“The Cold War isn't thawing; it is burning with a deadly heat. Communism isn't sleeping; it is, as always, plotting, scheming, working, fighting.” This quote, by Richard M. Nixon, describes the fear and tension that plagued the U.S. citizens during the period known as the Cold War. As discussed in “The Cold War: Chronicle of America’s Wars”, a book by Josepha Sherman, the Cold War was a period of tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. This consisted of an arms race, where the two nations struggled to build more powerful weapons than the other, and the space race, with each nation trying to be the first in an astronomical feat. Though there was not an abundance of fighting and combat, the Cold War was abounding in spies, tension, …show more content…
The United States had a considerable amount of tough decisions to make when it came to relationships with other countries. In many cases, they chose to support corrupt governments simply because they weren’t Communist. This was a risk they took in the late 1950’s with Cuba. As Josepha Sherman wrote, “Cuba’s unpopular dictator Fulgencio Batista, was corrupt and undemocratic,” he goes on to say, “Yet the United States had large business investments in Cuba, which Batista protected, so the U.S supported Cuba” (Sherman 46). The United States knew that Batista was corrupt, yet they still took the risk and supported Cuba. This risk eventually backfired on the United States, and resulted in a Communist revolution in Cuba. The United States was aware of the risks, and supported Cuba anyway, providing the Soviets with another ally in the Cold War. In May of 1970, in the midst of the Vietnam War, President Nixon took another risk for the United States. Josepha Sherman also wrote of this risk saying, “He ordered troops to invade Cambodia, Vietnam’s neighbor, to destroy Communist bases there,” he continued, “Nixon said that the invasion was to help defeat the Communists, but many Americans were outraged at the action. Protests erupted throughout the country” (Sherman 65). This risk did not benefit the United States, and they lost a major Cold War battle. As a result, direct or indirect, there were protests, air strikes, and Vietnam became united under Communist rule. This risk shows how intentions for positive consequences can lead to more problems than were originally present. Many of the risks in the Cold War continued into the later years of the