https://padlet.com/miriahhamrick/1ux4gks6f11x Was the U.S. responsible for the Cold War? Explain your opinion and support it with TWO pieces of historical reasoning from the assigned readings and class discussion. en-us 2018-04-03 19:49:00 UTC 2018-04-06 18:34:25 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.com/miriahhamrick/1ux4gks6f11x/wish/248469719 While there had been the looming threat of the Soviet Union for the past few years, the anti-communist sentiment was heavily pushed to the American people. Soviet Union threats were exacerbated and Truman supported the idea that the Soviet Union was a direct attack on the self-determination of different countries it expanded upon. Public military reports such a NSC-68 reported an exaggerated scene of what the USSR was doing and pushed a strong US military agenda   that said the US was “designed to foster a world environment in which the American system can survive and flourish” and that “we would probably pursue even if there were no Soviet threat”. These forms of publication and Truman's strong anti-USSR sentiment most definitely pushed the US to be the biggest factor in what became the Cold War.]]> 2018-04-04 13:05:13 UTC https://padlet.com/miriahhamrick/1ux4gks6f11x/wish/248469719 https://padlet.com/miriahhamrick/1ux4gks6f11x/wish/248469720 The US was not responsible for the Cold War as the United States was already a very anti-communist nation; an example being the first Red Scare of the 1920s. Because of this, there would be a pressure from the American public for its leaders to attack communist expansion, and an evitable clash would ensue as the USSR was very anti-capitalist. In addition, the spreading of communism, as seen in the North Korea invasion of South Korea, was inevitable and anywhere the was communism and capitalist societies mixing, conflict would ensue, creating tension between the USSR and the US. ]]> 2018-04-04 13:05:14 UTC https://padlet.com/miriahhamrick/1ux4gks6f11x/wish/248469720 https://padlet.com/miriahhamrick/1ux4gks6f11x/wish/248469727 The U.S. was responsible for the Cold War. Both Truman and FDR contributed to the increased threat of communism because of their distrust with the Soviet Union. This is more than just an issue of rough personalities and it started much before FDR withheld information about atomic production from Stalin, but this secretive disposition definitely did not encourage a solution. After FDR Truman only exacerbated the already present issues. Of course the Soviet Union was not free of corruption but because the U.S. overestimated their power the Cold War was brought to a much larger extreme. The second Red Scare in America heightened tensions because even things like the entertainment industry were altered to be anticommunist.]]> 2018-04-04 13:05:14 UTC https://padlet.com/miriahhamrick/1ux4gks6f11x/wish/248469727 https://padlet.com/miriahhamrick/1ux4gks6f11x/wish/248469738 Final position: No
I believe a lack of communication was the reason, with communication Stalin would have known that Truman felt threatened and also Truman would have known the same thing about Stalin. Anti-communism was very popular in the USA at the time, however there was no actual evidence that the Soviet Union had planned world domination using communism. With military though, one is better safe than sorry in assuming the worst, so the fact that Truman created the NSC-68 is arguably a safe act, if not propaganda. This committee would also have primed the civilians for the worst case scenario. ]]> 2018-04-04 13:05:15 UTC https://padlet.com/miriahhamrick/1ux4gks6f11x/wish/248469738 https://padlet.com/miriahhamrick/1ux4gks6f11x/wish/248469752 I was undecided given the evidence in the readings but was leaning to the yes side because of Trumans activist global foreign policy. Although I was leaning to yes I chose no because there was more concrete evidence. Both sides were unaware of the others progress with these weapons so they continued building them which raised tensions and that the Soviet Union was spread out in other European countries attempting to expand leaving their military thin in numbers and unconcentraded. The majority of the evidence given by the yes side was more based on opinion of Truman and Stalin "They were black and white people" (not to be taken out of context). The yes side also didn't have enough deep evidence regarding their points they stayed big picture and general.]]> 2018-04-04 13:05:17 UTC https://padlet.com/miriahhamrick/1ux4gks6f11x/wish/248469752 https://padlet.com/miriahhamrick/1ux4gks6f11x/wish/248469768 2018-04-04 13:05:20 UTC https://padlet.com/miriahhamrick/1ux4gks6f11x/wish/248469768 angus_ingram https://padlet.com/miriahhamrick/1ux4gks6f11x/wish/248469771 The US was responsible for the Cold War evident by Truman's relationship with Stalin and the animosity he had for the Soviet Union. Truman assumed Soviet involvement when there wasn't evidence for any, as in the Greek Civil War and Truman's language in the Truman Doctrine. The Red Scare was developed from government officials exaggerating the threat of the Soviet Union, and caused a panic that the threat of communism was direct to America. Truman's containment policy wasn't working evident by the fall of China, and he felt he had to take an extreme position in order to accomplish his goal without considering the other side or Russia's history. The US played a significant role in exaggerating the threat of communism which sparked the tension of the Cold War. 

]]> 2018-04-04 13:05:20 UTC https://padlet.com/miriahhamrick/1ux4gks6f11x/wish/248469771 https://padlet.com/miriahhamrick/1ux4gks6f11x/wish/248469777 The US was not responsible for the Cold War. The conflict was inevitable because of differences between the two societies of the Soviet Union and the US. The differences of technologies and industries between the two nations caused an inevitable arms race in which neither country wanted a war, but neither could afford to stop making developments in new weapons because it would leave their security vulnerable to the other. The differences in ideologies of the two countries also proved to be insurmountable barriers that made the Cold War inevitable. Since Russia had been invaded numerous times throughout its history, it believed that having spheres of influence in bordering nations that allowed them to protect themselves. This inevitably lead to the spread of communism, which the US was opposed to, and therefore they had to expand to reduce the spread of Russia and communism. Both of these relate to lack of communication, which were impart a problem because of cultural differences. These impassable differences led to the post World War 2 conflict that was inevitable, the cold war.]]> 2018-04-04 13:05:21 UTC https://padlet.com/miriahhamrick/1ux4gks6f11x/wish/248469777 https://padlet.com/miriahhamrick/1ux4gks6f11x/wish/248469804 No.
During the discussion it was said that the Americans weren't responsible for the Cold War. It was considered inevitable because there were problems between the U.S and the Soviets and any little thing could have set the war into motion.]]> 2018-04-04 13:05:26 UTC https://padlet.com/miriahhamrick/1ux4gks6f11x/wish/248469804 https://padlet.com/miriahhamrick/1ux4gks6f11x/wish/248469993 I do believe the US was responsible for causing the cold world due to Truman’s over exaggeration of the Soviet Union’s power and his own quest for power. The intelligence of the US overestimated the number of troops the Soviets had, only really having at most 800,000 which was equal to the current size of the US Army. Truman also exaggerated the Soviets influence over the east, claiming that they were to blame for what happened in Greece even though there was no clear evidence for it.]]> 2018-04-04 13:05:55 UTC https://padlet.com/miriahhamrick/1ux4gks6f11x/wish/248469993 https://padlet.com/miriahhamrick/1ux4gks6f11x/wish/248470138 The U.S. was responsible for the Cold War because of the leadership and power struggle between the nations. Truman was a recognizable leader during the first years of the Cold War and was a "black and white" character. His strong leadership lead to the butting heads of u.s and Soviet Union. Not only Truman was responsible but the development of the atomic weapon wasa  considerable threat to both side. Each side didn't know the limits of their weaponry and assumed the worst. Finally during the time that Germany was invading Russia, Stalin asked for help from the U.S. but we denied which would have caused a plausible distaste for Stalin to the U.S.

]]> 2018-04-04 13:06:21 UTC https://padlet.com/miriahhamrick/1ux4gks6f11x/wish/248470138 https://padlet.com/miriahhamrick/1ux4gks6f11x/wish/248513483 2018-04-04 14:30:08 UTC https://padlet.com/miriahhamrick/1ux4gks6f11x/wish/248513483