WWII had just ended and two great powers emerged out of the chaos, America and the USSR. The communists intended to unmercifully spread their ideas over the world while the US decided to be the policemen of the globe. An arms race developed in which nuclear weapons proliferated and mutual spying was unnaturally common. This combat without any battles was dubbed the Cold War. Many leaders and presidents were involved along with policies that helped direct the people of their respective nations, for better or for worse. In the aftermath of WWII, the continuation of the Cold War, rise of the Military Industrial Complex, assassination of Kennedy and the resultant expansion of the Welfare State all led to dangerous times in the ‘60s and ‘70s.

The US and the Soviets insisted upon continuing the Cold War and never ceased poking each other. In 1961, the US mounted a failed invasion of Cuba. As a result, Russia and Cuba set up a secret agreement that a nuclear missile launching facility would be constructed in Cuba. When US spy planes returned with photographic evidence of this missile complex, the Russians defended their actions by pointing out US missile arrays in Turkey and Italy trained on Russia. Tensions increased, almost to the point of nuclear war, until the two presidents discussed the situation. Russia would remove all nuclear missiles from Cuba and the US would honor Cuba’s independence and drastically decrease the number of missiles in Turkey and Italy. The world peace was kept during this period by the threat of mutually assured destruction. Should one country destroy the other, the second would still have time to retaliate by sending hundreds of missiles in the reverse direction.

Unfortunately, the continuation of the Cold War led to more war, killing, destruction of culture and land. For example, the Vietnam War, which took place from 1955 to1975, was a proxy war between the US and the Soviets and resulted in millions of deaths, countless displaced families, and exposure to Agent Orange. This toxic substance wiped out not only the jungle, as was intended, but also the people of Vietnam and the war veterans in their retirement many years after the war. Overall, the Vietnam War was the most traumatic for Americans in recent history.

The Kennedy assassination in ’63 undermined the people’s faith in the government. Soon, the Average Joe realized that the state’s investigation into the president’s untimely demise was phony. Lies abounded. Prior to this event, most US citizens would simply believe whatever the government told them. Kennedy’s assassination also energized the political left wing of government to push through massive socialist welfare legislation that they claimed Kennedy had been backing. Yet another lie. The new Welfare State trapped the poor in economic poverty. The state took from all and gave to the few. Any incentive to work and rise above the poverty level was entirely removed by these handouts. Ironically, the policies that resulted from the fight against homelessness actually increased the poverty level instead of lowering it. By declaring war on poverty, the US decreased the quality of services and spent four times the necessary amount of money.

The ‘60s and ‘70s were characterized by spying, intrigue, and proxy wars of the US vs the Soviets. James Bond movies captured the public’s imagination, along with LSD, Hippies, and free sex. Welfare kept people down as the government played Helpful Big Brother. Perhaps the worst effects of World War II felt in the ‘60s and ‘70s were the spread of communism, sponsored by the Soviets, and the rise of the US progressive elite in their pursuit of world dominance with the help of the Military Industrial Complex.