) What was the relationship between the Cold War, American economic growth, and domestic politics? Were they intertwined or independent variables?
2) Respond to each of these two peer responses by stating whether you agree with them or not and why?
----- The cold was a time of high uncertainty and tension between the United States and its allies, and the Soviet Union, with its allies. These two countries were called superpowers. The two countries never fought directly, but instead fought indirectly through proxy wars. This means that other countries went to war, with support from each side. The Cold War began shortly after World War II and ended in 1945. The Soviet Union and its allies had an unstable relationship because they were concerned with Joseph Stalin's unpredictable and cruel leadership; as well as the spread of communism. During this time, the United States and the Soviet Union also fought the war with technology and space advancements. They wanted to show that they each had better nuclear bombs, and both wanted to be the first to got to space. The Cold War ended in 1991 with the collapse pf the Soviet Union. During the Cold War, the United States represented democracy and Capitalism. Americans advocated the free market and the Soviets promoted communism. The Americans intentionally bought many consumer goods at this time to boost the economy and keep it growing. Because of this, the United States became the worlds strongest economic power, and they used it to their advantage. During this time, President Regan also implemented many tax cuts which helped the economy grow even more. Because the economy was during so well, much of the many went to the military of the allies to help during the Cold War. As a result, the Soviets felt that they needed to increase their military as well, and went bankrupt in doing so.
Politically speaking, the United States was known as having the most democratic governments in the world, and the Soviets had the most communistic one. After WWII, the Soviets occupied much of Eastern Europe. The United States was unwilling to send its troops to seize control of these countries, so they were under Soviet rule for a couple of decades. Because of this, the United States made alliances with Western Europe, with the establishment of NATO. I believe that all these events were intertwined. They all affected one another because of the Cold War. For example, the U.S. economy was prosperous directly because of the war. People were buying consumer goods to support their country economically during the war and keep the economy growing. Because of this, the United States was able to send money for military aid for its allies. The United States also made political and social decisions because of this war. This is the reason that NATO was established, and also why the United States was viewed as having the most democratic government. I believe that all of these events were connected because of the Cold War.
------- American economic growth was built upon the democratic ideas that there would be no government interference upon businesses and how people went about their daily lives, filling the prosperity of democracy. In relation to the Cold War, communism was spreading among the world and America would seek out to contain it by following the idea of president Truman's associated policies of containment. It's important to know that the cold war was dubbed as it is because there was no real physical war. Because America had fully established a democratic government, there was a superior feeling which allowed America to gain a sense of domination and overall take the lead in containing communistic ideas from spreading over the world. It's interesting how perfect the timing America made the decision to claim dominance that would last them to claim their status among other nations. This being said, America and its domestic politics were on the edge of its tipping point trying to undercover secret communists. One that I wanted to point out was McCarthyism which went to privately list government officials that were unrightfully claimed to be secret spies for the communistic government. Policies, as the one mentioned before, disrupted the daily lives of Americans and the government overall. Through this unraveling of each factor listed in the given, I believe that each were intertwined variables because without the economic growth of America establishing its democracy, without the threatening spread of communism, there would be no Cold War and no domestic politics preventing domestic betrayal.