Civil Rights or Cold War impact on American society and life.

The Era of Cold War Paranoia

History is really never in the past , but rather it exists almost exclusively in the present . That is , no aspect or component found in the history books is an entity that was not a current issue , ideology movement or trend at one point . Any historical event in question was once organic , living and unfolded as those in charge of domestic and foreign policy made certain decisions that were relevant to the shaping of such policy in the (then ) present . Sometimes these decisions were good , sometimes there [banner_entry_middle]

were less than desirable , but all of these decisions became part of the fabric that becomes the history of the nation

During the 20th Century , the United States saw many landmark events occur that played a significant in the shaping of both the nation ‘s history and future . While some of these events were primarily foreign policy and other events primarily domestic policy , there were those events that crossed both internal and international lines or ramifications . Such was the case with both the United States involvement in the Cold War as well as the turmoil and highs and lows of the Civil Rights movement . In many ways , these events overlapped with one another In other ways , they appeared miles apart from one another . Through it all , both the Cold War and the Civil Rights movement both played a huge role in changing the very fabric of American society

There is a question that derives from this : to what degree did each of these events change the fabric of American life and which of these events changed that fabric to the greater degree ? Was it the Cold War or the Civil Rights Movement that forever change the America of history into something new

The Civil Rights movement was a period of time where African-Americans began to assert their rights in the United States . The Civil Rights movement primarily consisted of peaceful protests on what was essentially an apartheid system that was present in the Southern United States . However , peaceful does not mean that the era was without any tumultuous situations . Many times , the National Guard would be called to the sites of cities in flames , the result of riots that occurred after the passing of the CIVIL RIGHTS ACT and THE VOTER RIGHTS ACT in the mid-1960 ‘s

However , in terms of the most defining aspect of the 20th Century , the nod would have to go to the Cold War in terms of which series of events would have the greatest impact on American Society . The reason for this is that the Cold War went hand in hand with fear of nuclear annihilation and the collapse of the American society . There was a scent of paranoia in the air as people would go so far as to purchase bomb shelters in the case of a nuclear assault . So great was the real and imagined fears of a Third World War with the Soviets , that much of American domestic and… [banner_entry_footer]