Two developments in the post-World War II years coincided to shape the zeitgeist of the entire era. The two factors were the emergence of the

The destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as a result of the atomic bombs was beyond imagination. (See Hiroshima, by John Hersey, for his description of

One of the earliest Cold War confrontations involved the divided city of Berlin. In June 1948, in an effort to squeeze the Western countries out

Western satisfaction over “winning” the Berlin Blockade was short-lived. After the end of WW II, there was a civil war in China between the Nationalist

In keeping with the New Deal, there was more tolerance of liberalism in the United States during the 1930s. Sometimes based on altruistic ideas of

Although there was tolerance of liberal and progressive causes in the 1930s, fear of Communist subversion dated back to post-World War I days and the

Between 1950 and 1954, Senator Joseph McCarthy, Republican Senator from Wisconsin and a member of the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee (SISS), unleashed one of the

Public personalities, who were alleged to be associated with anything or anyone suspected to be sympathetic to communism, were likely to be blacklisted and banned

In the late 1950s, America faced Communist expansion in its southern sphere of influence—the Caribbean and Latin America. The Monroe Doctrine established that the United

The failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion caused Khrushchev to question Kennedy’s capabilities. Khrushchev, with Castro’s consent and assistance, decided to test Kennedy by