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Azaria Oglesby
Modern US History
Mrs. Nyman, Block A
May 9, 2016

The Cold War began due to the opposition between the United States and the Soviet
Union. The United States was a capitalist democracy that valued freedom, while the Soviet
Union was a communist country, where the government or dictator controlled all aspects of
everyday life. The United States of course did not agree with the Soviet Unions way of
governing. In response to Communism, President Truman began a policy of containment, which
led to changes in domestic policy. The Cold War not only effected domestic policy, but also
American Society; in some cases the policies put in place were the causes of the changes on
society.
During the Cold War there was a fear of the spread of Communism. In order to prevent
the spread of Communism, the United States government set up government agencies and
policies. One of the government agencies set up was the House Un-American Activities
Committee, also known as HUAC. HUAC investigated and interrogated people who were
suspected of being Communists. In a political cartoon, an artist shows HUAC recklessly driving
through the streets. The driver of the HUAC car is running over people and on the top of the
cartoon it says Its okay Were hunting communists (Doc 1). HUAC believed that it was
okay to trample over the rights of Americans just because they were trying to prevent
communism from spreading. The Cold War effected this agency because it made them frightened

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that Communism would take over America. The Cold War also effected the Loyalty Review
Board. President Truman issued an executive order stating that There shall be a loyalty
investigation of every person entering the civilian employment of any department or agency of
the executive branch of the Federal Government (Doc 2) meaning that the job of the Loyalty
Review Board was to investigate citizens applying for civilian, or non-military jobs, to see if
they were loyal to the United States or if they were engaging in anti-United States activity or
communistic views.
The Cold War also changed American Society in a negative way. A married, Jewish
couple by the names of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were minor activists in the American
Communist Party, and were revealed by a man who gave away the United States atomic secrets.
The Rosenbergs were found guilt pf espionage and were sentenced to death by electric chair.
This decision made by the court caused division between the people of America. Some people
showed that they believed the Rosenbergs should not have been executed by making posters with
their heads on them saying We are innocent. On the other hand, Anti- Communist held up
signs saying things like Burn all Reds (Doc 3). This affected American Society because it
divided American in between those found guilty and those found innocent as well as the people
who supported the judgments of the courts and those who did not. Along woth the deaths of
those suspected to be communists, there was a high mortality rate. A Gallup poll was taken in the
years from 1953 to 1962. The poll was taken to determine the most important problem that the
United States faced that year. In this ten year period, ten biggest issues revolved around the threat
of war and maintaining peace (Doc 4). This poll showed that there was an increase in fear in
American Society. Due to this great increase in fear that war was pending, people believed they
had to prepare for a possible attack on the United States. The American people began to build

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bomb shelters because that was the only way they felt safe. Although these events changed
society, some of the domestic policies also effected society.
Some events caused a change in both domestic policy and American Society. One of
these events was the draft instituted during World War II. A cartoonist created an illustration
where there is a United States military officer or leader picking a man out of a bowl of random
men (Doc 7). The Cold War changed domestic policy because it they did not have enough men
enlisting in the army to help fight to contain communism and there was a need for men to fight in
the Korean and Vietnam War. Also, the men drafted were at least eighteen years of age. The draft
also brought about a change in American Society because it caused fear. After turning eighteen,
men were frightened at the fact that they could possibly be asked to go into combat. In order to
try to ease their fears, some men purposely dodged the draft by enrolling in college or getting a
doctor to say that they were suffering from serious medical conditions. Another event that
affected both domestic policy and American Society was Sputniks effect on education. Due to
the space race, America had become focused on science and less focused on general education.
This effected domestic policy because the United States government had started to spend more
money on scientific advancements, such as the space race, which caused more universities and
colleges to focus their money more on science and less on the other subjects. This effected
American Society because it took away from general education and so people lacked in the
foundations of education and, as seen in a political cartoon, general education was literally
crumbling (Doc 6).
The Cold War began due to the icy tension between the United States and the Soviet
Union. The United States was governing as a capitalist democracy that valued freedom, while the
Soviet Union was a communist country, where the government or dictator controlled all aspects

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of everyday life. The United States opposed the Soviet Unions government. President Truman
began a policy of containment, which led to changes in domestic policy. The Cold War effected
both domestic policy and American Society, but in some cases the policies put in place were also
the causes of the changes on society.