In this lecture, Dr. Totten argues the Cold War was an ideological conflict between two rival economic systems that led both the United States and the Soviet Union to misunderstand each others intentions and led to world wide misery. With the end of the Second World War, the United States was left as the sole superpower on the world stage. Despite this dominance, Americans were deeply worried about perceived Soviet aggression in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Policy analysts like George Kennan attempted to explain Soviet behavior as traditional Russian paranoia and a desire to legitimize repressive rule at home. In reality, it was simply a desire for security after the massive bloodletting from the Nazi invasion. Americans viewed Soviet aggression through the prism of the Munich Conference and adopted a policy of containment, which led to numerous confrontations. The Truman administration, in an attempt to prevent further countries from falling to communism, gave billions of dollars of aid to European countries, which allowed them to rebuild and guaranteed American hegemony on the continent. As Anti-communism spread throughout the United States, it led to numerous witch hunts inside the country that ruined many peoples lives.

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