why/how is America afraid of the color red?
Main topic
Spread of communism
Marshall Plan was used to rebuild Europe after WWII and to draw Europe closer to the U.S.
If Western Europe fell to Stalin and the communist, democracy would no longer exist in Europe. Leaving only North America to face a communist world.
the Communist doctrine desired to spread world wide and the starting point was to be Eastern Europe following WWII to create a buffer between the soviet Union and the Western Democracies.
Cuba becomes communist after the U.S. supported their uprising, bringing communism to Americas back yard.
Nuclear Threat
United States got information that there are launch sites being built in Cuba and being shipped nuclear supplies from Soviet Russia.
President Kennedy ordered to have a blockade to prevent other nuclear supplies from reaching Cuba, while the supply ships have no intentions of slowing down. But a few days later, they turned around their ships before reaching Cuba; "We're eyeball to eyeball, and I think the other fellow just blinked."
Real or imagined, the US felt it had fallen behind in missle technology.
Just as the US had recruited German rocket engineers after the war, so did the soviets. The Soviets first reached outer space with "SPUTNIK". The US had fallen behind. If the Soviets could put a satellite into space, they certainly could place a nuclear bomb on any US city.
With spies at Oak Ridge and at Los Alamos, the Soviets were able to gain a nuclear bomb just 5 years after the U.S. Now the strongest conventional Army in the world now had nuclear weapons. The US was shocked and very concerned.
intimidating/spreading fear
Stalin felt he should have a free hand in the East, the U.S. and later Britain felt the peple should have the right to choose.
With the Gentlemans Agreement between Stalin and Churchill regarding Greece and Hungary, the first steps toward Cold War were in place.
House of Un-American Activities(HUAC)
Created to investigate alleged disloyalty activities
Hollywood Ten
A black-list of Hollywood celebrities suspected of having communist ties
