Cold War Politics in the Truman Years 1945-1953 - Essay Example

According to Marshal, the US was underprepared and sick to enter into the Second World War. This was because the country was still in the process of recovering from depression from the First World War. It had a weak military force and few military weapons, planes, and ships. Moreover, in Pearl Harbor, the commander of the fleet failed to ensure the necessary military readiness and the country should not have put nearly the entire fleet in Hawaii. Marshal always thought that Americans were idealistic because they supported liberal, democratic, and egalitarian values (WWII: Preparing for Battle).

Marshal believed in superior air power and persuaded Congress to allocate funds to modernize the air force along with defense production undertaken by the private sector. He emphasized that all Americans including civilians should be part of the war. Moreover, Marshal thought that universal military training would increase the preparedness of the country facing war. The wartime can be shortened. However, one of the major disadvantages is that it provides a basis for blind obedience to the state. Marshal believed that it is the true human spirit, the spiritual balance that brings victory and not physical weapons. He insisted that brain power in the US should be utilized to build up strength to safeguard the country. This would, in turn, help the country to become more strong and more reliable. Marshal also had reservations about postwar American society. He worried about the spread of communism in Europe and feared that it would affect the American society that was struggling with the aftereffects of the war.

Edith M. Stern, a social activist in the US, was a champion of women’s liberation. She remarked that women are household slaves of their husbands and should be liberated to create a free society. Rosa Parks, another civil rights activist, gained prominence along with Martin Luther King. She is an icon of resistance to racial segregation (Johnson).

“Eisenhower rejected the notion of a ‘fortress America’ isolated from the rest of the world, safe behind its nuclear shield. He believed that active U.S. engagement in world affairs was the best means of presenting the promise of democracy to nations susceptible to the encroachment of Soviet-sponsored communism” (Foreign Affairs). This stand of Eisenhower has similarities with the liberating viewpoints of Edith M. Stern. Both of these personalities believed in liberation. Eisenhower’s theory of resistance also shares similarities with that of resistance methods followed by Rosa Parks. All these attributes of these personalities can be seen in the works of Vance Packard who strived to bring the ill effects and practices prevailing in American society during that time (Foreign Affairs).

Eisenhower had also warned about the possible dangers that Americans could face shortly. One among them is the rise of an atheist society that is ruthless and insidious. Moreover, the nexus between the military and the industry which makes arms also gets a special mention. He feared that this relationship would create unwarranted influence and would have the potential for a disastrous rise of misplaced power that existed and would persist. He also pointed out that the relative economic abundance had also shaped the ideas and experiences of people living in that era. Government funding had made research and researchers more central, formalized, complex, and costly. Domination of the nation’s scholars through federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money were ever-present. And these had to be gravely regarded (Eisenhower's Farewell Address to the Nation).