Cold War: summary of the opposition between the United States of America and the Soviet Union and the new balances that were created after the Second World War
Cold War: summary of the opposition between the Soviet Union and the United States of America – Source: Istock
THE COLD WAR: SUMMARY
The conflict which, in the immediate postwar period, divided the two powers, the United States of America and the Soviet Union , assumed a total character: it was an ideological, strategic, political and economic conflict . The democrat Harry Truman , president from 1945 to 1953, was the architect of a political line tending to the retreat of communism in the world , in which both the Marshall plan of aid to Europe, extended worldwide with the program called the “Fourth point “, and the Atlantic pact of military alliance of Western countries ( NATO ). The climate ofThe quasi-religious opposition that reigned in the years of the so-called Cold War also infected domestic American politics, with the anti-communist campaign ( McCarthyism , from the name of its promoter, Senator Joseph McCarthy), which affected above all artists, intellectuals and trade unionists. In Korea , Truman did not hesitate to send an expeditionary force to drive back the communist forces from the South: the resulting war also involved the USSR and China and constituted the first episode of regional conflict fought with the direct intervention of the superpowers .
EISENHOWER AND COLD WAR
Truman’s successor, Dwight David Eisenhower , ruled between 1952 and 1960, in a period of contradictions: on the one hand, the economy reached record levels , showing Americans how the capitalist system allowed millions of people to achieve well-being and to increase consumption; on the other, racial conflicts emerged that seemed to belong to the past. Serious riots brought to light the issue of blacks, who denounced racial discrimination and the poverty of their living conditions. In foreign policy, Eisenhower extended the American military presence in Asia , providing military aid to Laosand sponsoring the constitution of SEATO (military organization for the defense of non-communist countries in Southeast Asia). During the Suez crisis (1956) he held a prudent conduct which in fact denied the military action of Anglo-French force, conceived in response to the nationalization of the canal by Egypt , but suspended the financial aid promised to President Nasser.
KENNEDY AND COLD WAR
The electoral program baptized ” New frontier ” with which John F. Kennedy won the elections of 1960, the result of collaboration with democratic intellectuals, raised hopes at home and in the world because it indicated the need to bridge the gap between rich and poor countries. and to improve international relations. Once president, Kennedy supported the establishment of the Peace Corps (associations of volunteers committed to development in Third World countries ), launched the ” Alliance for Progress ” plan, to help the Latin American economy, and measures for the integration of blacks, strongly supported by his brother Robert, then Minister of Justice. Precisely in Latin America, in Cuba, Kennedy drew his attention fearing that the Castro revolution would open the doors to an outpost of communism , as dangerous the closer it was to the American borders. When the threat materialized with the installation of Soviet missiles, Kennedy decreed the blockade of the island , challenging the Soviet reaction. The withdrawal of the missiles from Cuba averted what appeared to be the threat of a third world war.
COLD WAR: THE POLICY OF PRESIDENT LYNDON B. JOHNSON
Kennedy’s death (1963), in an attack carried out in Dallas (Texas) in circumstances never fully understood, led to the presidency Lyndon B. Johnson , who extended the policy of racial integration, troubled by serious riots that upset some great city and the assassination of black leader Martin Luther King (1968). Under Johnson’s presidency, American engagement in Indochina grew considerably and bombings of North Vietnamese cities also began ( Vietnam War). But the unpopularity of the war, against which the protest of the pacifists rose with resonance in Western public opinion, and the awareness of not being able to resolve it militarily led to start negotiations for an agreed solution. Meanwhile, in July 1969, NASA successfully launched the Apollo 11 lunar mission , carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin Eugene Aldrin and Michael Collins.
