Introduction
One critical question that bogs the minds of most people when talking about the Cold War is the concern of securing the national interests of the United States. A substantial number of people argue that the Cold War, which lasted for four decades, was a contest of ideologies whereby the United States sought to spread its national interests across the globe. The development of the war had implications on the political and cultural standing of the United States.
The Cold War was an ideological war in which the United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in a war whereby each country sought to propagate its policies through the pursuance of different courses in different parts of the world. In this paper, it is argued that the nature of policy goals that were pursued in the Cold War period had implications on the political and cultural setup of the United States.
This paper discusses the Cold War. The paper seeks to explore issues surrounding the US foreign policy in the course of the war, as well as the implications of the war on the United States’ society and culture.
The Cold War marked a period in the world history after the Second World War. The two main countries that battled in the war are the United States and the Soviet Union. This war was not an actual physical battle between the two countries, but it entailed the utilization of foreign policy by both countries to advance national ideologies.
However, proxy wars were fought as the two countries applied their containment strategies in proxy nations in different regions of the world. The United States embraced the ideology of capitalism, while the Soviet Union embraced communism. At the end of the Second World War, the United States insisted on the pursuance of a course that was meant to see the world pursue self-determination and the continuity of free trade.
On the other hand, the Soviet Union focused on molding its influence on Eastern Europe and the restructuring of its economy to gain power and influence in the region and the world at large. The most critical question that rings in the mind of most people concerns the possibilities of avoiding the Cold War at that time, given the political status of the world during the post-World War II.
Most of the commentators argue that the war could not have been easily avoided, given that a political vacuum prevailed in the world after the Second World War. The United States and the Soviet Union, which were the two main powers in the bipolar world order, engaged in a battle that resulted in a unipolar state, with the United States becoming the key dominant power in the world.
According to Kennan (para. 4), one main thing in the Cold War was the application of containment strategies that were embedded in the foreign policy activities. The foreign policy of the United States, just after the end of the Second World War, was shifted to containing the Soviet Union. What ought to be asked is whether the containment strategy of the US was welcome by the citizens of the country.
The other question concerns the impact of the pursuance of the containment strategy by the United States during the Cold War on the American society. Several documents have been authored on the historical developments in the post-World War II period, which marked the period of the Cold War. Most of the documents point to the political discourse in the Cold War period. The Cold War was a political development, thus it is quite difficult to eliminate the question of political discourse when talking about the Cold War.
Arguing from the perspective of the world wars, the distribution of power was one of the main issues that shaped the developments at the international stage during the world wars. The cold war was, therefore, an extension of power politics in the international arena; only that this point in time, the power struggle shifted to two states in the world (Truman para. 1).
According to “NSC 68 and the Ideological Cold War” (591), both the United States and the Soviet Union, which were the main powers that presented a hegemonic state in the international arena, were involved in the pursuance of different policies that were aimed at consolidating power. The United States under its leaders presented issues in the foreign countries in the manner that presented the attention of its citizens and the search for support in implementing the foreign policies of the country.
An example that can be given here is the presentation of the situation in Greek by Harry Truman, the then US President. Truman argued that the situation that prevailed in Greece had implications on the national security of the United States as he addressed the US Congress. The address pointed out that the Greek government was being negatively affected by the communistic advancements, a situation that warranted the support of the United States (Truman para. 1-5).
According to Lippmann (para. 1), the policy of containment used during the Cold War period called for the use of different tactics by the players in the war. The United States was, therefore, forced to be strategic in terms of crafting and implementing its foreign policy to match the strategies of the Soviet Union.
There was an expansive pressure on the United States, which resulted from the policies of the Soviet Union. The main way through which the United States would respond to the pressure was, therefore, through the deployment of diplomatic tactics in containing the Soviet Union’s influence in the world. Foreign policies were vital in the planning and implementation of containment strategies since it authorized the actions of the US government.
This has shaped the culture of the United States in such a way that policies are often subjected to the public. The United States is highly organized based on the principles of participation and democracy. The question of policy support in the United States also came out during the Cold War in which the US was quite active in terms of the search for policy support locally.
The other aspect of culture and society in the United States as was depicted by the Cold War revolves around the question of freedom in terms of policy making and participation. Capitalism, which is an ideology that was fully backed by the United States, entails the embrace of diversities of people in diverse sectors.
The free trade of ideas is, therefore, one of the most critical components of a free market of ideas. While this ought to be the nature of the American society, there are still a lot of pointers to the embrace of absolutism in the country. A free society ought to give each individual a chance to exercise and pursue his or her goals, which is contrary to what the United States policy entailed during the Cold War (“NSC 68 and the Ideological Cold War” para 2-5).
The civil rights movement that was experienced in the United States in the course of the Cold War can be taken as one of the indicators of the lack of embrace of free ideas and the value of every individual course, which are core features of capitalism. The differences in terms of race came out strongly during the Cold War. While the United States struggled a lot to contain the actions of the Russians through policy, it did less in pursuing a domestic policy to contain racial segregation within the country.
The United States government concentrated a lot on the pursuance of foreign policy, rather than addressing the issue of civil rights in the country. The American society can be depicted as an expansionist society due to a lot of focus on foreign policy at the expense of addressing the domestic issues (President’s Commission on Civil Rights para. 1-4).
According to McCarthy (para. 2), the pacification of the world seemed to be the main Agenda of the United States. This was depicted by its efforts to see the establishment of the United Nations during the Second World War. However, the actions of hatred and the support of proxy battles was an order of the Cold War, which made it impossible to attain the goals of peaceful existence of people in the world.
Conclusion
This paper has explored the Cold War and how the domestic and foreign policy of the United States was shaped during the war. From the discussion, it has come out that the foreign policy goals of the United States during the early periods of the war were largely centered on containing Russia. This barred the US from pursuing domestic policies that were critical in addressing domestic issues.
Works Cited
Kennan, George, F. The Sources of Soviet Conduct, 1947. Web.
McCarthy, Joseph. Enemies from Within, 1950. Web. http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6456/
NSC 68 and the Ideological Cold War, 1950.
President’s Commission on Civil Rights. To Secure These Rights, 1947.
Truman, Harry S. Excerpts from the Truman Doctrine, 1947.
Walter Lippmann. A Critique of Containment, 1947.