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What impact did the Cold War have on American society?

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What impact did the Cold War have on American society? The Cold War started to develop after the Second World War when the USA and the USSR no longer had a common goal of Hitler's Nazism. As soon as Cold War was instigated, the differences in ideology and other factors worsened the relationship between the USA and the USSR. This meant that many events such as Cuban Missile Crisis and arms race nearly led to a hot war. As Cold War progressed until the collapse of the Soviet Union, Cold War had significant impact on American society. Firstly, Cold War instigated strong anti-communism within the USA. The hatred towards Communism was so great that it eventually led to McCarthyism. ...read more.


This red scare continued to dominate the American society until late 1950s. Secondly, Cold War made many Americans to live in fear of danger of war. This fear of war was instigated by the arms race. One example is Cuban missile crisis, which caused high tension within the USA as the missiles in Cuba could reach the USA at any time. Until the U-2 planes found the missiles in Cuba, the fear was not significant as people knew that the missiles in the USSR could not cover such long distance to reach the USA. However, the missiles in Cuba threatened the USA's security to a significant extent that many Americans had to live in fear. Although the attitude of Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) was existent, the missiles in such proximity alarmed many Americans at that time. ...read more.


The Vietnam War was very different from any other wars because it was a guerrilla war between Vietcongs. The Vietcongs had successfully planned the strategies to kill many Americans without having America's latest technology such as tanks and airplanes. As the war developed, it was estimated that it costed Americans $400,000 to kill one Viet Cong. To conclude, although the Cold War never actually led to a hot war between two major powers, the USA and the USSR, it caused massive impact upon the world, including American society. The main impacts include anti-Communism, fear of war and economic damage. Of all the impacts, I believe that anti-communism is the one that caused everlasting impact on American society. The fear of war and the economical impact had short term effect while the hatred towards communism still exists within American society. ?? ?? ?? ?? ...read more.

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