Culture during the Cold War
Encyclopedia
The Cold War
was reflected in culture
through music, movies, books, and other media. One element of the Cold War often seen relates directly or indirectly to the threat of a nuclear war. Another is the conflict between the superpowers in terms of espionage. Many works use the Cold War as a backdrop, or directly take part in fictional conflict between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. The period 1953-1962 saw Cold War themes first enter the mainstream culture as a public preoccupation.
The Cold War was also reflected in the attitudes of people in their everyday lives. In the United States
, the Hollywood blacklist
determined who would create, work on, and star in motion pictures; in politics the House Un-American Activities Committee
questioned those thought to be communist sympathizers.
, and was felt far beyond Hollywood.
Jackie Robinson
was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee, specifically stating that he was not a Communist.
Hamburger Chain ran a television commercial
showing a supposed "Soviet Fashion Show", which featured the same large, unattractive woman wearing the same dowdy outfit in a variety of situations, the only difference being the accessory she carried (for example, a flashlight for 'nightwear' or a beach ball for 'swimwear').
Apple Computer's "1984
" ad.
was the most famous campaign commercial of the Cold War.http://www.pbs.org/30secondcandidate/timeline/years/1964b.html Aired only once, on 7 September 1964, it was a factor in Lyndon B. Johnson
's defeat of Barry Goldwater
in the 1964 presidential election
. The contents of the commercial were controversial, and their emotional impact was searing.
The commercial opens with a very young girl standing in a meadow with chirping birds, slowly counting the petals of a daisy
as she picks them one by one. Her sweet innocence, along with mistakes in her counting, endear her to the viewer. When she reaches "9", an ominous-sounding male voice is suddenly heard intoning the countdown
of a rocket launch
. As the girl's eyes turn toward something she sees in the sky, the camera zooms
in until one of her pupils fills the screen, blacking it out. The countdown reaches zero, and the blackness is instantly replaced by the thunderous flash of a nuclear explosion
, followed by a billowing mushroom cloud
.
As the firestorm rages, a voiceover
from Johnson states emphatically, "These are the stakes! To make a world in which all of God's children can live, or to go into the dark. We must either love each other, or we must die." Another voiceover then says, "Vote for President Johnson on November 3. The stakes are too high for you to stay home." (Two months later, Johnson won the election in an electoral landslide
.)
was a 1984
campaign advertisement endorsing Ronald Reagan
for President
. This campaign ad depicted a brown bear wandering through the woods (likely implying the Soviet Union) and suggested that Reagan was more capable of dealing with the Soviets than his opponent, in spite of the fact that the ad never explicitly mentioned the Soviet Union, the Cold War or Walter Mondale
.
, depicted a gradually dying, post-apocalyptic world in Australia that remained after a nuclear Third World War. Other films include:
Jazz was also a useful tool for the United States State Department to show off the United States democracy, as jazz was a democratic music form, free flowing and improvised. Jazz tours of the Soviet Union were organized in 1956, and lasted through the 1970s.
Along with ballet, the two countries also competed in such things as theatre, chess, and even who could reach the moon first. As well when it came to sports the two countries both competed in the Olympics during the Cold War period which also created a lot of hostilities. David Caute, author of "The Dancer Defects", goes into detail each nation and how they could have "won" the cultural war. He ends up not nearly as much as declaring a winner, but more so looks into how each nation both had its great strengths. Russia excelled with plays, and was well known for its ballet. Whereas the West (United States in this case) showed a lot of power in technology, and the famous chess player Bobby Fischer.
Stephen J. Whitfield writes in his article titled The Cultural Cold War As History that these two nations were not fighting their cultures against each other, but more onto their own citizens. As well that many things that were going on during the Cold War were purely done as an intent to create fear among African Americans, especially within the United States.
and Folk Music
, were influenced by the shadow of nuclear war. Probably the most famous, passionate and influential of all was Bob Dylan
, notably in his songs Masters of War
and A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall
(written just before the Cuban Missile Crisis
). In 1965 Barry McGuire
's version of P. F. Sloan
's apocalyptic Eve of Destruction was a number one hit in the United States and elsewhere.
brought on by Ronald Reagan
's and Margaret Thatcher
's hard line against the Soviets. For example, various musical artists wore military uniform-like costumes, as a reflection of the increased feeling of militarism seen in the 1980s. Songs symbolically showed the superpowers going to war, as in the Frankie Goes to Hollywood
song "Two Tribes
." This song's MTV music video featured caricatures of United States President Ronald Reagan
and Soviet President Konstantin Chernenko
in a wrestling match.
Other songs expressed fear of World War III, as in the song, "Russians
", where Sting eloquently states, "I don't subscribe to his [Reagan's or Khrushchev's] point of view" (that Reagan would protect Europe, or that Khrushchev
would "bury" the West). Other examples include Sly Fox
's "Let's go all the way", a song about "going all the way" to nuclear war; The Escape Club
's "Wild Wild West" with its various references to the Cold War; the Genesis
song "Land of Confusion
" expressed a desire to make some sense out of the world, especially in relation to nuclear war.
Countless punk rock bands from the 1980s attacked Cold War era politics, such as Reagan's and Thatcher's nuclear deterrence
brinkmanship
. A small sampling includes The Clash
, Dead Kennedys
, Government Issue
, Fear
, Suicidal Tendencies
, Toxic Reasons
, Reagan Youth
, etc. Noted punk compilation P.E.A.C.E.
included bands from around the world in an attempt to promote international peace.
Probably the most famous of the 1980s songs against increased confrontation between the Soviets and the Americans was Nena
's "99 Luftballons
", which described the events that could lead to a nuclear war.
Imperiet
— "Coca Cola Cowboys" — a Swedish rock song about how the world is divided by two super powers that both claim to represent justice.
Roman Palester
, a classical music composer had his works banned and censored in Poland and the Soviet Union, as a result of his work for Radio Free Europe
, even though he was thought to be Poland's greatest living composer at the time.
protests first emerged in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In the United Kingdom, the first Aldermaston March
, organised by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
, took place in 1958. In 1961, at the height of the Cold War
, about 50,000 women brought together by Women Strike for Peace
marched in 60 cities in the United States to demonstrate against nuclear weapons. In 1964, Peace Marches in several Australian capital cities featured "Ban the bomb" placards.
In the early 1980s, the revival of the nuclear arms race
triggered large protests
about nuclear weapons. In October 1981 half a million people took to the streets in several cities in Italy, more than 250,000 people protested in Bonn, 250,000 demonstrated in London, and 100,000 marched in Brussels. The largest anti-nuclear protest was held on June 12, 1982, when one million people demonstrated in New York City
against nuclear weapons. In October 1983, nearly 3 million people across western Europe protested nuclear missile deployments and demanded an end to the arms race; the largest crowd of almost one million people assembled in the Hague
in the Netherlands. In Britain, 400,000 people participated in what was probably the largest demonstration in British history.
which painted him as a communist sympathiser, and cost him the election. He later served in the United States House of Representatives.
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
was reflected in culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
through music, movies, books, and other media. One element of the Cold War often seen relates directly or indirectly to the threat of a nuclear war. Another is the conflict between the superpowers in terms of espionage. Many works use the Cold War as a backdrop, or directly take part in fictional conflict between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. The period 1953-1962 saw Cold War themes first enter the mainstream culture as a public preoccupation.
The Cold War was also reflected in the attitudes of people in their everyday lives. In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the Hollywood blacklist
Hollywood blacklist
The Hollywood blacklist—as the broader entertainment industry blacklist is generally known—was the mid-twentieth-century list of screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other U.S. entertainment professionals who were denied employment in the field because of their political beliefs or...
determined who would create, work on, and star in motion pictures; in politics the House Un-American Activities Committee
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities or House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
questioned those thought to be communist sympathizers.
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Un-American Activities Committee interfered in American cultural life through its questioning of actors, directors, and others who produced movies in Hollywood. The effect of this questioning was the Hollywood blacklistHollywood blacklist
The Hollywood blacklist—as the broader entertainment industry blacklist is generally known—was the mid-twentieth-century list of screenwriters, actors, directors, musicians, and other U.S. entertainment professionals who were denied employment in the field because of their political beliefs or...
, and was felt far beyond Hollywood.
Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947...
was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee, specifically stating that he was not a Communist.
Books and other works
- Alas, BabylonAlas, BabylonAlas, Babylon is a 1959 novel by American writer Pat Frank . It was one of the first apocalyptic novels of the nuclear age and remains popular fifty years after it was first published...
by Pat Frank - Arc LightArc LightArc Light is the debut novel by Eric L. Harry, a techno-thriller about limited nuclear war published in 1994 and written in 1991-2.As China and Russia clash in Siberia in June 1999, nuclear missiles strike the United States. The U.S. retaliates against Russia, and World War III begins...
by Eric L. Harry - Berts vidare betraktelser — Anders Jacobsson and Sören OlssonAnders Jacobsson and Sören OlssonAnders Jacobsson and Sören Olsson are two Swedish-born cousins who are writers of children's literature and young-adult fiction. They are best known for their books about Sune and Bert...
(1990), features Bert travel with his family to New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in July 1989, but fearing United States agents arriving to ÖreskogaÖreskogaÖreskoga is a fictional town in Sweden, where most of the Bert-diaries take place. Bert Ljung lives in Öreskoga, at Klosterstigen 18. In the books, he lives in a three floors high house with six flats, while he in the TV series live in a high-rise apartment building, similar to those in Hagalund...
to prevent him from going to the USA, as he has fallen in love with Paulina, who's cousine Pavel has arrived to SwedenSwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
from CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
(under Communist rule), and Bert has been talking to Pavel. - Cat's CradleCat's CradleCat's Cradle is the fourth novel by American writer Kurt Vonnegut, first published in 1963. It explores issues of science, technology, and religion, satirizing the arms race and many other targets along the way...
by Kurt VonnegutKurt VonnegutKurt Vonnegut, Jr. was a 20th century American writer. His works such as Cat's Cradle , Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions blend satire, gallows humor and science fiction. He was known for his humanist beliefs and was honorary president of the American Humanist Association.-Early... - "Good Morning Comrades" by OndjakiOndjakiNdalu de Almeida is a writer from Angola, writing under the pen name Ondjaki. He lives in Luanda, the capital of the country, and has written poetry, children's books, short stories, novels, drama and film scripts....
, a novel about a young boy in Luanda, Angola and the end of the Cold War. - Resurrection DayResurrection DayResurrection Day is a novel written by Brendan DuBois in 1999. It is an alternate history where the Cuban Missile Crisis escalated to a full scale war, the Soviet Union is devastated, and the USA has been reduced to a third-rate power, relying on Britain for aid...
by Brendan DuBoisBrendan DuBoisBrendan DuBois is an American mystery fiction and suspense writer. In this field he has won a Shamus Award for Best Short Story of the Year. He also had his short story "The Dark Snow'" published in Best American Mystery Stories of the Century edited by Otto Penzler and Tony Hillerman ISBN 0618012710... - Twilight 2000Twilight 2000Twilight 2000 is a role-playing game set in the aftermath of World War III . The premise is that the United States/NATO and the Soviet Union/Warsaw Pact have fought a lengthy conventional war, followed by a nuclear war with all its consequences...
, role-playing gameRole-playing gameA role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
. - WardayWardayWarday is a novel by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka, first published in 1984. It is a fictionalized account of the authors traveling across America five years after a limited nuclear attack in order to assess how the nation had changed after the war. The novel takes the form of a research...
by Whitley StrieberWhitley StrieberLouis Whitley Strieber is an American writer best known for his horror novels The Wolfen and The Hunger and for Communion, a non-fiction account of his perceived experiences with non-human entities. Strieber also co-authored The Coming Global Superstorm with Art Bell, which inspired the film about...
and James Kunetka - Red Storm RisingRed Storm RisingRed Storm Rising is a 1986 techno-thriller novel by Tom Clancy and Larry Bond about a Third World War in Europe between NATO and Warsaw Pact forces, set around the mid-1980s...
a 19861986 in literatureThe year 1986 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Michael Grade. Controller of BBC One, axes plans to televise Ian Curteis's The Falklands Play.-New books:*Kingsley Amis - The Old Devils...
novel by Tom ClancyTom ClancyThomas Leo "Tom" Clancy, Jr. is an American author, best known for his technically detailed espionage, military science, and techno thriller storylines set during and in the aftermath of the Cold War, along with video games on which he did not work, but which bear his name for licensing and...
, about a conventional NATO/Warsaw PactWarsaw PactThe Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
war. - Other Tom Clancy novels which are part of the Jack Ryan universe, most especially The Hunt for Red OctoberThe Hunt for Red OctoberThe Hunt for Red October is a 1984 novel by Tom Clancy. The story follows the intertwined adventures of Soviet submarine captain Marko Aleksandrovich Ramius and CIA analyst Jack Ryan.The novel was originally published by the U.S...
and Cardinal of the Kremlin, though all of his books from this era are featured against a background of East-West conflict. - The First Team by John Dudley Ball, 1973 — a story of United States capitulation to the USSR by a weak president and the group that overthrows the occupying government
- 1984Nineteen Eighty-FourNineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
by George OrwellGeorge OrwellEric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist... - Spy vs. SpySpy vs. SpySpy vs. Spy is a black and white comic strip that debuted in Mad magazine #60, dated January 1961, and was originally published by EC Comics. The strip was created by Antonio Prohías.The Spy vs...
- Frederick ForsythFrederick ForsythFrederick Forsyth, CBE is an English author and occasional political commentator. He is best known for thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Fourth Protocol, The Dogs of War, The Devil's Alternative, The Fist of God, Icon, The Veteran, Avenger, The Afghan and The Cobra.-...
's spy novels sold in the hundreds of thousands. The Fourth ProtocolThe Fourth ProtocolThe Fourth Protocol is a novel written by Frederick Forsyth and published in August 1984.-Explanation of the novel's title:The title refers to the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which contained four secret protocols. The fourth, of the protocols, was meant to prohibit the non-conventional...
, whose title refers to a series of conventions that, if broken, will lead to nuclear war and that are now, of course, all broken except for the fourth and last thread, was made into a major filmThe Fourth Protocol (film)The Fourth Protocol is a 1987 Cold War spy film starring Michael Caine and Pierce Brosnan, based on the novel The Fourth Protocol by Frederick Forsyth.- Plot :The plot centres on a secret 1968 East-West agreement to halt nuclear proliferation...
starring British actor Michael CaineMichael CaineSir Michael Caine, CBE is an English actor. He won Academy Awards for best supporting actor in both Hannah and Her Sisters and The Cider House Rules ....
. The point of such novels—like that of American movies of the 1950s and 1960s such as My Son John or Kiss Me DeadlyKiss Me DeadlyKiss Me Deadly is a 1955 film noir drama produced and directed by Robert Aldrich starring Ralph Meeker. The screenplay was written by A.I. Bezzerides, based on the Mickey Spillane Mike Hammer mystery novel Kiss Me, Deadly. Kiss Me Deadly is often considered a classic of the noir genre. The film...
—is to vilify the "enemy within", the treacherous peace movement activists, and simple Labour party voters who, by 1988 were marching against the Cold War. - The Manchurian CandidateThe Manchurian CandidateThe Manchurian Candidate , by Richard Condon, is a political thriller novel about the son of a prominent US political family who is brainwashed into being an unwitting assassin for the Communist Party....
, by Richard Condon, took a different approach and portrayed a Communist conspiracy against the U.S.A acting not through leftists or pacifists but through a thinly veiled allusion to Joe McCarthy. The logic of this was that if McCarthyists were accusing so many people of being communist agents, it could only be to divert attention from the real communists. The theme of collusion between international communists and Western rightists would be picked up again by many movies (GoldfingerGoldfinger (film)Goldfinger is the third spy film in the James Bond series and the third to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Released in 1964, it is based on the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. The film also stars Honor Blackman as Bond girl Pussy Galore and Gert Fröbe as the title...
, A View To A Kill) or televisions shows (episodes of MacGyverMacGyverMacGyver is an American action-adventure television series created by Lee David Zlotoff. Henry Winkler and John Rich were the executive producers. The show ran for seven seasons on ABC in the United States and various other networks abroad from 1985 to 1992. The series was filmed in Los Angeles...
or AirwolfAirwolfAirwolf is an American television series that ran from 1984 until 1987. The program centers on a high-tech military helicopter, code named Airwolf, and its crew as they undertake various missions, many involving espionage, with a Cold War theme....
), which would feature an alliance between power-hungry communists attacking the free world from without and profit-driven capitalists undermining it for financial gain. - Masters of Deceit — a non-fiction work written by the FBIFederal Bureau of InvestigationThe Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
, through J. Edgar HooverJ. Edgar HooverJohn Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
's office, extolling the vices of CommunismCommunismCommunism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
, and the virtues of Americanism. - GlasnostGlasnostGlasnost was the policy of maximal publicity, openness, and transparency in the activities of all government institutions in the Soviet Union, together with freedom of information, introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the second half of the 1980s...
radically changed Russian culture, as books that had been forbidden suddenly became available, and people were reading them all the time, everywhere.
TV shows
- AirwolfAirwolfAirwolf is an American television series that ran from 1984 until 1987. The program centers on a high-tech military helicopter, code named Airwolf, and its crew as they undertake various missions, many involving espionage, with a Cold War theme....
- Danger ManDanger ManDanger Man is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again between 1964 and 1968. The series featured Patrick McGoohan as secret agent John Drake. Ralph Smart created the program and wrote many of the scripts...
, (Known as Secret AgentDanger ManDanger Man is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again between 1964 and 1968. The series featured Patrick McGoohan as secret agent John Drake. Ralph Smart created the program and wrote many of the scripts...
in the United States) - I Led Three LivesI Led Three LivesI Led Three Lives is an American drama series which was syndicated by Ziv Television Programs from October 1, 1953 to January 1, 1956. The series stars Richard Carlson...
— The first foray into mass culture dealing with the Cold War. - I Spy (1965-1968 U.S. television series)
- Get SmartGet SmartGet Smart is an American comedy television series that satirizes the secret agent genre. Created by Mel Brooks with Buck Henry, the show starred Don Adams , Barbara Feldon , and Edward Platt...
- MacGyverMacGyverMacGyver is an American action-adventure television series created by Lee David Zlotoff. Henry Winkler and John Rich were the executive producers. The show ran for seven seasons on ABC in the United States and various other networks abroad from 1985 to 1992. The series was filmed in Los Angeles...
- Mission: ImpossibleMission: ImpossibleMission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
- Quatermass IIQuatermass IIQuatermass II is a British science-fiction serial, originally broadcast by BBC Television in the autumn of 1955. It is the second in the Quatermass series by writer Nigel Kneale, and the first of those serials to survive in its entirety in the BBC archives...
- Several episodes of Star TrekStar Trek: The Original SeriesStar Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
featured a futuristic version of the Cold War, in terms of the United Federation of Planets vs. The Klingon Empire and the Romulan Star Empire, analogs for the U.S.A, the U.S.S.R. and the P.R.C, respectively. "A Taste of Armageddon" also showed the concept of MADMutual assured destructionMutual Assured Destruction, or mutually assured destruction , is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy in which a full-scale use of high-yield weapons of mass destruction by two opposing sides would effectively result in the complete, utter and irrevocable annihilation of...
in a war between opposing sides. - Scarecrow and Mrs. KingScarecrow and Mrs. KingScarecrow and Mrs. King is an American television series that aired from October 3, 1983, to May 28, 1987 on CBS. The show starred Kate Jackson and Bruce Boxleitner as divorced housewife Amanda King and top-level "Agency" operative Lee Stetson who begin a strange association, and eventual romance,...
- Ivan the TerribleIvan the Terrible (TV series)Ivan the Terrible was an American sitcom that aired on CBS for five episodes during 1976.The short-lived series parodied American attitudes toward the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War...
1976 sitcom - The Rocky and Bullwinkle ShowThe Rocky and Bullwinkle ShowThe Rocky & Bullwinkle Show is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959 to June 28, 1964 on the ABC and NBC television networks...
1960s cartoon for children and adults where the villains are Boris and Natasha
Television commercials
Wendy'sWendy's
Wendy's is an international fast food chain restaurant founded by Dave Thomas on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio, United States. The company decided to move its headquarters to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. It has been owned by Triarc since 2008...
Hamburger Chain ran a television commercial
Television advertisement
A television advertisement or television commercial, often just commercial, advert, ad, or ad-film – is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization that conveys a message, typically one intended to market a product...
showing a supposed "Soviet Fashion Show", which featured the same large, unattractive woman wearing the same dowdy outfit in a variety of situations, the only difference being the accessory she carried (for example, a flashlight for 'nightwear' or a beach ball for 'swimwear').
Apple Computer's "1984
1984 (television commercial)
"1984" is an American television commercial which introduced the Apple Macintosh personal computer for the first time. It was conceived by Steve Hayden, Brent Thomas and Lee Clow at Chiat/Day, Venice, produced by New York production company Fairbanks Films, and directed by Ridley Scott. Anya Major...
" ad.
Daisies and mushroom clouds
DaisyDaisy (television commercial)
"Daisy," sometimes known as "Daisy Girl" or "Peace, Little Girl," was a controversial political advertisement aired on television during the 1964 United States presidential election by incumbent president Lyndon B. Johnson's campaign...
was the most famous campaign commercial of the Cold War.http://www.pbs.org/30secondcandidate/timeline/years/1964b.html Aired only once, on 7 September 1964, it was a factor in Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
's defeat of Barry Goldwater
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater was a five-term United States Senator from Arizona and the Republican Party's nominee for President in the 1964 election. An articulate and charismatic figure during the first half of the 1960s, he was known as "Mr...
in the 1964 presidential election
United States presidential election, 1964
The United States presidential election of 1964 was held on November 3, 1964. Incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson had come to office less than a year earlier following the assassination of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy. Johnson, who had successfully associated himself with Kennedy's...
. The contents of the commercial were controversial, and their emotional impact was searing.
The commercial opens with a very young girl standing in a meadow with chirping birds, slowly counting the petals of a daisy
Bellis perennis
Bellis perennis is a common European species of Daisy, often considered the archetypal species of that name. Many related plants also share the name "Daisy", so to distinguish this species from other daisies it is sometimes qualified as Common Daisy, Lawn Daisy or occasionally English daisy. It is...
as she picks them one by one. Her sweet innocence, along with mistakes in her counting, endear her to the viewer. When she reaches "9", an ominous-sounding male voice is suddenly heard intoning the countdown
Countdown
A countdown is a sequence of counting backward to indicate the seconds, days, or other time units remaining before an event occurs or a deadline expires. Typical events for which a countdown is used include the launch of a rocket or spacecraft, the detonation of a bomb, the start of a race, and the...
of a rocket launch
Rocket launch
A rocket launch is the takeoff phase of the flight of a rocket. Launches for orbital spaceflights, or launches into interplanetary space, are usually from a fixed location on the ground, but may also be from a floating platform such as the San Marco platform, or the Sea Launch launch...
. As the girl's eyes turn toward something she sees in the sky, the camera zooms
Zoom lens
A zoom lens is a mechanical assembly of lens elements for which the focal length can be varied, as opposed to a fixed focal length lens...
in until one of her pupils fills the screen, blacking it out. The countdown reaches zero, and the blackness is instantly replaced by the thunderous flash of a nuclear explosion
Nuclear testing
Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine the effectiveness, yield and explosive capability of nuclear weapons. Throughout the twentieth century, most nations that have developed nuclear weapons have tested them...
, followed by a billowing mushroom cloud
Mushroom cloud
A mushroom cloud is a distinctive pyrocumulus mushroom-shaped cloud of condensed water vapor or debris resulting from a very large explosion. They are most commonly associated with nuclear explosions, but any sufficiently large blast will produce the same sort of effect. They can be caused by...
.
As the firestorm rages, a voiceover
VoiceOver
VoiceOver is a screen reader built into Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X, iOS and iPod operating systems. By using VoiceOver, the user can access their Macintosh or iOS device based on spoken descriptions and, in the case of the Mac, the keyboard. The feature is designed to increase accessibility for blind...
from Johnson states emphatically, "These are the stakes! To make a world in which all of God's children can live, or to go into the dark. We must either love each other, or we must die." Another voiceover then says, "Vote for President Johnson on November 3. The stakes are too high for you to stay home." (Two months later, Johnson won the election in an electoral landslide
Landslide victory
In politics, a landslide victory is the victory of a candidate or political party by an overwhelming margin in an election...
.)
Bear in the woods
Bear in the woodsBear in the woods
"There is a bear in the woods" was the opening line of a television commercial for the 1984 U.S. presidential campaign of Republican Party candidate Ronald Reagan. Before the ad was created, the public seemed more comfortable with the way Walter Mondale described how he would negotiate than they...
was a 1984
United States presidential election, 1984
The United States presidential election of 1984 was a contest between the incumbent President Ronald Reagan, the Republican candidate, and former Vice President Walter Mondale, the Democratic candidate. Reagan was helped by a strong economic recovery from the deep recession of 1981–1982...
campaign advertisement endorsing Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
for President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
. This campaign ad depicted a brown bear wandering through the woods (likely implying the Soviet Union) and suggested that Reagan was more capable of dealing with the Soviets than his opponent, in spite of the fact that the ad never explicitly mentioned the Soviet Union, the Cold War or Walter Mondale
Walter Mondale
Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale is an American Democratic Party politician, who served as the 42nd Vice President of the United States , under President Jimmy Carter, and as a United States Senator for Minnesota...
.
Films depicting nuclear war
The 1959 film On the BeachOn the Beach (1959 film)
On the Beach is a post-apocalyptic drama film based on Nevil Shute's 1957 novel of the same name. The film features Gregory Peck , Ava Gardner , Fred Astaire and Anthony Perkins...
, depicted a gradually dying, post-apocalyptic world in Australia that remained after a nuclear Third World War. Other films include:
- Duck and CoverDuck and Cover (film)Duck and Cover is a civil defense film produced in 1951 by the United States federal government's civil defense branch shortly after the Soviet Union began nuclear testing. Written by Raymond J...
— A 1951 educational movie explaining what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. - Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the BombDr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the BombDr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, commonly known as Dr. Strangelove, is a 1964 black comedy film which satirizes the nuclear scare. It was directed, produced, and co-written by Stanley Kubrick, starring Peter Sellers and George C. Scott, and featuring Sterling...
(1964) — A black comedyBlack comedyA black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
film that satirizes the Cold War and the threat of nuclear warfare. - Fail-SafeFail-Safe (1964 film)Fail-Safe is a 1964 film directed by Sidney Lumet, based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler. It tells the story of a fictional Cold War nuclear crisis...
(1964) — A film based on a novel of the same nameFail-Safe (novel)Fail-Safe is a novel by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler, published in 1962.The popular and critically acclaimed novel was first adapted into a 1964 film of the same name directed by Sidney Lumet and starring Henry Fonda, Dan O'Herlihy, and Walter Matthau. In 2000, the novel was adapted again for...
about an American bomber crew and nuclear tensions. - The War GameThe War GameThe War Game is a 1965 television documentary-style drama depicting the effects of nuclear war on Britain. Written, directed, and produced by Peter Watkins for the BBC's The Wednesday Play anthology series, it caused dismay within the BBC and in government and was withdrawn from television...
(BBC, 1965) — Depicts the effects of a nuclear war in Britain following a conventional war that escalates to nuclear war. - Damnation AlleyDamnation Alley (film)Damnation Alley is a 1977 film, directed by Jack Smight, loosely based on the novel of the same name by Roger Zelazny. The original music score was composed by Jerry Goldsmith.-Plot:...
(20th Century Fox, 1977) — Surprise attack launched on the United States, and the subsequent efforts of a small band of survivors in California to reach another group of survivors in Albany, New York. - The Children's StoryThe Children's StoryThe Children's Story is a short story written by James Clavell in 1963 and published in 1981. It is also the title of a 1982 short film based upon the story. As of April 2010, this book is still in print.-Plot summary:...
(1982) short film, which originally aired on TV's Mobil Showcase, depicts the first day of indoctrination of an elementary school classroom by a new teacher, representing a totalitarian government that has taken over the United States. It is based on the 1960 short story of the same name by James ClavellJames ClavellJames Clavell, born Charles Edmund DuMaresq Clavell was an Australian-born, British novelist, screenwriter, director and World War II veteran and prisoner of war...
. - The Day AfterThe Day AfterThe Day After is a 1983 American television movie which aired on November 20, 1983, on the ABC television network. It was seen by more than 100 million people during its initial broadcast....
(1983) — This made-for-television-movie by ABCAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
that depicts the consequences of a nuclear war in Lawrence, KansasLawrence, KansasLawrence is the sixth largest city in the U.S. State of Kansas and the county seat of Douglas County. Located in northeastern Kansas, Lawrence is the anchor city of the Lawrence, Kansas, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Douglas County...
and the surrounding area. - WarGamesWarGamesWarGames is a 1983 American Cold War suspense/science-fiction film written by Lawrence Lasker and Walter F. Parkes and directed by John Badham. The film stars Matthew Broderick and Ally Sheedy....
(1983) — About a young computer hackerHacker (computer security)In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
who unknowingly hacks into a defense computer and risks starting a nuclear war. - TestamentTestament (film)Testament is a drama film directed by Lynne Littman and starring Jane Alexander.The film tells the story of how one small suburban town near the San Francisco Bay Area slowly falls apart after a nuclear war destroys outside civilization....
(PBSPublic Broadcasting ServiceThe Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
, 1983) — Depicts the after-effects of a nuclear war in a town near San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
. - Countdown to Looking GlassCountdown to Looking GlassCountdown to Looking Glass is a Canadian made-for-television movie that premiered in the United States on HBO on 14 October 1984 and was also broadcast on CTV in Canada. The movie presents a fictional confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union over the Strait of Hormuz, the...
(HBO, 1984) — A film that presents a simulated news broadcast about a nuclear war. - Threads (BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, 1984) — A film that is set in the British city of SheffieldSheffieldSheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
and shows the long-term results of a nuclear war on the surrounding area. - The SacrificeThe SacrificeThe Sacrifice is a 1986 film, and the final film by Russian film director Andrei Tarkovsky, who died shortly after completing it.-Synopsis:...
(Sweden, 1986) — A philosophical drama about nuclear war. - The Manhattan Project (1986) — Though not about a nuclear war, it was seen as a cautionary tale.
- When the Wind Blows (1986) — An animated film about an elderly British couple in a post-nuclear war world.
- Miracle MileMiracle Mile (film)Miracle Mile is a 1988 apocalyptic thriller cult film written and directed by Steve De Jarnatt, and starring Anthony Edwards and Mare Winningham that takes place mostly in real time. It is named after the Miracle Mile neighborhood of Los Angeles, where most of the action takes place. The movie was...
(1988) — A film about two lovers in Los AngelesLos Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
leading up to a nuclear war. - By Dawn's Early LightBy Dawn's Early LightBy Dawn’s Early Light is an HBO Original Movie, aired in 1990 and set in 1991. It is based on the 1983 novel Trinity's Child, written by William Prochnau. The film is one of the last films to depict the events of a fictional World War III before the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the...
(HBO, 1990) — About rogue Soviet military officials framing NATO for a nuclear attack in order to spark a full-blown nuclear war. - On the BeachOn the Beach (2000 film)On the Beach is an apocalyptic television movie released in 2000, airing originally on Showtime. It is a remake of the 1959 film, and is based on the 1957 novel by Nevil Shute. It starred Armand Assante, Bryan Brown, and Rachel Ward...
(Showcase, 2000) — A remake of the 1959 film. - Fail-Safe (CBS, 2000) — A remake of the 1964 film.
Films depicting a conventional U.S./USSR war
In addition to fears of a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union, during the Cold War, there were also fears of a direct, large scale conventional conflict between the two superpowers.- Invasion U.S.A.Invasion U.S.A. (1952 film)Invasion U.S.A. is a 1952 motion picture set during the Cold War and portraying the invasion of the United States by an unnamed Communist enemy meant to be taken as the Soviet Union....
(1952) — The 1952 film showed a Soviet invasion of the U.S.A succeeding because the citizenry had fallen into moral decay, war profiteering, and isolationismIsolationismIsolationism is the policy or doctrine of isolating one's country from the affairs of other nations by declining to enter into alliances, foreign economic commitments, international agreements, etc., seeking to devote the entire efforts of one's country to its own advancement and remain at peace by...
. The film was later parodied on Mystery Science Theater 3000Mystery Science Theater 3000Mystery Science Theater 3000 is an American cult television comedy series created by Joel Hodgson and produced by Best Brains, Inc., that ran from 1988 to 1999....
. (This is not to be confused with the similarly titled Chuck Norris action vehicle released in 1985.) - Red NightmareRed NightmareRed Nightmare is the best known title of Armed Forces Information Film 120, Freedom and You. It was meant to educate the U.S. armed forces about the nature of Communism...
, a 1962 government-sponsored short subject narrated by Jack WebbJack WebbJohn Randolph "Jack" Webb , also known by the pseudonym John Randolph, was an American actor, television producer, director and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Sergeant Joe Friday in the radio and television series Dragnet...
, imagined a Soviet-dominated America as a result of the protagonist's negligence of his "all-American" duties. - World War IIIWorld War III (TV miniseries)World War III is an Emmy Award-winning miniseries that aired on the NBC network television in January 1982.-Plot:The miniseries begins in 1987 with a Soviet invasion of Alaska...
, a 1982 NBC miniseries about a Soviet invasion of Alaska. - Red DawnRed DawnRed Dawn is a 1984 American war film directed by John Milius and co-written by Milius and Kevin Reynolds. It stars Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, Charlie Sheen and Jennifer Grey....
(1984) — presented a conventional Soviet attack with limited, strategic Soviet nuclear strikes on the United States, aided by allies from Latin AmericaLatin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, and the exploits of a group of high schoolers who form a guerrillaGuerrilla warfareGuerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
group to oppose them. - Invasion U.S.A.Invasion U.S.A. (1985 film)Invasion U.S.A. is a 1985 action film made by Cannon Films and starring Chuck Norris. It was directed by Joseph Zito. Both Chuck Norris and his brother, Aaron, were involved in the writing. It was made in Fort Pierce, Florida. Miami landmarks, such as Dadeland Mall and Miracle Mile, can also be...
(1985) — This film depicts a Soviet agent leading Latin American Communist guerillas launching attacks in the United States, and an ex-CIA agent played by Chuck NorrisChuck NorrisCarlos Ray "Chuck" Norris is an American martial artist and actor. After serving in the United States Air Force, he began his rise to fame as a martial artist and has since founded his own school, Chun Kuk Do...
opposing him and his mercenaries. - AmerikaAmerika (TV miniseries)Amerika – suggesting a Russified name for the United States – is an American television miniseries that was broadcast in 1987 on ABC. It starred Kris Kristofferson, Mariel Hemingway, Sam Neill, Robert Urich, and a 17-year-old Lara Flynn Boyle in her first major role. Amerika was about life in the...
(ABCAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, 1987), a peaceful takeover of the United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
by the Soviet UnionSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
Films depicting Cold War espionage
- FirefoxFirefox (film)Firefox is a 1982 American action film produced, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. It is based upon the 1977 novel of the same name written by Craig Thomas....
is a 1982 film based on a Craig ThomasCraig Thomas (author)David Craig Owen Thomas was a Welsh author of thrillers, most notably the Mitchell Gant series.-Background:...
novel of the same nameFirefox (novel)Firefox is a thriller novel written by Craig Thomas and published in 1977. The Cold War plot involves an attempt by the CIA and MI5 to steal a highly advanced experimental Soviet fighter aircraft. The chief protagonist is fighter pilot turned spy Mitchell Gant...
. The plot details an American plot to steal a highly advanced Soviet fighter aircraft (MiG-31 Firefox) which is capable of Mach 6, is invisible to radar, and carries weapons controlled by thought. - The Hunt for Red OctoberThe Hunt for Red October (film)The Hunt for Red October is a 1990 thriller film based on the novel of the same name by Tom Clancy. It was directed by John McTiernan and stars Sean Connery as Captain Marko Ramius and Alec Baldwin as Jack Ryan...
is a 1990 film based on a Tom ClancyTom ClancyThomas Leo "Tom" Clancy, Jr. is an American author, best known for his technically detailed espionage, military science, and techno thriller storylines set during and in the aftermath of the Cold War, along with video games on which he did not work, but which bear his name for licensing and...
novel of the same nameThe Hunt for Red OctoberThe Hunt for Red October is a 1984 novel by Tom Clancy. The story follows the intertwined adventures of Soviet submarine captain Marko Aleksandrovich Ramius and CIA analyst Jack Ryan.The novel was originally published by the U.S...
about the captain of a technologically advanced Soviet ballistic missile submarine that attempts to defect to the United States. - James BondJames BondJames Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
first appeared in 1953. While the primary antagonists in the majority of the novels were Soviet agents, the films were only vaguely based on the Cold War. The Bond movies followed the political climate of the time in their depictions of Soviets and "Red" ChinesePeople's Republic of ChinaChina , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
. In the 1954 version of Casino RoyaleCasino Royale (Climax!)Casino Royale is a 1954 television adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. The show is the first screen adaptation of a James Bond novel and stars Barry Nelson and Peter Lorre...
, Bond was an American agent working with the British to destroy a ruthless Soviet agent in France, but became more widely known as Agent 007, James Bond, of Her Majesty's Secret Service, who was played by Sean ConnerySean ConnerySir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
until 1971 and by several actors since. Although Bond films often used the Cold War as a backdrop, the Soviet Union itself was almost never Bond's enemy, that role being more often left to fictional and apolitical criminal organizations (like the infamous SPECTRESPECTRESPECTRE is a fictional global terrorist organisation featured in the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming, the films based on those novels, and James Bond video games...
). However, Red China was in league with Bond's enemies in the films GoldfingerGoldfinger (film)Goldfinger is the third spy film in the James Bond series and the third to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Released in 1964, it is based on the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. The film also stars Honor Blackman as Bond girl Pussy Galore and Gert Fröbe as the title...
, You Only Live TwiceYou Only Live Twice (film)You Only Live Twice is the fifth spy film in the James Bond series, and the fifth to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film's screenplay was written by Roald Dahl, and loosely based on Ian Fleming's 1964 novel of the same name...
and The Man With the Golden GunThe Man with the Golden Gun (film)The Man with the Golden Gun is the ninth spy film in the James Bond series and the second to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond...
, while some later movies (Octopussy, The Living Daylights) featured a rogue Soviet general as the enemy. - «TASS Upolnomochen Zayavit...» (TASSTelegraph Agency of the Soviet UnionThe Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union , was the central agency for collection and distribution of internal and international news for all Soviet newspapers, radio and television stations...
is Authorized to Announce...) — a Soviet TV series based on Julian Semenov'sYulian SemyonovYulian Semyonovich Semyonov , pen-name of Yulian Semyonovich Lyandres , was a Soviet and Russian writer of spy fiction and crime fiction.-Career:...
novel. The plot of the movie is set around fictional African country Nagonia, where CIACentral Intelligence AgencyThe Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
agents are preparing a military coup, while KGB agent Slavin is trying to prevent it. Slavin succeeds by blackmailing the corrupt American spy John Glebe. - The Falcon and the SnowmanThe Falcon and the SnowmanThe Falcon and the Snowman is a 1985 film directed by John Schlesinger about two young American men, Christopher Boyce and Daulton Lee , who sold U.S. security secrets to the Soviet Union...
is a 1985 film directed by John SchlesingerJohn SchlesingerJohn Richard Schlesinger, CBE was an English film and stage director and actor.-Early life:Schlesinger was born in London into a middle-class Jewish family, the son of Winifred Henrietta and Bernard Edward Schlesinger, a physician...
about two young American men, Christopher Boyce and Daulton Lee, who sold U.S. security secrets to the Soviet Union. The film is based upon the 1979 book The Falcon and the Snowman: A True Story of Friendship and Espionage by Robert LindseyRobert Lindsey (journalist)Robert Lindsey is a journalist and author of several true crime books, including The Falcon and the Snowman: A True Story of Friendship and Espionage , the story of Christopher John Boyce and Andrew Daulton Lee, who were both convicted of selling information to the Soviets...
.
Other films about U.S./Soviet fears and rivalry
- The Third ManThe Third ManThe Third Man is a 1949 British film noir, directed by Carol Reed and starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard. Many critics rank it as a masterpiece, particularly remembered for its atmospheric cinematography, performances, and unique musical score...
(1949) — A major subplot deals with the refugee status of a Czechoslovakian woman, and the Russian attempts to deport her back to Czechoslovakia. - The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are ComingThe Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are ComingThe Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming is an American comedy film. Based on the Nathaniel Benchley novel The Off-Islanders, the film was directed by Norman Jewison and adapted for the screen by William Rose....
(1966) — A film about a Soviet submarine that accidentally runs aground near a small New England town. - Telefon (1977) — A film starring Charles BronsonCharles BronsonCharles Bronson , born Charles Dennis Buchinsky was an American actor, best-known for such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the popular Death Wish series...
and Donald PleasenceDonald PleasenceSir Donald Henry Pleasence, OBE, was a British actor who gained more than 200 screen credits during a career which spanned over four decades...
about the net of deep-cover sleeper agentSleeper agentA sleeper agent is a spy who is placed in a target country or organization, not to undertake an immediate mission, but rather to act as a potential asset if activated...
s in the USA who are being activated by the deserted KGB agent. - Rocky IVRocky IVRocky IV is a 1985 American film written by, directed by, and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the fourth and most financially successful entry in the Rocky franchise...
(1985) — In this installment of the Rocky sagaRocky (film series)Rocky is a boxing saga of popular films all written by and starring Sylvester Stallone, who plays the character Rocky Balboa. The films are, by order of release date: Rocky , Rocky II , Rocky III , Rocky IV , Rocky V and Rocky Balboa...
, Rocky Balboa has to fight an extremely powerful boxer from the Soviet Union. - Spies Like UsSpies Like UsSpies Like Us is a 1985 American comedy film directed by John Landis and starring Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Steve Forrest, and Donna Dixon...
(1985) — A comedy film starring Dan AykroydDan AykroydDaniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.-Early...
and Chevy ChaseChevy ChaseCornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase is an American comedian, writer, and television and film actor, born into a prominent entertainment industry family. Chase worked a plethora of odd jobs before moving into comedy acting with National Lampoon...
as decoy agents send to infiltrate the Soviet Union. - RusskiesRusskiesRusskies is a 1987 film starring Whip Hubley and Joaquin Phoenix . It was directed by Rick Rosenthal, with cinematography by Reed Smoot...
(1987) — A movie about a Soviet NavySoviet NavyThe Soviet Navy was the naval arm of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy would have played an instrumental role in a Warsaw Pact war with NATO, where it would have attempted to prevent naval convoys from bringing reinforcements across the Atlantic Ocean...
sailor who washes ashore in Florida and is befriended by three American boys. - Project X (1987) — A film starring Matthew BroderickMatthew BroderickMatthew Broderick is an American film and stage actor who, among other roles, played the title character in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Adult Simba in The Lion King film series, and Leo Bloom in the film and Broadway productions of The Producers.He has won two Tony Awards, one in 1983 for his...
where an Air Force Academy cadet works with chimpanzees on Cold War-related projects.
Arts
The United States and the Soviet Union engaged in a competition in the arts as well, mainly in ballet. The Americans and the Soviets would send previews of their country's ballets to prove their superiority. In America, this caused a dramatic increase in government funding. In both countries, ballet was turned into powerful political propaganda, and they used dance to reflect life style in the "battle for the hearts and minds of men."Jazz was also a useful tool for the United States State Department to show off the United States democracy, as jazz was a democratic music form, free flowing and improvised. Jazz tours of the Soviet Union were organized in 1956, and lasted through the 1970s.
Along with ballet, the two countries also competed in such things as theatre, chess, and even who could reach the moon first. As well when it came to sports the two countries both competed in the Olympics during the Cold War period which also created a lot of hostilities. David Caute, author of "The Dancer Defects", goes into detail each nation and how they could have "won" the cultural war. He ends up not nearly as much as declaring a winner, but more so looks into how each nation both had its great strengths. Russia excelled with plays, and was well known for its ballet. Whereas the West (United States in this case) showed a lot of power in technology, and the famous chess player Bobby Fischer.
Stephen J. Whitfield writes in his article titled The Cultural Cold War As History that these two nations were not fighting their cultures against each other, but more onto their own citizens. As well that many things that were going on during the Cold War were purely done as an intent to create fear among African Americans, especially within the United States.
1950s and 1960s
Musicians of these decades, especially in JazzJazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and Folk Music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, were influenced by the shadow of nuclear war. Probably the most famous, passionate and influential of all was Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, notably in his songs Masters of War
Masters of War
"Masters of War" is a song by Bob Dylan, written over the winter of 1962-63 and released on the album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan in the spring of 1963. The song's melody was adapted from the traditional "Nottamun Town"...
and A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall
A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall
"A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" is a song written by Bob Dylan in the summer of 1962. It was first recorded in Columbia Records' Studio A on 6 December 1962 for his second album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. The lyric structure is based on the question and answer form of the traditional ballad "Lord...
(written just before the Cuban Missile Crisis
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation among the Soviet Union, Cuba and the United States in October 1962, during the Cold War...
). In 1965 Barry McGuire
Barry McGuire
Barry McGuire is an American singer-songwriter best known for the hit song "Eve of Destruction", and later as a pioneering singer and songwriter of Contemporary Christian Music.-Early life:...
's version of P. F. Sloan
P. F. Sloan
P.F. Sloan is an American pop-rock singer and songwriter. He was very successful during the mid-1960s, writing, performing and producing Billboard top 20 hits for artists such as Barry McGuire, Jan & Dean, Herman's Hermits, Johnny Rivers, The Grass Roots and the Mamas and the Papas...
's apocalyptic Eve of Destruction was a number one hit in the United States and elsewhere.
Later
There were many protest songs during the 1980s that reflected general unease with the escalating tensions with the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
brought on by Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
's and Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
's hard line against the Soviets. For example, various musical artists wore military uniform-like costumes, as a reflection of the increased feeling of militarism seen in the 1980s. Songs symbolically showed the superpowers going to war, as in the Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Frankie Goes to Hollywood were a British dance-pop band popular in the mid-1980s. The group was fronted by Holly Johnson , with Paul Rutherford , Peter Gill , Mark O'Toole , and Brian Nash .The group's debut single "Relax" was banned by the BBC in 1984 while at number six in the charts and...
song "Two Tribes
Two Tribes
"Two Tribes" is the second single by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, released in the UK by ZTT Records in May 1984 . The song was later included on the album Welcome to the Pleasuredome....
." This song's MTV music video featured caricatures of United States President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
and Soviet President Konstantin Chernenko
Konstantin Chernenko
Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko was a Soviet politician and the fifth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He led the Soviet Union from 13 February 1984 until his death thirteen months later, on 10 March 1985...
in a wrestling match.
Other songs expressed fear of World War III, as in the song, "Russians
Russians (song)
"Russians" is a song by Sting, from his debut solo album, The Dream of the Blue Turtles, released in 1985. It was also released as a single. Sting cautions about the repercussions of the Cold War including the mutually assured destruction doctrine...
", where Sting eloquently states, "I don't subscribe to his [Reagan's or Khrushchev's] point of view" (that Reagan would protect Europe, or that Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
would "bury" the West). Other examples include Sly Fox
Sly Fox (musical group)
Sly Fox was an American short-lived 1980s duo, consisting of Gary "Mudbone" Cooper, an African American funk session musician and former vocalist with Parliament-Funkadelic, and Michael Camacho, a Puerto Rican-accented vocalist....
's "Let's go all the way", a song about "going all the way" to nuclear war; The Escape Club
The Escape Club
The Escape Club began in 1983 as an English pop rock band based in London. The band was composed of former Mad Shadows members' lead singer/rhythm guitarist Trevor Steel and guitarist John Holliday, along with former Expressos members bassist Johnnie Christo and drummer Milan Zekavica...
's "Wild Wild West" with its various references to the Cold War; the Genesis
Genesis (band)
Genesis are an English rock band that formed in 1967. The band currently comprises the longest-tenured members Tony Banks , Mike Rutherford and Phil Collins . Past members Peter Gabriel , Steve Hackett and Anthony Phillips , also played major roles in the band in its early years...
song "Land of Confusion
Land of Confusion
"Land of Confusion" is a rock song written by the band Genesis for their 1986 album Invisible Touch. The song was the third track on the album and was the fourth track from the album to become a single, which reached #4 in the US and #14 in the UK in early 1987. It made #8 in the Netherlands...
" expressed a desire to make some sense out of the world, especially in relation to nuclear war.
Countless punk rock bands from the 1980s attacked Cold War era politics, such as Reagan's and Thatcher's nuclear deterrence
Mutual assured destruction
Mutual Assured Destruction, or mutually assured destruction , is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy in which a full-scale use of high-yield weapons of mass destruction by two opposing sides would effectively result in the complete, utter and irrevocable annihilation of...
brinkmanship
Brinkmanship (Cold War)
Brinkmanship is a term that was used to refer to the constant competition between the United States of America and the Soviet Union.-Origin:The the term "brinkmanship" was originally coined by United States Secretary of State John Foster Dulles during the height of the Cold War...
. A small sampling includes The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
, Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1978. The band became part of the American hardcore punk movement of the early 1980s. They gained a large underground fanbase in the international punk music scene....
, Government Issue
Government Issue
Government Issue was an American hardcore punk band from Washington, D.C. active from 1980 to 1989. The band experienced many changes in membership during its nine-year existence, with singer John Stabb as the only consistent member in an ever-fluctuating lineup that at various times included...
, Fear
Fear (band)
Fear is an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1977. The band is credited for helping to shape the sound and style of American hardcore punk, the group started out as part of the early California punk rock scene, and gained national prominence after an infamous 1981...
, Suicidal Tendencies
Suicidal Tendencies
Suicidal Tendencies is a U.S. crossover thrash band founded in 1981 in Venice, Los Angeles, California by Mike Muir, its leader and only permanent member. The band is sometimes credited as one of "the fathers of crossover thrash"...
, Toxic Reasons
Toxic Reasons
Toxic Reasons are an American hardcore punk / punk rock band.-History:Toxic Reasons formed in Dayton, Ohio in 1979. The founding members were Bruce Stuckey , Joel Agne , Ed Pittman , and Mark Patterson . In 1980, Joel Agne left the band and was replaced by Greg Stout on bass, and Bruce Stuckey...
, Reagan Youth
Reagan Youth
Reagan Youth is an American punk rock band formed by singer Dave Rubinstein and guitarist Paul Bakija in Queens, New York in early 1980. They are known for introducing the style of hardcore punk to the East Coast punk scene, but were also a part of the peace punk movement...
, etc. Noted punk compilation P.E.A.C.E.
P.E.A.C.E./War
P.E.A.C.E./War is a compilation double album first released in 1984 by R Radical Records, the label run by MDC's Dave Dictor, in association with the San Francisco Bay Area punk fanzine Maximum RocknRoll...
included bands from around the world in an attempt to promote international peace.
Probably the most famous of the 1980s songs against increased confrontation between the Soviets and the Americans was Nena
Nena
Gabriele Susanne Kerner , better known by her stage name Nena, is a German singer and actress. She rose to international fame in 1983 with the New German Wave song "99 Luftballons". In 1984, she re-recorded this song in English as "99 Red Balloons". Nena was also the name of the band with whom she...
's "99 Luftballons
99 Luftballons
"99 Luftballons" is a protest song by the German pop-rock band Nena from their 1983 self-titled album. Originally sung in German, it was later re-recorded in English as "99 Red Balloons" for their album 99 Luftballons in 1984...
", which described the events that could lead to a nuclear war.
Imperiet
Imperiet
' were a Swedish 1980s rock band from Stockholm, that existed from 1983 to 1988. They were arguably the most influential band in Sweden of the period, but definitely dominated the new wave scene, which at the time was seen as the same as the punk rock scene....
— "Coca Cola Cowboys" — a Swedish rock song about how the world is divided by two super powers that both claim to represent justice.
Roman Palester
Roman Palester
Roman Palester was a Polish composer of classical music. Palester composed his most significant work during the 1960s, and in 1964 was the first Polish musician to be awarded the Alfred Jurzykowski Prize. His work was individual in style, and not noticeably Polish in character.Palester was born in...
, a classical music composer had his works banned and censored in Poland and the Soviet Union, as a result of his work for Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a broadcaster funded by the U.S. Congress that provides news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East "where the free flow of information is either banned by government authorities or not fully developed"...
, even though he was thought to be Poland's greatest living composer at the time.
Musicals and plays
- ChessChess (musical)Chess is a musical with music by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, formerly of ABBA, and with lyrics by Tim Rice. The story involves a romantic triangle between two top players, an American and a Russian, in a world chess championship, and a woman who manages one and falls in love with the other;...
The game of chess was another mode of competition between the two superpowerSuperpowerA superpower is a state with a dominant position in the international system which has the ability to influence events and its own interests and project power on a worldwide scale to protect those interests...
s, which the musical demonstrates.
Sports
- 1969: 1969 World Ice Hockey Championships1969 World Ice Hockey ChampionshipsThe 1969 World Ice Hockey Championships was the 36th edition of the Ice Hockey World Championships, which also doubled as the 47th European ice hockey championships. For the first time the Pool A, B and C tournaments were hosted by different nations:...
— USSR-Czechoslovakia following the 1968 events in Czechoslovakia - 1972: 1972 Summer Olympics1972 Summer OlympicsThe 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from August 26 to September 11, 1972....
— The USSR defeats the United States in a controversial gold medal gameBasketball at the 1972 Summer Olympics-Group B:-Medal bracket:-Classification brackets:5th–8th Place9th–12th Place13th–16th Place Forfeited match.-Gold Medal Match controversy:... - 1972: Canada-USSR Summit SeriesSummit SeriesThe Summit Series was the first competition between the Soviet and an NHL-inclusive Canadian national ice hockey teams, an eight-game series held in September 1972...
- CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
defeats the Soviets in this eight game series. - 1980: The Miracle on Ice- The United States defeats the USSR in the 1980 Winter Olympics1980 Winter OlympicsThe 1980 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIII Olympic Winter Games, was a multi-sport event which was celebrated from 13 February through 24 February 1980 in Lake Placid, New York, United States of America. This was the second time the Upstate New York village hosted the Games, after 1932...
- 1980: 1980 Summer Olympics boycott — by the United States
- 1984: 1984 Summer Olympics boycott1984 Summer Olympics boycottThe boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. The boycott was a follow up to the American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. The boycott involved 14 Eastern Bloc countries and allies, led by the Soviet Union who initiated the boycott on May 8, 1984, and joined...
— by the Soviet Union
Video games
- Call of Duty: Black OpsCall of Duty: Black OpsCall of Duty: Black Ops is a first-person shooter video game developed by Treyarch, published by Activision and released worldwide on November 9, for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii consoles, with a separate version for Nintendo DS developed by n-Space. Announced on April 30, 2010,...
- Command & Conquer: Red AlertCommand & Conquer: Red Alert seriesCommand & Conquer: Red Alert is a series of real time strategy video games set within the Command & Conquer universe. The series is well known for having some of the most quirky and outlandish units in the genre....
- DEFCONDefcon (computer game)DEFCON is a real-time strategy game created by independent British game developer Introversion Software, developers of Darwinia, Multiwinia, and Uplink. The gameplay is reminiscent of the "big boards" that visually represented thermonuclear war in films such as Dr...
- FirefoxFirefox (arcade game)Firefox is a single player arcade laserdisc game based on the 1982 Clint Eastwood movie of the same name. It was produced by Atari in 1984 and was Atari's only laserdisc game...
- Freedom FightersFreedom Fighters (video game)Freedom Fighters, originally titled Freedom: The Battle For Liberty Island, is a 2003 third-person shooter video game available for the PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Xbox and Microsoft Windows that is set in an alternate history...
- GunshipGunship (video game)Gunship is an AH-64 Apache helicopter simulation that was released by Microprose in 1986. Its platforms include DOS, Atari ST, Amiga, Commodore 64, MSX and ZX Spectrum. The game was later ported onto the Sega Mega Drive by U.S. Gold in 1993...
- Metal Gear SolidMetal Gear Solidis a videogame by Hideo Kojima. The game was developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and first published by Konami in 1998 for the PlayStation video game console. It is the sequel to Kojimas early MSX2 computer games Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake...
- Metal Gear Solid 3Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eateris an award-winning stealth action video game directed by Hideo Kojima. Snake Eater was developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Japan and published by Konami for the PlayStation 2, and was released on November 17, 2004 in North America; December 16, 2004 in Japan; March 4, 2005 in Europe; and on...
& Portable OpsMetal Gear Solid: Portable Opsis a stealth game directed by Masahiro Yamamoto and written by Gakuto Mikumo, with series creator Hideo Kojima acting as a producer. Portable Ops was developed by Kojima Productions and published by Konami in 2006 for the PlayStation Portable. It is the third Metal Gear title for the PSP and the... - Missile CommandMissile CommandMissile Command is a 1980 arcade game by Atari, Inc. that was also licensed to Sega for European release. It is considered one of the most notable games from the Golden Age of Video Arcade Games...
- Operation FlashpointOperation FlashpointOperation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis, sometimes shortened to Operation Flashpoint, and abbreviated OFP, is a tactical shooter and battlefield simulator video game developed by Bohemia Interactive Studio and published by Codemasters. The game uses the same engine, Real Virtuality, as the military...
- Raid over MoscowRaid over MoscowRaid Over Moscow is a computer game for the Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, BBC Micro, ZX Spectrum, Enterprise 128 and Apple II family by Access Software published in Europe by U.S. Gold...
- World in ConflictWorld in ConflictWorld in Conflict, or WiC, is a real-time tactical video game developed by the Swedish video game company Massive Entertainment and published by Ubisoft for Microsoft Windows. The game was released in September 2007...
Protest culture
Anti-nuclearAnti-nuclear
The anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes the use of nuclear technologies. Many direct action groups, environmental groups, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, national, and international level...
protests first emerged in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In the United Kingdom, the first Aldermaston March
Aldermaston Marches
The Aldermaston marches were protest demonstrations organised by the British anti-war Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in the 1950s and 1960s. They took place on Easter weekend between the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment at Aldermaston in Berkshire, England, and London, over a distance of...
, organised by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament is an anti-nuclear organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty...
, took place in 1958. In 1961, at the height of the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
, about 50,000 women brought together by Women Strike for Peace
Women Strike for Peace
Women Strike for Peace is a United States women's peace activist group.-History:Women Strike for Peace was founded by Bella Abzug and Dagmar Wilson in 1961, and was initially part of the movement for a ban on nuclear testing and to end the Vietnam war, first demanding a negotiated settlement,...
marched in 60 cities in the United States to demonstrate against nuclear weapons. In 1964, Peace Marches in several Australian capital cities featured "Ban the bomb" placards.
In the early 1980s, the revival of the nuclear arms race
Nuclear arms race
The nuclear arms race was a competition for supremacy in nuclear warfare between the United States, the Soviet Union, and their respective allies during the Cold War...
triggered large protests
Demonstration (people)
A demonstration or street protest is action by a mass group or collection of groups of people in favor of a political or other cause; it normally consists of walking in a mass march formation and either beginning with or meeting at a designated endpoint, or rally, to hear speakers.Actions such as...
about nuclear weapons. In October 1981 half a million people took to the streets in several cities in Italy, more than 250,000 people protested in Bonn, 250,000 demonstrated in London, and 100,000 marched in Brussels. The largest anti-nuclear protest was held on June 12, 1982, when one million people demonstrated in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
against nuclear weapons. In October 1983, nearly 3 million people across western Europe protested nuclear missile deployments and demanded an end to the arms race; the largest crowd of almost one million people assembled in the Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
in the Netherlands. In Britain, 400,000 people participated in what was probably the largest demonstration in British history.
1950 defeat of Senator Claude Pepper
A pamphlet was circulated with the title The Red Record of Senator Claude Pepper,which painted him as a communist sympathiser, and cost him the election. He later served in the United States House of Representatives.
Other
- BarbieBarbieBarbie is a fashion doll manufactured by the American toy-company Mattel, Inc. and launched in March 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration....
—Barbie represented the American way of life, because she was the ultimate consumer.
- New MathNew mathNew Mathematics or New Math was a brief, dramatic change in the way mathematics was taught in American grade schools, and to a lesser extent in European countries, during the 1960s. The name is commonly given to a set of teaching practices introduced in the U.S...
was a strong reaction to the launch of SputnikSputnik crisisThe Sputnik crisis is the name for the American reaction to the success of the Sputnik program. It was a key event during the Cold War that began on October 4, 1957 when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite....
, by changing the way mathematics was taught to school age children.
- The Kitchen Debate was an impromptu debate (through interpreters) between then U.S.United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Vice PresidentVice President of the United StatesThe Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
Richard NixonRichard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
and Soviet Premier Nikita KhrushchevNikita KhrushchevNikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
at the opening of the American National ExhibitionAmerican National ExhibitionThe American National Exhibition was held in Sokol'niki Park, Moscow in the summer of 1959.-Objectives:The exhibit was sponsored by the American government, and it followed a similar Soviet Exhibit in New York City earlier that year...
in MoscowMoscowMoscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, on July 24, 1959.