Sociologist David Riesman spoke about a decline in individualism in the 1950s. He took the view that Americans, now surrounded by affluence, were conformists and liked being part of a group or team. […]
Post WWII, the American society became prosperous very quickly. Average household income was on the rise. There was stability and even war veterans were offered opportunities. […]
Anti-Communist fears were on rise inside America. Senator Joseph McCarthy took the opportunity to exploit public fears, some of which were irrational. He finally overstepped the bounds of credibility by attacking the U.S. Army itself. […]
The Korean War deepened the fear of communism in the United States. However, the invasion of Korea by General MacArthur was brilliant, and even scared China into joining the war. […]
The fear that communism and communist espionage had undermined American security was heightened with the changes in the world in late 1940s. […]
Nuclear weapons became the basis for America’s foreign policy. Although the nuclear war possibility wasn’t always in the foreground, it was always there, and it conditioned everything else that happened in the Cold War years. […]
The creation of NATO and its American leadership solidified America’s position in the world as a leader. Its race to test nuclear weapons also became a decisive factor. […]
Postwar, America had to take the mantle of reshaping a broken and divided world. It applied certain policies, such as the policy of ‘containment’, and made some allies, like Germany. […]
Even before the world war got over, there was tension and mistrust among the three Allied leaders. Europe got divided in two parts, with the demarcating line referred to as the ‘Iron Curtain’. […]
The development of the atom bomb was a success. But President Harry Truman was faced with a dilemma to test it. He, finally, acceded and got it dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, leading to apocalyptic destruction in Japan. […]
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