How did the Cold War affect domestic policy and American Society? The late 1940? s were a time when much change happened to the American society. As a result to the expanding threat of the Soviet Union, or its Communistic ideals, America took a stand that lead it to the Cold War. Although the war didn’t involve fighting directly with Russia, it still affected the American society and domestic policy. The war affected America so much that it lead to a fear of livelihood; precisely when Joseph McCarthy began his “ witch hunt”.
The Cold war lead to an enlarged fear of nuclear war; as well, it affected many of the domestic policies. Even if the fear of impending doom was to be set aside, there would still be the fear of being accused as a communists. This lead to the Executive Order 9835, it states: “ There shall be a loyalty investigation of every person entering the civilian employment of any department or agency of the executive branch of the Federal Government” signed by President Truman. Document 2) As well as the real government task called the “ red scare” meaning: the rounding up and deportation of several hundred immigrants of radical political views by the federal government in 1919 and 1920. This scare was caused by fears of subversion by communists in the United States after the Russian Revolution. During this time Joseph McCarthy came up with a list of people who were “ known” communists that invaded the American government; overall, he was pointing fingers at everyone without any evidence. This started the House Un-American Activities Committee, or the HUAC.
This group investigated possible Communist subversion everywhere, from schools to labor unions, even to the entertainment industry. At this point people were accusing their own neighbors of being communist. In document one, we see an illustration that shows the HUAC driving wildly, and running people over while hunting communists. The illustration is showing HUAC handled finding communists inappropriately (Document 1). They had the ability to attack anyone in their way, and claim it was justified because they feared the Communists invading their nation.
This made Americans fear losing their jobs and maybe even becoming enemies of the state, even though most of them had never involved themselves with communist groups. The Cold War lead to a society where every man is against another, it divided the nation over a fight against society, and it caused a fear of a possible war. Despite the name being a “ cold war”, the possibility and threat of a real war was always looming over the heads of Americans. The Russians had now built weapons that could wipe everything of the face of the earth.
What affected Americans the most was The Cuban Missile crisis. The fact that the war could start with a single press of a button really frightened the Americans. People were trembling at the sound of war, they even began to build bomb shelters in their homes that they can run to, in case of a bombing. (Document 3) Moreover, these bomb shelters became very popular during these times, I believe this displays how much this war scarred the Americans; even though, it wasn’t technically a physical war they were scarred of what it could bring to them if it progressed to the next level.
The Cold War changed American society by introducing both foreign and domestic fear into the lives of Americans. It brought neighbor against neighbor, and a trembling thoughts to all Americans. It gave an upper-hand to the men in the branches of Federal Government, and especially to the HUAC; moreover it disturbed the domestic policy of social security. The Cold War disturbed America’s society and affected the domestic policies.
