Another perspective, the Revisionist view initiated by the historian William Appleman Willams regards that the American’s attitude to dispense their ideology of capitalism as well as their tactics in using military means to dominate with world trade was the cause. On the other hand, historians such as John Lewis Gaddis follow a Post-Revisionist view that suggests neither countries were to blame and in fact the breakdown of relations was due to the misunderstandings during a period of mass “growing sense of insecurity” and acted upon failure to acknowledged each others fears. However, it is possible to suggest that one country is held responsible for the origins of the Cold War through the occurrences during this time. This discussion will outline these factors by debating the validity of the question in whether or not it was the Soviet’s attitude and involvement that were to blame. In February 1945 at the Yalta Conference which involved the “Big Three” displayed the highpoint of an inter-allied cooperation.
When Communism became something real and physical, America felt their economy was even more endangered, concerned that it would spread to them and destroy what they had. Communism and Capitalism are opposite concepts, and so the Americans greatly feared Communism, something that put, what they considered to be, an excellent society in jeopardy. A drastic change was too large for them to cope with, and was one they saw as negative, fearful it would result in the deconstruction of a stable society. There will always be an inevitable conflict when Communism and Capitalism are pitched against each other, and so the Americans felt threatened by this. The West felt threatened by Communism too because it caused Russia to pull out of the war, thus losing them a good ally.
• Did the NEP really fail or did it suit Stalin to make it look as though it had? (Scissor Crisis)Look at statistics to see how far production increased during the NEP • Was the change due to economic circumstances (e.g. need for self-sufficiency; grain procurement crisis)? • Or did he have other motives e.g. political (defeat of the right –Bukharin), • Ideological (NEP hated by communists; class war against the kulaks; socialism in one country), • Strategic (i.e.
In the 1950's, however, people were terrified of the red Communists coming to take over their beloved country. Senator McCarthy was the one taking out other people in the govornment that he suspected to be a communist via inprisonment. The witch trials and McCarthyism started differently as well, for one started with a group of young girls' voodoo practice and the other started when senator McCarthy was trying to win an election and took advantage of the peoples feelings toward the "Red scare." A lot of the evil things McCarthyism did were private and behind closed govornment doors. During the Salem Witch Trials the accused people were forced to make a public confession and be killed in front of their family and friends.
In order to fight the Cold War, President Harry S Truman oversaw a revolution in American foreign policy. Characterized by policies and institutions such as the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, NATO, and the Berlin airlift, the strategy of containment redefined liberal internationalism and involved the United States in the world as never before. Despite such programs, however, the Communists made gains in atomic weapons, propaganda, Europe, and China in the late 1940s. In 1950, NSC 68 — primarily and theoretically — and Korea secondarily and practically — confirmed for Truman what he already believed: In the end, the Cold War would be won or lost on moral grounds. But he could not turn to the United Nations for moral authority, since
Americans were easily influenced by propaganda and rumors, the line between fake and fact became unclear. The 1950s was a time of fear. The greatest and most prevalent source of fear came from the threat communism. This fear infiltrated every aspect of American life—from international politics to the press and media. The driving force of this fear and its effects
The hearings of Senator Joe McCarthy also utilize mob psychology for the benefit of an individual. McCarthy uses the fear of an attack by the Communist Soviet Union to build up hype in order to develop his political career. This fear that, 'in America, any man who is reactionary in his views is open to the charge of alliance with the Red hell' (1052), is an example of the fears people have of Communist infiltration. The 'Red hell' mentioned by the narrator is the Communist Party, and during the 1950s, one would be tried for treason if he or she is accused of being affiliated with this unfavorable party. The reaction of the people to this hype is just as McCarthy expects.
So he brought in a New look to U.S national security. The main points of this New Look were “(1) maintaining the vitality of the U.S. economy while still building sufficient strength to prosecute the Cold War; (2) relying on nuclear weapons to deter Communist aggression or, if necessary, to fight a war; (3) using the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to carry out secret or covert actions against governments or leaders "directly or indirectly responsive to Soviet control"; and (4) strengthening allies and winning the friendship of nonaligned governments.” (“American President A Reference Resource”, 5) He was always making sure that the United States did not fall back into a depression so even though there was a high spending for U.S security it never fell 50 percent of his budget. This was impressive because he did balance three of the eight federal budgets. The President put great effort to keep his promise to the American people to end the Korean War. In doing so, he went to Korea just after he was elected to see if he could see a solution in ending the war, but no solution was found.
Aside from the general aspects of the doctrine, Truman used it as a platform to validate a large economic aid program. This is the primary example of Truman using economic tactics to bring the Western World together; this plan eventually failed and grew into a military approach. Through a classified document written during the Cold War (which became declassified in 1975) it became clear that the United States was scheming to create a war all along. They believed the best course of action to take is a response of an incredible buildup of the military. This NSC-68 document made it clear that “it was us against
On his show February 5 2009 Stephen Colbert joked about the stimulus plan. He stated "the stimulus bill i going to pay back Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's election campaign." Though this might be humous we have to remember that some people can not separate between what is real and what is supposed to be a joke. Which is why this distorts the image of the