America used a variety of methods to contain Soviet influence between 1945-1953. Methods such as Propaganda and flexing of muscle became essential as America justified its policies and actions as part of the struggle to save Capitalist Ideology from the Communist oppressors.
Ideology was the main source of conflict between the USA and USSR. This difference in ideology led inevitably to distrust between the two superpowers. The USSR believed in a state controlled economy which discouraged free enterprise, antethesis of America's economic system; the encouragement of free enterprise and the privatization of industry. Thus, the divergent economic structures of the superpowers painted different perspectives, which inevitably sowed the seeds for further conflict between the USA and USSR.
The conferences between the USA and USSR up until 1945 showed the various disagreements between the USA and USSR. These conferences were held in Tehran in December 1945, Yalta in February 1945 and Potsdam in July 1945. The main source of conflict between USA and USSR was the future status of Europe. The USA wanted a democratic capitalist continent that it could influence. The USSR wanted to spread Communism and prevent the disasters of World War II recurring again.
While Stalin was a brutal and ruthless dictator responsible for millions of deaths, feared and resented by many eastern Europeans, he actually did not intend to conquer the world. This was the basic misunderstanding which fueled the Cold War: the U.S. government, as well as many private citizens, believed that the Russians were engaged in a world-wide conspiracy to spread communism in preparation for taking over the world. Stalin only wanted to prevent the recurrence of WWII surfacing again. Thus, Stalin embarked on a program to build a "buffer zone- to safeguard the USSR. This meant that the Eastern Nations were to be "satellites- for the USSR. America mis-interpertated this as first signs of Stalin's desire to conquer the world.
