What did the US learn it could no longer do as a result of the Cold War?

Answer 1

Politics and economics were all changed as a direct result of the end of WW 2 and the beginning of the so-called "Cold War".Clearly, just when Americans were so glad that after so many lives of US soldiers was over, there appeared the Soviet Union, and as with Germany, was ruled by a Soviet dictator. Stalin made it clear that he was a follower of Marxism-Leninism which within itself saw all non-socialist nations as enemies of a communistic world. This world was one of secret trials and no democracy.

In this situation the US saw that it could not return to isolationism. The free democracies of world including the USA had to be careful of Stalinist aggression. No serious person believed the Stalinist Propaganda line that the capitalist nations were bent on invading Mother Russia.

Americans also did not forget two things. The Soviets and Nazi Germany had a nonaggression pact in 1939 which enabled the division of Poland between the two despotic nations.

Also, it was clear that Russia would not declare war on Japan which would have helped the other allies. About a week before the Japanese surrendered, Stalin declared war on Imperial Japan.

Answer 2

To be honest, the US learned very little about what its limitations were from the Cold War. The US still exerts a strong foreign policy, the US still maintains a strong capitalist-centered economy, and the US still maintains the most powerful military on Earth -- equipped with more nuclear weapons than any country other than Russia.