The Cold War saw rising tensions between the United States and USSR after WWII. The US pursued a policy of containment to prevent the spread of communism, leading to a nuclear arms race. This arms buildup and fear of nuclear war had profound impacts on American society. Ultimately, President Reagan's military investments bankrupted the USSR, bringing the Cold War to an end.

1. The Cold War Through The American
Eyes
Riley Chickering
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2. Background Information:
WW2
• During WW2, the United States & USSR actually fought together as allies
against the Germans, Italians, and Japanese (Axis).
• The United States & USSR had very tense relations.
• As Americans, we were extremely concerned about Stalin & Communism.
• We feared Stalin was seeking world power (Tyranny).
Public Domain
Joseph Stalin

3. Containment
• American Diplomat & Historian George F. Kennan presented his idea of
containment in 1946.
• The idea of Containment was to keep the idea of communism from
spreading. The USSR was trying to spread communism which scared
Americans very much.
• President Harry Truman, in front of Congress in 1947 said “It must be the
policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting
attempted subjugation by outside pressures.
Public Domain
George Kennan

4. Red Scare
• In 1947 the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC)
began investigating communist activity in the United States!
• More than 500 people lost their jobs in Hollywood because
HUAC suspected them of Communist activity.
• The HUAC later accused State Department workers of being
communists as well.
• The HUAC was so scared of a potential rise in communism,
that they were willing to ruin the lives of many innocent
people!

5. McCarthyism
• Joseph McCarthy was a United States Senator of Wisconsin from 1947
until 1957.
• Joseph McCarthy claimed he had a list of over 50 federal government
employees who were engaging in Communist activities.
• The idea of McCarthyism is making accusations of treason without having
proper evidence.
• Joseph McCarthy had many followers, and it was widely believed that
America was infiltrated with communist activity.
Public Domain
Senator Joseph McCarthy

6. The Arms Race
• Starting in 1950, it became a widely popular idea that expanding our
militaries force was a key part to containment.
• The most common idea for creating a stronger military was to develop
more atomic bombs like the ones used in WW2.
• In 1949, the USSR tested an atom bomb of their own, starting the “Arms
Race.”
• President Truman the announced he was going to build an even more
destructive bomb, the hydrogen bomb. Naturally, Stalin built a hydrogen
bomb of his own.
• The first testing of the Hydrogen bomb created a 25 square mile ball of fire
that completely destroyed one of the Marshall Islands.

7. Impacts Of The Arms Race
• As a result of all this new found destructive power, American lives were
greatly impacted.
• Americans lived in fear of a nuclear war.
• Many built bomb shelters in their backyards.
• Attack drills were practiced in schools and public places regularly.
• Americans saw what happened to Hiroshima & Nagasaki. They feared the
same could happen to America.
Hiroshima & Nagasaki
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8. Mutually Assured Destruction
• Mutually Assured Destruction is one of the main reasons
nuclear fire power was never actually used during the Cold
War.
• Mutually Assured Destruction is the idea that if one of the
countries was to fire a nuclear missile, the other country
would fire back. Thus, both countries would be hit. In other
words, both sides knew they couldn’t fire because they would
then in turn be fired upon.

9. The Cold War In Space
• On October 4, 1957, the USSR launched the first artificial satellite into
space (Sputnik).
• Americans were shocked by this and were not very pleased that the USSR
had beaten us to space.
• In 1958, the United States launched a satellite named Explorer 1. This
started what was known as the “Space Race.”
• On July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong became the first man to step foot on the
moon.
Neil Armstrong
Public Domain

10. President Nixon’s Efforts
• President Nixon took a very different approach to the Cold War. He
thought that containment was a poor idea, and that the US should make
peace with the USSR.
• In 1972, the US and USSR agreed to and signed the Strategic Arms
Limitation Treaty (SALT). This treaty put a stop to the manufacturing of
nuclear fire power, reducing the threat of a nuclear war.
President Nixon
Public Domain

11. Ronald Reagan
• President Ronald Reagan re-ignited the Cold War when he entered the
oval office.
• He believed that if communism spread, it would jeopardize the freedom of
everyone.
• President Reagan decided to put less time into creating nuclear missiles,
and more time into stopping them.
• He created a system called STAR WARS, which was a missile defense
system that shot nuclear missiles out of the sky far before it reached the
United States.

12. America Wins The War!!!
• With this new defense system in place the USSR didn’t know what to
do.
• The USSR decided they needed to put even more money and more
resources into building as many missiles as they could.
• The USSR was already having economic problems, and putting more
money towards nuclear fire power did not help their economic state.
• By 1991, the USSR had run itself bankrupt, and completely collapsed.
Thus ending the Cold War.
• Every communist state in the area ended up replacing it’s government
with a non communist government! The United States had succeeded!

13. Sources
• https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/US_Flag_Backlit.jpg
• https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/CroppedStalin1943.jpg
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Stalin#/media/File:Communist_star.svg
• https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Kennan.jpeg
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_McCarthy#/media/File:Joseph_McCarthy.jpg
• https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Atomic_bombing_of_Japan.jpg
• https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0d/Neil_Armstrong_pose.jpg/804px-
Neil_Armstrong_pose.jpg
• https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RichardNixon.jpg
• "Cold War History." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2015.
• "Strategic Defense Initiative." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 28 Sept. 2015.