Where Do We See The Cold War Today?

Things that happened during the Cold War, such as poverty, racism, and discrimination, can still, unfortunately, be found in many places in our country. It is much more of an issue in big cities, but it can be found almost anywhere you go, no matter how big or small the place is. I see it a lot in downtown Kansas City, myself. I've seen a huge number of poor, homeless people walking around on the streets everyday, the "N" word flying everywhere as if it means nothing. The sad thing to remember is, even though all of these problems are bad today, they are nothing compared to the Cold War. This is how I still see the Cold War affecting today.

Superpower: the USA

For my superpower, I choose the USA over the USSR. The two countries were almost equal in army number, nuclear weapon number, power, etc. In almost every subject, we were basically equal to the USSR. Therefore, the Cold War ended in a giant tie between the USA and the USSR. However, the USA played a huge role in the coming down of the Berlin Wall. That one fact, to my opinion, is enough for me to believe that, if I had to choose a superpower that I thought won the Cold War, I chose the USA.

The War in Vietnam

The Vietnam War was another essential part of the Cold War. It began roughly in the mid 1950's. After defeating France, Vietnam had split into two sections: anti-Communist South and Communist North. Not long after that, South Vietnam formed a military group called the Viet Cong to overthrow their leader, with which the USA helped. After North Vietnam's "Tet Offensive", many American citizens turned against the war. When Nixon became president, he pulled many of our soldiers back to let South Vietnam fight their own battles. After this, the US was basically out of the Vietnam war. South Vietnam surrendered to North shortly after we left.

The U-2 Incident!

The U-2 incident was probably one of the scariest moments in time during the Cold War. As the missile count was rising in Cuba, the USA decided to fly U-2 planes over Cuba to take photos of nuclear camps. One day, the Soviets spotted our planes and tried shooting them down. This angered the Soviets even more than they already were, and this got us even closer to them firing nuclear weapons at us and vise versa.

The H-Bomb

The H-bomb played a huge role in the Cold War. The H-bomb was a hydrogen bomb being built by the USSR and terrified the USA because we thought the Soviets would use it again. We also did not want the media catching the attention of the Soviets beating us in the Arms Race. The US was also in the process of building an H-bomb, but not as quick as the Soviets. Luckily, neither of the H-bombs were launched, and we avoided a nuclear war, although we were lucky to do so.

Sputnik

Sputnik was a Soviet satellite launched on October 4, 1957, and gave the US a major scare. It worried the USA for a few reasons. One of those reasons was that it made us realize that the Soviets now had the power to send nuclear weapons all the way to the USA. Another way it worried us was that the media would be going crazy with news about the Soviets beating us in the Space Race. These are some reasons explaining how Sputnik contributed to the Cold War.

Cuban Missile Crisis!

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a major part of the Cold War. In mid September of 1962, we (the USA) received word that the Soviet Union and Cuba had allied and were planting Nuclear missiles in Cuba aimed at us. Upon hearing this news, the USA began flying U-2 planes over Cuba to take photos of the missile camps. These U-2 flights would eventually lead to the U-2 Incident. Throughout the entire Cold War time period, the Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest to Nuclear Warfare that the USA came to with the USSR.