Why did the U.S. support the cold war?

Answer 1

First off support the Cold War is the wrong term; the United States actively participated willingly in the Cold War. They did this for many reasons that go back almost a century to 1919 through 1920 with the First Red Scare. The next reason was the after WW2 you had two super powers geared up for war with no enemy in sight, the Atomic Bombs dropped on Japan, and lastly the simple fact that both sides saw each other as the ideological devil. So the question is: what were these things that caused the US to join the cold war; what was the First Red Scare, why did the end of WW2 make Russia the enemy, how did atomic weapons influence the Cold War, and why can't communists and capitalists just get along?

So, let's explore the First Red Scare, and how it helped cement Communists as the enemy of America. The scare can trace its origins to before the USA entered WW1; it's at this time that the President forms a committee to distribute Propaganda. During the war this committee raided and arrested pro-Germany and leftists organizations to increase the effectiveness of the propaganda. With the end of the war the committee looked for a new threat to stay useful; eventually finding the Russian Civil War as the perfect new enemy informing people of the new evil Bolshevism. With labor strikes in Seattle everyone from the press to the elected officials decided they were obviously Red Bolsheviks. The strike fell apart later and the mayor got the credit and became semi-famous. A new committee was formed to research this new foe. They found that they were a growing threat in the nation; newspapers printed articles calling Russians beasts, madmen, human scum, and what not. This mixed with the more than forty bombs that had been either mailed of placed near people who supported removing these rebellious types from America put the United States into a furry. The summer of 1919 saw race riots, police strikes, steel worker strikes, parades that turned into open brawls, coal strikes, raids against radicals, deportation of radicals, removal of Socialist elected officials, and more. The scare finally ended after one of the top men in charge of researching the Bolsheviks claimed there would be a revolution on May Day 1920; there was no revolution and the scare wound down, but in the back of everyone's minds the Russian Bolsheviks would always be something to be fears slightly.

Next, let's deal with World War Two. After the fall of Nazi Germany the Soviet Union installed puppet communist governments in all the countries they liberated. America viewed themselves as liberators and once the Nazi forces were destroyed over half of "liberated nations" were basically condemned to slavery by the USSR who no longer was an Allie now that the enemies were defeated. The war had devastated all of Europe leaving the United States and the USSR as the only two countries that still were powerful. The USSR that had by installing puppet governments had confirmed to the United States that they truly weren't defenders of freedom. People like General Patton wanted to fight the Russians right then and there. One of the many quotes by Patton on the subject: "We promised the Europeans freedom. It would be worse than dishonorable not to see they have it. This might mean war with the Russians, but what of it? They have no Air Force anymore, their gasoline and ammunition supplies are low. I've seen their miserable supply trains; mostly wagons draw by beaten up old horses or oxen. I'll say this; the Third Army alone with very little help and with damned few casualties, could lick what is left of the Russians in six weeks. You mark my words. Don't ever forget them. Someday we will have to fight them and it will take six years and cost us six million lives." So, as one can see, the Cold War was well underway right after the end of the Second World War.

Atomic weapons is an interesting subject that raises a lot of questions, but let's just deal with their use to get they boxed the United States into a corner during the Cold War. The Atomic Bomb was useful in ending World War Two, but its effect on the future makes the question of whether saving all the American soldiers life's by not having to invade Japan was truly worth it. After those bombs fell the world would never be the same again as we entered the Atomic Age. This devastating weapon scared everyone who didn't have it, and began the arms race for the next 40 years. Russian scientists were able to start making their own nuclear weapons just four years after the bombing of Japan. With both Superpowers armed with nuclear weapons the next arms race began for better nuclear weapons. Both powers eventually got the Hydrogen Bomb. While researching this, the United States as well as the USSR had grabbed every Nazi scientist they could get their hands on to research rocketry. Soon the nations had ICBM missiles and the next thing was to see how many bombs they could strap to each one. So this buildup of weapons led to MAD doctrine; also known as mutually assured destruction. Basically, it was an "if you kill us we'll kill you" approach to peace. Because of this neither side could get rid of these weapons or else they would be helpless so participation in the Cold War was very mandatory.

Finally, we come to the ideological differences department. It's here were humans as a species love to play. Communists called Capitalists dogs; Capitalists called Communists Atheists. So the here's the problem: it's not necessarily because they were capitalists it's because they were too free. For communism to work everyone needs to be the same in every respect; right away this throws religion out the door. In America you worship what you want from the TV to Catholic to anything you want; in the USSR everyone was supposed to be atheists. Next, for Communism to work everyone who does the same job gets paid the same wage. This meant no raise for working there for years and managers get paid the same as everyday laborers. Now, this system didn't work in the USSR for obvious reasons, but in the United States propaganda continued to spew out information about the how the Communists would pay you next to nothing for your work. Free speech was yet another major point on which the disciplines differ. For communism to work everyone needs to have the same opinion, so in other words your leaders opinion is your opinion. In America you can say whatever you wanted; of course if you started spewing out pro communist propaganda you would get a visit from HUAC as well as Joseph McCarthy. All of these facts made people at the time view each other as total enemies that needed to watch each other at all times. Now, we know communism and capitalism can be best friends as can be seen by China spewing out thirty cent plastic toys and selling it to the USA for five dollars.

So, in conclusion, the United States was a willing participant in the Cold War for many reasons. The basis for the United States to participate in the Cold War bubbling to the surface during the First Red Scare; teaching the United States to fear the communism. The large territorial gains made by the USSR after World War Two affirmed the USAs previous suspicions that the Bolsheviks were not to be trusted, and made the USSR an enemy to freedom. The stockpiling of nuclear arms forced the United States to stick with the Cold War until the bitter end. The ideological differences between the government types made sure that the two would truly hate each other. There are more reasons, but these are some of the biggest reasons why the United States and the Soviet Union participated in the Cold War.