US During the Cold War

• Marshall Plan– Grants US substantial leverage in the west

• NATO- North Atlantic Treaty Organization• Warsaw Pact (eastern version of NATO)• US involvement in Canada, Australia, and

NZ– First it was invited, but eventually they wanted

to remove the American influence

The “US Century?”

• Defenders of capitalism and democracy• US becomes the new world police, replacing Great

Britain• Truman promised: “free peoples who are resisting

subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressure.”

• CIA formed to monitor the world• Eisenhower’s policy of containment• US emerges as the only super power at the end of

the cold war

Women’s Revolution: WEST

• More schooling, • New working patterns for women- WWII as

the catalyst- women wanted jobs for consumer items

• Vote• Access to divorce• Desire for higher standard of living limited

children

New Feminism

• Feminist Mystique and The Second Sex– Pressed for more literal

equality– Redefinitions of what it

means to be male and female

Western Culture

• US “Coca-colanization” of Europe• Critics of western culture because of its

superficiality and distracting people from social problems

• But no reactions like the Nazis had• Western culture helped set the standard for

global cultural standards

Cold War: Soviet Union

• Foreign Policy under Stalin– Regain tsarist boundaries– Expansion– Active role in European diplomacy– Heavy industry and weapons development– Links to communist movements

Cold War: Soviet Union

• The Soviet Empire– Collectivization and industrialization of its new

satellites– Soviet and eastern European trading zone was

separate from the trends of international commerce

– Tensions in Germany caused many to flee to the West- Berlin Wall 1961

Soviet Domestic Policy

• US blasted as an evil power and fear of another war caused many citizens to agitate for a strong government

• The attitude allowed Stalin to continue to shield the people from contact with foreigners

Soviet Culture

• Declared war on the Orthodox Church and other religions beginning in 1917

• Education used to train, recruit, but indoctrinate

• May Day parades- devotion to the state• Marxist view of history- class struggle• Attacked western style of art and literature

Soviet Culture

• Literature was diverse, despite Writer Union controls

• Gulag Archipelago: author banned from Soviet Union moved to the west but unhappy there

• Emphasis on science and social science• Culture was not traditional nor western

Soviet Economy and Society

• Soviet Modernization had unique features– State control of all sectors– Imbalance between heavy industry goods and

consumer goods• Complaints about poor consumer goods and long

lines• Capital went towards heavy industry and armaments

and not farming industry

• Not domestic idealization of women

Industry: East-West Patterns

• Speed up the pace of work• Incentive systems• Similar leisure activities• Urban society divided among class lines• Mass movement to the city• Enhanced nuclear unit

• Patterns of childbearing- promote child’s education

De-Stalinization

• Despite Stalin’s death the Soviet Union remained in-tact

• Krushchev– Attacked concentration of power and arbitrary

dictatorship– More tolerant political climate– Decentralization of decision making– Party control and economy remained centralized

Krushchev’s Russia

• No desire for war- peaceful coexistence• Cautious diplomacy• Sputnik• Little incentive to work• Youth rebellion- access to western culture

Communist Collapse

• Many rejoiced but many were disoriented• What would replace the system that

dominated for so many years?

Conclusions

• Tensions between US and USSR gave other countries the opportunity to play the countries against each other for their own gain

• Western and Soviet influences were not always contradictory