Effects/legacies of the Cold War for America - Essay Example

The Cold War was fought on many fronts such as Asia, Africa, Cuba and in outer space. The capitalist, democratic U.S and the communist Soviet Union represented two diametrically opposed approaches to government. Each wanted to spread their ideologies throughout the world. The U.S. encouraged free trade while the Soviet Union closed its borders to trade with the West fearing that its people would be adversely influenced by Western culture which would undermine its totalitarian government. Territories in Europe were shared largely by the two countries following WWII.

Given the ideological differences, the emergence of both as military superpowers each wanting to dominate the other, world-scale conflicts were unavoidable. By the end of the war, the Soviets had first liberated then occupied much of Eastern Europe. As a result of the Yalta conference following the War, the Soviet Union controlled the Eastern part of Germany along with much of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and half of the German capital Berlin (“The Cold War”, 2006).

The Soviet Union’s military atrocities in Poland served as the catalyst for the U.S. dissolving its alliance with its former friend. All economic aid to the Soviets was cut off in May of 1945 by President Truman who, in August of that year declared that Stalin, the Soviet Premier, did not desire peace but to rule the world. Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of Great Britain stood with Truman on February 9, 1946 to give a speech in Missouri, Truman’s home state. He used the term ‘iron curtain’ referring to Stalin’s grip on Eastern Europe and said English speaking peoples were allied against the Soviets to prevent a return to the Dark Ages.

This sent shockwaves throughout the Soviet Union. Its official newspaper Pravda compared Churchill and Truman to Hitler. The U.S. policy of aiding Germany in its recovery and