QUESTION 2: The Cold War is an international conflict, a global fight between the United States and the Soviet Union which began in Europe in the aftermath of World War II, but which ended It quickly spread to Asia and the Third World. These international events, however, undoubtedly influenced American domestic politics between 1945 and 1965. How did the international Cold War shape, influence, or change American domestic politics during the first twenty years of the conflict?II. BACKGROUND Arne Westad, director of the Center for Cold War Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science, explains how the Cold War "shaped the world we live in today – its politics, its economy and its business military” (Westad, The Global Cold War, 1). Furthermore, Westad continues, “the globalization of the Cold War over the last century laid the foundation” for most of the historical conflicts we see today. The Cold War, Westad argues, focused on how the Third World policies of the two 20th century superpowers – the United States and the Soviet Union – degenerated into antipathy and conflict that ultimately helped oust one world power while challenging the other. This provides a universal understanding of the Cold War (Westad, The Global Cold War, 1). After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union disagreed over the expansion of their power. The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe became the Eastern nations, and the NATO-centered United States became the Western nations, dividing the world in two. Belonging neither to the East nor the West, developing countries were called third world nations and became the scene of wars between East and West (Gaddis, The Strategies of Containment 70-78). The end of World War II and the beginning of World War II. C...... middle of paper ......a, from containment to dismantling in Korea; welcoming European integration because it heralded the creation of an economic unity encouraging technological innovation; build a configuration of power in the international system, favoring the free market while safeguarding American interests, a constant in Washington for more than 35 years; and free political economy at home were just some of the strategic methods used to change, influence, and shape American domestic politics (Leffler, The Specter of Communism, 100-129). The American political economy of freedom was apparently in danger. Thus, the Truman administration moved into an “adversarial relationship.” However, the foreign policy challenge, as Dean Acheson points out, “was to foster an environment in which our national life and individual liberty could survive and thrive” (Leffler, The Specter of Communism)., 63).