From the Cold War to Civil Rights

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From the Cold War to Civil Rights

Introduction

As one goes through the history of mankind, it finds power, authority and control as the main reasons of rivalry. Sometimes man becomes so much obsessed with power and that he forgets the existence of others around him. In human history, racism is one of the many issues that became a bone of content at a different point of time. In the history of America, severe relations with USSR led to the emergence of domestic segregation against black. 1950s witnessed an era of quick rivalry among US and USSR, both battling in the field of technology, military and politics and the development of black civil rights was the consequence of the cold war between these two countries (Skrentny, 1998). Both were the superpowers of that time, and their lust for power drew severe results for the whole world. Cold war gave wind to the Civil Right Movements in US and raised serious concerns of US allies about the protection of races in US. It all started in 1958, when Jimmy Wilson, an Afro-American became the centre of international attention (Dudziak, 2007). With the support of people from around the world, these movements kept on growing under the lead of Martein Luther King Jr. meanwhile both sides were spreading their ideology in the region of Asia and Europe. In the 1960s and 1970s, conflicts over communism were dominant in Cuba and South Veitnam (www.ohiohistorycentral.org). In 1963, a civil right campaign was fought in Birmingham, Alabama. Activists did civil disobedience to end up this segregation against black. It became successful with the enforcement of Federal law in USA.

Discussion

End of WWII gave birth to a new state of conflict and competition between U.S. and Soviet Union, the Cold War. It started at the time when Europe was rebuilding itself. Each one's passion to establish spheres of influence in Europe made these former allies bitter enemies. One of the main causes of the cold war was the economic separation between Soviet Union and the West. As neither side officially declared war on each other, it made cold war so cold and prolonged till the early 1990s (www.sparknotes.com). Both sides made every possible effort blocking the political and economic spreading of each other and expressed their rivalry through coalitions, spying and propaganda. Both ends made foreign policies to sustain control in the post WWII Europe. USA and USSR entered into military rivalry by creating a nuclear weapon race. Truman asked UN to cease USSR's construction of atomic weapons and only then it will stop growing its arsenal. As expected, USSR rejected this proposal and both countries entered into the development of mass destruction (www.sparknotes.com). With the establishment of the communist government in China and detonation of the atomic bomb by USSR in 1949, US government became a strong anti- communist. President Truman advocated a policy of containment to prevent Soviet Union's dominance of Eastern Europe. By joining hands with the ...