuclear arms race make the world a more dangerous place in the years 1949-63? The arms race arguably made the world a more dangerous place, the word ‘dangerous’ could be defined as an unsafe threat to the world and human population. This was demonstrated through the tests of ‘brinkmanship' in the Cuban missile crisis. The increased spending, in order to impress the ‘third world', leading to new delivery systems, such as the ICBM's in 1957, the destructive power of the new H-bomb and Lithium bomb. However, the arms race acted as a strong deterrent through promise of 'Mutually Assured Destruction' and also creating a limited war due to the capacity of the nuclear weapons.
When I hear the word war, the things that first come out in my mind were destructions, deaths, famine, guns and terrors. If we are going to look back in our history, a lot of wars had happened. One of those was “the bombing of Pearl Harbor drew ire of the people of the United States. The bombing was regarded as treacherous, and it was just a matter of time that the Americans would declare war against Japan.” (Muhi and Maguigad 169) The US – Japan war was one of the most known destructive wars. It greatly affects the life of the Japanese and the other nationalist because the missile that was launched emits radiation which affects lots of people.
How far was the nuclear arms race a threat to world peace 1949-1963? The period of 1949 to 1963 saw increasing developments in nuclear technology by the Soviet Union and the Americans. The word ‘race’ meant that both superpowers aimed to match each other and gain the upper hand in terms of nuclear missile technology. Nuclear arms were seen as a form of scare tactic against the opposition as they both felt threatened by each other’s ideological capabilities. It was also used as a defence mechanism in case of future attack.
Such a poor choice this was, to split the nuclei of atoms. When the U.S. developed the first atomic bomb in the 1940s, other countries soon followed. Relations with Russia had been strained since the 1890s, even as allies in the second world war, and as the United States and then Soviet Union began building stockpiles of nuclear weapons, tension broke out again. “"Cold war" is the term given to the competition, conducted through means short of direct military conflict, between the United States and the Soviet Union since World War II.”(Foner, p. 1). The threat of “mutually assured destruction” kept everyone on edge during this time, and has since lessened since the fall of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War.
An analysis of “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury through the historical/biographical and psychoanalytic lenses suggests that the story is really about the negative ramifications of technology on human lives. When looking at “The Veldt” through the historical lens, the story is about the fear that people felt towards technology as a result of the Cold War. The time during the Cold War was filled with fear and hatred which remained after World War II. Things such as The Red Scare and fear of a nuclear war posed a threat to people which resulted in a state of fear being developed. In his article, “Cold War,” David Snead talks about the events that took place during the time of the Cold War.
(Rodreyer, Smith) The creation of the bomb was considered by many scientists during the 1930’s and 1940’s. Mainly because It was thought that another force would be creating a mass destructive device similar to what the scientists had in mind. This whole project took a course of several years and much dedication. This project is known as, “The Manhattan Project.” The Manhattan Project was the code name for the U.S. creation of the atomic bomb during World War Two. An atomic bomb is a powerful explosive weapon that derives its force from the sudden release of energy in a nuclear reaction called fission, or splitting, of the nuclei of such heavy elements as plutonium and uranium.
Moreover this distrust would lead to long-term attitude problems between Truman and Stalin, and would follow up to plans such as the atomic bomb that would disrupt this relationship further. The second reason for change between the USA and Soviet Union relations was the atomic bomb. On July 16 1945, the USA successfully tested an atomic bomb at a desert site in the USA. This is an important factor because it meant that the USA had an extremely powerful weapon over the Soviet Union, and therefore would be able to use this in order to manipulate the Soviet Union, if Stalin were to ever try make any
A great deal of the American public became extremely paranoid, and the general atmosphere of the era was nihilistic due to fear of Communist infiltration. McCarthy successfully exploited the relevant situation in order to rise in power; he became considerably popular in the media and gained a reputation as a fear monger. Therefore, when television reporter Edward R. Murrow of See It Now gradually exposed McCarthy for his unethical use of the media, he was commonly viewed as the only one brave enough to speak out against him. The plan worked, but at a great cost. McCarthy eventually lost much of his power, but due to financial troubles with NBC, See It Now was discontinued.
From the down fall of World War II, a major mid-life crisis; you could call it, began with an eye opening development of a relationship between the Soviet Union and America. It was compressed as American citizens were in fear of communist attack and the fear of Russia’s fear of America’s atomic bomb. This began the Cold War. It then trailed off to many different minor military tension and uncertainty, leading to the Berlin Blockade, Berlin Wall, The Iron Curtain, Bay of Pigs and one of the most famous, ‘The Cuban Missile Crisis’. The following paragraphs summarizes up an essay relating and analyzing the events that took place between 1945 and 1962 period and how it affected the world’s views on Europe and the publics view.