The New Deal & The Cold War

Soon out of fear of a communist uprising worldwide the U.S. knew it had to intervene in foreign affairs. In 1974 President Truman introduced the Marshall Plan. This plan set aside about $400 million in foreign aid to countries and with this money came the U.S. involvement s in their countries. In 1948 France, Great Britain and the US helped to form the German Federal Republic in West Germany. Stalin greatly objected to this and tried a blockade but it didn't work because the U.S. just flew supplies in by air (Browers). By the 1950's the U.S. policy of containment had gone so far to include organizations like NATO (National Atlantic Treaty Organization) who's sole purpose was to combine military forces with other countries to help suppress communism. The fear of communism hit the .
             The one thing that took the cold war to a new level was the arms race. After the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb to end WW2 the arms race officially started. Then in 1949 when Russia successfully exploded their first atomic bomb it was on. Both countries started to build up large amounts of weapons of mass destruction believing they were doing it for the protection of their countries. As time went on both countries realized a nuclear war would end all life on earth so they later started to set limits and restrictions and their nuclear weapons. .
             As the cold war continued the economies of the two superpowers were quite different. WW2 had helped to bring the U.S. out of our depression and after the war our economy just kept on growing. Plus the U.S.'s huge wealth made it the backbone of postwar recovery and global economic growth (Browers). But in Russia things got a little better after the war but not much compared to the U.S. The U.S. and our allies had created a free market economy where tariffs were lowered and trade was pretty much open. Russia on the other hand had a command economy where the state controlled everything. As time went on and other countries devolved technologically and there people enjoyed better living standards the people in Russia didn't.