Fear is a dangerous state of mind that can consume anyone and anything. Fear has the ability to cause people to take extreme measures in an attempt to eradicate the perceived threat causing their fear. The Cold War era thrived on the Western world's fear of communism. Fear of communism manifested itself in hatred and violence, which influenced major aspects of the 20th century. Through the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the implications of McCarthyism, and the development of Kennan's containment strategy, America and its allies created more geopolitical problems by leaving their own afraid to influence foreign policy. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay At the end of World War II, two major political oppositions emerged. These are America and the Soviet Union. These opposing powers also had radically different views on how a country should be governed. The Soviet Union and its allies were communist countries while the United States and its allies were democratic. The war left many European countries in economic and political disaster and therefore made them vulnerable to Soviet communism. The idea of ​​communism spreading to more parts of Europe has struck fear into the backs of many Democratic politicians. As a result, America became heavily involved in European politics. In 1947, Britain endorsed Harry S. Truman as President of the United States. Britain had provided aid to Greece in its civil war against the Greek Communist Party. Truman felt obligated to provide aid to Greece to prevent the spread of communism in Europe. He asked the Senate to provide aid to Turkey and Greece in the form of financial aid as well as military personnel and equipment. Truman declared in his speech to the Senate that “the seeds of totalitarian regimes are nourished by poverty and want. They spread and grow on the evil soil of poverty and conflict. They reach their full growth when a people's hope for a better life has faded. We must keep this hope alive." Truman believed that if America did not provide this aid, it would allow innocent people to lose their freedom to the communist regime. This became known as the Truman Doctrine, it was one of the first steps in the democratic process The world tried to extinguish the growing flame of communism The involvement of the Truman Doctrine brought great improvements in Turkey and Greece Both countries were able to avoid falling under. the communist regime A year later, in 1948, the Marshall Plan was introduced The Marshall Plan was different from the Truman Doctrine because it was "against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, despair and. chaos". Its objective should be the revival of a functioning economy in the world in order to enable the existence of viable political and economic conditions in which free institutions can exist" (Marshall). This financial aid was offered to any European country in need, whether communist or democratic. According to British historian Paul Kennady, the Marshall Plan was a strategic means of promotion for the Americans. that democracy was a better way to govern a country. The Soviet Union understood the American plans and asked the small European countries with which it had ties not to accept this aid. The Marshall Plan, likeits predecessor, the Truman Doctrine, produced great benefits in the economic reconstruction of Europe and laid the foundations for further containment of the communist regime dominating Eastern Europe. With the Marshall Plan working extremely well, Europe began to feel comfortable believing that the communist infestation was at bay. This did not last long when the Soviet Union began to take action against America and its allies. On June 2, 1948, the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia, transforming the country from a democratic state to a communist state. Before the Communist takeover, Czechoslovakia had attempted to use Marshall Plan aid to rebuild after the war. When the Soviet Union took power, it caused great concern among the world's democratic powers. Only a few weeks later, the Soviet Union took another alarming step. This one is visibly against America and its allies. They cut off Berlin's food supply. Berlin is located in the eastern part of Germany which, at the time, was ruled by the Soviet Union. West Germany was ruled collectively by the Allies, but as Berlin was the largest city, the Allies and the Soviets reached an agreement to equally divide Berlin into western and eastern parts. This allowed West Germany to build a single highway to access West Berlin, but on June 24, 1948, access to the western part of Berlin was cut off. This prevented any food from reaching West Berlin. This forced the Allies to airlift food to West Berlin for almost a year. The Berlin Blockade, as it came to be known, has been hailed by historians as one of the earliest events of the Cold War. These two seemingly violent events, occurring within weeks of each other, sent the allies into a frenzy of fear. This fear led them to take less diplomatic and less peaceful measures. On April 4, 1949, Western nations gathered in Washington DC to form what became the backbone of Western European military policy and procedure for the next forty years. This was the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). NATO was created to provide military protection to Western powers against communism. According to Lord Hastings Lionel Ismay, NATO was created to "keep the Soviet Union out, the Americans in and the Germans down." this military alliance was a way to protect against the threat of communism. The first members of NATO were Belgium, Great Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the United States. United. NATO did militarily what the Marshall Plan did economically for Europe. This military movement was primarily led by the United States and sought to stop communist expansion in Europe. With political tensions rising in Europe, fear of communism spread quickly among ordinary Americans. Beginning in January 1950, a senator named Joseph McCarthy became known to the public. He capitalized on the collective fear and paranoia of communists and claimed that only he could save America from Russian spies. Due to the tense political climate and the Cold War, his claims were taken seriously. This led him to publish in February 1950 a list of 205 names from the U.S. State Department that he believed to be members of the Communist Party. He then narrowed his list down to just fifty-seven names. Although the list contains only fifty-seven names, thousands of people have been called to the stand fortestify. McCarthy's accusations were so intimidating that few people dared to speak out against him, for fear of being accused of having ties to communism. He also portrayed Truman as a dangerous liberal, and McCarthy's campaign ultimately helped the Republican candidate, Dwight Eisihower, win the presidential election in 1952. He continued his communist witch hunt even after Trump came to power. Eisenhower. In October 1953, McCarthy began investigating the U.S. military. McCarthy attempted to discredit Robert Stevens, the Secretary of the Army, by claiming that the U.S. military was too soft on communism. Eisenhower realized that McCarthy had gone too far and it was time to end his communist witch hunt. On December 2, 1954, the Senate formally condemned him by a vote of 67 to 22. Although he did not lose his job, he lost most of his power within the Senate. Joseph McCarthy never had enough evidence to accuse the people he interviewed of treason, but even so, the fear he instilled in Americans had a lasting effect. More than 2,000 civil servants lost their jobs because of his investigations. McCarthy's investigations left Americans with this looming fear of communism that caused citizens to call for more aggressive action against communism in the years that followed. By the end of World War II, the U.S. government knew that the Soviet Union posed a growing threat. Few people in the West had experience with the Soviets, so it was difficult to understand their motivations and strategies. George F. Kennan was an American diplomat living in the Soviet Union at the end of the war. He had first-hand observations and experiences with the Soviets. He wrote an 8,000-word telegram to the United States Department of Defense. This famous telegram became known as the "long telegram" and earned him the reputation of being the government's foremost Soviet expert. He abruptly transitioned from Soviet diplomat to Cold War strategist. In 1947, he revealed his idea of ​​the containment strategy in the famous newspaper “Forgin Affairs” under the name Mr.X. Keenan said there was a need to “patiently but firmly and vigilantly contain Russia’s expansionist tendencies over the long term.” He believed that if American foreign policy was anchored in non-confrontational actions, it would be enough to maintain communism within the Soviet Union alone and restore democratic freedom to the rest of Europe. According to John Lewis Gaddis, an American historian and leading Cold War scholar, the idea of ​​containment sparked a change in American policy. “The new strategy manifested itself in the Truman Doctorite” as well as in the Marshall Plan (22). Keenan's containment strategy radically changed U.S. currency policy. As was thought during the Cold War era, one of the most defining moments would be the Korean War. When Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945, it lost all of its colonies. Similarly to Germany, the Allies and Soviets overthrew Korea. At the time, Korea did not have its own government, so the Soviet Union took care of the north and its allies the south. The split happened hastily, with the allies more focused on dismembering Japan than helping Korea. The split was meant to be a temporary way to allow Korea to govern itself. In the following years, the North Korean Communist Party led by Kim Il-Sung grew rapidly. The UN found that the South and the North were unable to reach an agreement.