Scott Beinlich
Mr. Schuster
AP US History – Period 2
26 April 2015
DBQ – Cold War and Eisenhower’s Success in Addressing Hysteria Following WWII, there was a large degree of tension between the United States of America (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR). The powerful countries had conflicting political philosophies and plans for the post-war world. The US promoted democracy and self-determination, the belief that war-torn countries should have a right to determine their means of rebuilding, while the USSR looked to expand their spheres of influence by making more countries communist. As a result of different ideologies and plans, the countries began to mistrust one another. Americans began to fear that communism would spread throughout weak …show more content…
The “Domino Theory” argued that if one country became communist, nearby countries would fall to communism. This fear of the spread of communism can be seen in the Korean War. North Korea was becoming communist, so the US sent troops and tried to establish a democratic system in South Korea under leader Syngman Rhee, but failed. The war ended in 54,000 American casualties and sparked fear of the power of communism. Document B shows this fear as John Foster Dulles explained communist problems in South America, saying that America needed to stop communism in nearby countries so that they would not be a threat to American sovereignty. This fear restates the American fear of the “Domino Theory” and can be related to future issues with the Cuban Missile Crisis. Hysteria clearly arose out of growing communism in nearby countries and the failure to contain communism globally. Moreover, problems within US borders developed. Senator Joseph McCarthy published a list of 205 names of suspected communists within the government. He accused the State Department of employing communists, and it caused massive mistrust among Americans, who feared that communists were infiltrating the government. Other cases, such as the Rosenberg case, in which a couple was falsely accused of selling secrets regarding the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union, the Alger Hiss case, in which government employee Alger Hiss was falsely convicted of communist-rooted perjury, and the Hollywood Ten, in which film-makers and writers were blacklisted for supposedly spreading communist ideas in the film industry, show the extent to which Americans went to purge the country of communism. In 1949, the USSR created their own atomic bomb, which gave them immense power and established a threat to the US. With growing political tensions issues between the US and