Cold War: The Vietnam War

Jubayer Ahmed
Mr.Disiro period 8
Imagine a war without the use of weapons. The Cold War was a standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union without a use of arms (Nuclear Weapons and the Arms Race). It was a period of time with great resentment and pressure. Even though both sides never had a direct military confrontation, they engaged in “proxy wars” and threatened each other with nuclear annihilation (Nuclear Weapons and the Arms Race). For over forty years the Soviets and Americans competed against each other in areas such as military, technology and economy. The Cold War, unlike any other war was significant in American history because it advanced Americans in technology, limited the possibility of getting attacked by
It was a period of tension and hostility which lasted since 1945 to 1989 (Nuclear Weapons and the Arms Race). The Cold War did increase chances of getting attacked by the Soviets (Nuclear Weapons and the Arms Race). Both U.S and USSR knew they would start another world war if they continued on producing weapons of mass destruction, so they agreed on many treaties to reduce the production of weapons in nuclear weapons (Nuclear Weapons and the Arms Race). The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the U.S and Soviet came to fighting each other with nuclear weapons (Nuclear Weapons and the Arms Race). The Soviets made an agreement with Fidel Castro to put their Missiles in their country and the missiles were caught by American spy planes (Nuclear Weapons and the Arms Race). JFK decided to confront the Soviets publicly by going on television and thought of surrounding Cuba with a naval blockade (Nuclear Weapons and the Arms Race). The Soviet’s leader Khrushchev decided to remove their missiles from Cuba if America moved their missiles from Turkey (Nuclear Weapons and the Arms Race). The US agreed with their plan and also agreed on not invading Cuba (Nuclear Weapons and the Arms Race). The crisis was averted and lead to an era of “detente” or relaxation of tensions (Nuclear Weapons and the Arms Race). In 1963, Kennedy and
Businesses grew and the US population increased (Downey 62). The Cold War period had many Americans with jobs (Downey 62). By the 1950s, prosperity became part of the American middle class and they had surplus money to spend on cars, houses and desires (Downey 62). Between 1945 to 1960 the US gross national product grew from $214 billion to $500 billion (Downey 63). The federal government kept the economy going by passing the GI Bill which helped veterans and their families buy homes and go to college (Downey 63). The Cold War created many factories, schools, roads and foreign aid programs (Downey 63). The living costs and consumer spending increased (Downey 65). Industries such as insurance, banking, communications, transportation and sales exploded along with industrial production (Downey 65). Electronic Computers were used in factories to increase productivity (Downey 65). By the late 1950s, automation or computers replaced a good portion of workers (Downey 66).America’s economy benefited their space program and led them landing on the moon first (Downey 66).Government spending played major roles in the growth of corporations (Downey 74). Blue collar workers were people who did manual labor and benefited from economy during the 1950s (Downey 74).White collar workers were skilled and professionals workers and profited during the 1960s (Downey 74). The American economy would have never been very successful