The American People in the Aftermath of the Second World War

Cameron A. Rogers

APUSH: DBQ

March 18, 2013

What were the Cold War fears of the American people in the aftermath of the Second World War?

How successfully did the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower address these fears?

After the Second World War fear of atomic bombs, arms race and eventually space race led to rise in McCarthyism, which is the practice of accusing people of suspected Communism ran among the nation. Truman had particular policy of "containment" of Communism, and recognized in what is now called the Truman Doctrine, and that President Truman requested Congress to support nations, -- mainly Greece and Turkey-- in crisis of communist defiance by the Soviets. In addition, George Marshall developed the Marshall Plan, in which streams billions of dollars into non-communist European countries that were being rebuilt after the World War II. The United States tried to do as much as attainable to prevent the spread of Communism to Asia; however, they couldn't prevent China from descending under Communism.

Eisenhower Policy was known as the "brinksmanship," this is the push aggressor nations to brinks of nuclear war, thus forcing them to back down when they realize the nobility of the United States. "We fear the men in the Kremlin we fear what they will o to our friends around the; we are fearing what unwise investigators will do to us here at home as they try to combat subversions of bribery or deceit within," (Doc A.) To help with this belief from Eisenhower helped establish Convert Actions, where CIA staged coups which led to returning the Shah to Iran, and overthrow of a government in Guatemala, of which the American-based United Fruit Company played a large role. Meanwhile, when Hungarians overthrew a 'puppet' Soviet government, new leader Nikita Khrushchev called for the re-takeover of Hungary. The United States refused to help, fearing World War II. The policy of brinksmanship did not work for smaller countries under Soviet influence. Eisenhower did not start World War II, nor did the Soviets take over the world, so in that sense, his policies weren't an entire failure. His ideas now seem considerably idealistic.