Cold War

The Cold War was a period of tension that existed between western powers (Europe, UK, USA, Canada etc) and the Soviet Union (Communist Russia etc). It started about 1946 , shortly after the Second World War, when the Soviet Union showed that it had no intention of removing its forces from the areas of Europe it had taken over during the war. It produced an arms race and led to various crises and alerts (Berlin Airlift, Cuban Missile Crisis, Berlin Wall, etc) until the Soviet Union collapsed and broke up in 1991.

No serious fighting ever took place directly between the two groups so that is why it is called a Cold War. It is called a war because there was constant threat of war . It also contributed the tension that produced the Korean War and the Vietnam War and conflicts with Cuba and with Communists guerrillas in Africa.

The Cold War is often described as a "war of words" between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. This description is a reminder of the fact that the military forces of the U.S. and U.S.S.R. have never fought each other in a "hot," bloody war. The argument, though, was heated. In fact, sometimes the argument became so strong that it seemed that a fighting war might break out. Because each side feared such a war, each produced many war planes, battleships, tanks, guided missiles, and atomic bombs.

A diagram would show a slow start of public opinion that rapidly escalated to disdain and protests.

During the Cold War, the US feared missile strikes from Communist Russia and Cuba. Parents were on edge. Parents and grandparents who went through WWII rationing made stockpiles of food in the "home" fallout shelter--- usually a corner of the basement. School children were led through drills to Fallout Shelters, like the school cafeteria (or even under school desks). The "threat", constant but unseen, felt terrifying even though nothing ever happened.

At the same time, President John F. Kennedy had promoted the Space Race. NASA sent men to the moon and everyone gathered around Black and White TV sets to watch the rocket take off. This was the first visual picture people gained about how rockets flew, and could imagine the distance they traveled. The constant fear of missiles traveling across oceans wasn't as far-fetched as it might have seemed before. The fear became even stronger!

McCarthyism was still rampant, with accusations made about who might be a "Communist" (or the derogatory label, "a Commie") living in the US. Neighbors accused neighbors; strangers accused strangers; the FBI took and investigated reports, and McCarthy accused Hollywood actors and actresses. Communism was not so distant--the fear was constant that a Communist lived right next door!

Turning to the "Vietnam Conflict" (as it was called for so long), nightly news showed live and on-scene coverage of the war zone. We could hear bullets; see Napalm dropped and villages burning; we saw US wounded, dead covered and being carried on stretchers; and worse, the average citizen watched the aftermath of women and children also being killed. On the other side, newscasters told of Vietnamese war tactics and the cruelty and 'sneakiness' employed. We first heard about and saw "tunnel rats" from news, with US soldiers volunteering to drop down into a booby-trapped tunnel to clear it and root out the "enemy".

The Vietnamese---both soldiers and civilians--were depicted as... (thinking back here)... as sneaky, lying, untrustworthy, conspiring with VietCong soldiers to catch American soldiers off-guard, kill or capture them, etc. As a result, at first the US had pity for US Soldiers and POWs facing the kind of torture and terror men faced there. US Citizens could buy a POW Bracelet, engraved with the name of a US captive, which the wearer vowed to not remove until the POW was released. MIA lists grew. However, sentiments changed drastically when US citizens saw and heard stories of women and children injured or killed. Some stories seemed to depict US Soldiers as horrible and indiscriminate killers. Americans began to feel for the Vietnamese who were harmed. But most of all, the steady stream of US soldiers killed, MIA, or captured began to add to US citizens' frustration and need to End the War.

At the same time, "Hippies" and "Woodstock" brought protests into the forefront. The Peace Sign (necklaces and with fingers) was a prevalent symbol. Sit-ins and police dragging protesters away became nightly news. The Ohio National Guard opening fire on Kent State University students *stunned* Americans. For the first time, citizens saw an entity of government gun down protesters---all this made anti-government and anti-war sentiments grow even stronger!

Ironically, though, when soldiers returned home, they were spat on, blood spattered on them, they were yelled at and called "baby killers". They were disrespected, despite fighting a long and difficult war. It was like the US was ashamed to call them "brothers". And, I recall a sense of something missing because we left a lot of men--MIA, KIA never identified, and POWs behind. That always bothered me. But the news kept rolling on, and especially turning more to politics and negotiations between countries. There were no celebrations like after WWII. No parades. No accolades. It was almost as though "nothing happened"--- except, even now, I still remember scenes of burning thatched roof huts and whole villages on fire. I still remember seeing bombers and planes dropping Napalm.

Almost overnight, Fall-out drills mysteriously stopped in schools. Other than the random fire drill, there were no more warning bells, and the fear of missiles and bombs faded into memory. Little was said anymore about "Commies" living down the street. Most often, anyone of a foreign nationality who still spoke their native tongue or still had an accent had been under suspicion. So... after Vietnam, it felt like meeting these people with new eyes... yet, it took years for distrust to fade. Plus, McCarthyism was finally being decried for targeting groups and US citizens with baseless accusations that they were "Communists" . Overall, immediately post-Vietnam, it was almost like turning a light-switch: the Vietnam Conflict that eventually was called the Vietnam War was over-- poof-- like turning out a light. Yet, at the same time, it turned on light for regular life and living without so much fear. Even Cuba sort of faded into the background, except for occasional news stories.

US Soldiers who fought in Vietnam were mostly, to US citizens, enigmas--- unseen, unheard-- until organizations pushed for the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. Or stories were told on the news about a then-rather mysterious set of problems soldiers faced called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which was little understood back then (now, nearly everyone has heard of PTSD). The stories, though, depicted soldiers with PTSD as unreliable, prone to sudden violence, etc--much of which was untrue. As a teenager, I dated a young guy... I never knew of his service until one night when he heard a noise in the dark--a tree branch that snapped-- and he froze like a statue and "acted as if" in a war zone-- He had PTSD, but that incident was the only time I witnessed what PTSD might be like to experience. It gave me goosebumps to see his reaction, but I can only imagine his internal experience.

So that is my account of growing up during the Cold War and Vietnam War. Television greatly influenced perceptions and opinions about both, and regretfully, also negatively influenced our opinions and perceptions of the Vietnamese as a culture/country, and negatively influenced how we treated our own US servicemen.

P.S. Thank you to those who served in Vietnam. I still have the POW bracelet I wore, but I never learned what happened to the man whose name was engraved on it.