The Cold War & the Rise of Superpowers: US Elections in a Divided World (1945-91)

In 1945, the Cold War began between the United States and the Soviet Union as World War II came to a close. In Europe, the Soviets controlled all territory east of central Germany and set up pro-Soviet communist regimes in those countries. In Asia, the Soviets were aiding the communists in the Chinese Civil War. Quickly, communist governments were popping up throughout Asia, alarming the West. Simultaneously, the Soviets revealed that they had built their own atomic bomb. Many Americans were terrified of both communism and the threat of nuclear war. How did this affect presidential elections between the late 1940s and the 1980s? Did presidential candidates campaign on Cold War issues?

In May 1945, World War II in Europe ended days after the Soviet Red Army captured all of Berlin, the capital city of Nazi Germany. During the war, it had been assumed that the Soviets would allow free and fair elections in the countries they had liberated from Nazi occupation. Instead, Soviet premier Joseph Stalin set up pro-Soviet satellite states in eastern Europe that were loyal to the USSR. Despite this violation of wartime agreements, there was little the US and Britain could do. The Red Army was massive, and American and British citizens did not want another war.

US President Harry S. Truman became the first Cold War president and, in 1948, had to decide what to do when the Soviets blockaded West Berlin. Truman knew that trying to break through the blockade with military vehicles might provoke a war, so he authorized an airlift instead. The airlift was successful in resupplying West Berlin, and the Soviets ended the blockade when they realized they had been outmaneuvered. This victory likely aided Truman in his upset victory for re-election, which many political analysts considered unlikely.

Truman’s Second Term: The Arms Race Begins

During the Korean War, Truman faced his first nuclear test. General Douglas MacArthur, a hero from the Pacific Theater of World War II, was the UN/US commander, and wanted to use atomic bombs to win the war. Truman disagreed, believing that conditions were not optimal for such weaponry and that public opinion would condemn their use. MacArthur refused to quiet down and so was relieved of his command in April 1951 by Truman, who felt that MacArthur’s behavior undermined Truman’s authority as commander-in-chief. This hurt Truman’s popularity, as MacArthur was publicly beloved, and Truman chose not to run again for re-election in 1952.

With Truman not pursuing re-election, the field was wide open for new leadership. Another World War II hero, former Supreme Allied Commander in Europe Dwight D. Eisenhower, won the presidency as the Republican nominee. Eisenhower was a political moderate who had been courted by both major parties and was seen as the only man who could end the Korean War honorably—Americans would accept his decision to do so. However, the end of the Korean War did not soothe Cold War tensions much—the Second Red Scare was heating up at home.

This Red Scare, also known as McCarthyism, focused on allegations that communists and communist sympathizers were highly placed throughout the government and Hollywood—and were effectively aiding the Soviet Union. Eisenhower disliked US Senator Joseph McCarthy (R-WI) and the man’s outspoken crusades but was afraid of being considered “soft” on communism. At first, Eisenhower supported legislation that was focused on being tough on suspected communists but eventually ordered his administration to put pressure on McCarthy behind the scenes in 1954.

1960: Two Anti-Communists Battle It Out

After McCarthyism ended with the downfall of Sen. McCarthy, the West enjoyed the brief Khrushchev Thaw with the Soviet Union. This era even saw Vice President Richard Nixon travel to Moscow in 1959, where he famously debated Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev over quality-of-life issues in a mock-up of an American kitchen at an exhibition. The following year, as Nixon ran for president to replace Eisenhower, the Cold War re-froze due to the U-2 Spy Plane Incident and the communist Cuban nationalization of US property. Tensions soared again between the two superpowers.

These new tensions directly affected the presidential campaign, with both Nixon and his rival, US Senator John F. Kennedy (D-MA), arguing that they were the best choice for America to remain ahead of the USSR. Nixon had been a staunch anti-communist as a member of the US House of Representatives Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), with Kennedy voicing similar hostility to expanding communism as a Senate candidate. In 1960, both major political parties were relatively in agreement on the threat posed by the Soviet Union and the Cold War; the only question was which candidate would do a better job at beating the Russians.

Voters narrowly chose Kennedy, perhaps due to his more telegenic presence in their famed debate. True to his campaigning, Kennedy proved to be a Cold Warrior with his actions toward Cuba. The Bay of Pigs Invasion of 1961 led to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 after a frightened Cuba sought a military alliance with the USSR. Kennedy held firm on demanding the removal of Soviet missiles from Cuba, and the crisis was resolved with a geopolitical win for the young president. Khrushchev was later removed from power, in part for his perceived loss in Cuba. Tragically, Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963, meaning his vice president, former Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson, was elevated to the Oval Office.

Johnson ran for his own term in 1964. Despite the American victory in the Cuban Missile Crisis, the threat of communist expansion was growing in Vietnam. Since the end of the Eisenhower administration, the US had been quietly sending increasing numbers of military advisors to aid South Vietnam against communist North Vietnam. In August 1964, the Gulf of Tonkin Incident allowed Johnson to drastically escalate US efforts in the Vietnam War. Ironically, despite Johnson’s escalation of a Cold War conflict, his campaign pinned the warmongering on his rival, US Senator Barry Goldwater (R-AZ). The Daisy ad, which ran a month after the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, implied that Goldwater would trigger a nuclear war. Goldwater lost in a landslide.

1976: Ford and Eastern Europe

Johnson’s second term saw the start of détente, or relaxed tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. However, the benefits of detente were overshadowed by growing US casualties in the Vietnam War, hurting Johnson’s administration. Richard Nixon, returning from his 1960 loss, became the Republican presidential nominee again in 1968 and won the White House over Johnson’s vice president, Hubert Humphrey. As Nixon approached re-election, he began reducing the number of US troops in Vietnam and re-established diplomatic relations with communist China, scoring geopolitical (and campaign) wins.

In 1976, because of the Watergate scandal, it wasn’t Richard Nixon facing Democratic presidential nominee Jimmy Carter, but former Vice President Gerald Ford. Ford made an infamous gaffe in their televised debate, claiming that there was no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe. The blatant error made Carter the clear winner of the debate, and Ford lost his bid for his own presidential term. Critics felt that Ford was out of touch with the realities of the Cold War, which included continued Soviet control over eastern European “republics.”

Unfortunately for Carter, the realities of the Cold War would grow worse three years later during his own presidential term. In December 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to prop up an ailing communist government. Coming on the heels of the Iran Hostage Crisis, while over fifty Americans were being held hostage by Iranian radicals, the Soviet invasion made President Carter look weak on foreign policy. That next year, Carter faced these foreign policy struggles in addition to a sputtering domestic economy as he ran for re-election.

Republican presidential nominee Ronald Reagan seized on Carter’s perceived weakness. Reagan argued that lack of defense spending had left America weak and a target for aggressors, such as Iranian revolutionaries and the Soviet Union. Famously, Reagan asked Americans during the debates whether they felt better about their lives and the world than four years ago. With the situation in Iran and Afghanistan making the world seem scarier, voters felt that things in 1980 were not better than in 1976…and put Reagan in the White House.

1984: Defense Spending Helps Save the Economy

As a devout Cold Warrior, Reagan significantly increased defense spending and directly challenged the Soviet Union’s aggressive behavior. In March 1983, Reagan famously called the Soviet Union an “evil empire,” cementing his reputation as a defense hawk. That October, he sent US forces to invade the Caribbean island nation of Grenada and topple the regime of a radical communist leader. Operation Urgent Fury was a quick military victory for America and helped the nation overcome the sociocultural malaise from the unsatisfying end of the Vietnam War a decade earlier.

However, Reagan’s focus on growing the US military paid additional dividends in terms of economic growth. During much of Reagan’s first term, the economy still struggled with high inflation and unemployment. His 1981 tax cuts had been less successful than hoped, with taxes going back up over the next three years to restore federal revenue. However, by 1984, there was finally some economic improvement, which critics attributed to his aggressive military spending rather than supply-side growth. This spending-centered economic growth secured Reagan’s re-election by a landslide…but also greatly increased the national debt.

Reagan’s second term saw warming tensions with the Soviet Union again as a new, younger Soviet premier—Mikhail Gorbachev—pursued reforms. Beginning in 1985, Gorbachev met with Reagan in a series of international summits that secured arms control agreements. By 1987, the Soviet economy was secretly starting to crumble, and the USSR pursued warmer relations with the West. Benefiting from Reagan’s continued Cold War victories, including his speech at the Berlin Wall in the summer of 1987, was Vice President George Bush Sr.

By 1988, it looked like the United States was winning the international struggle for public opinion against Gorbachev’s quietly struggling Soviet Union. Bush largely campaigned to continue the policies of his boss, Ronald Reagan. He successfully made Democratic challenger Michael Dukakis look soft on crime and mocked the appearance of a grinning Senator Dukakis atop a tank. The infamous tank ad made Dukakis appear unready to be commander-in-chief—still a necessity in 1988, as the Cold War continued—and helped Bush clinch the election.

Aftermath: Despite Win, Voters Look to Move On Quickly

Bush’s World War II experience, Cold War bona fides, and victory over Iraq in the 1990-91 Gulf War were not enough to carry him to re-election in 1992. Although Bush enjoyed popularity ratings as high as 90 percent shortly after his victory in the Middle East, the 1991 economic recession quickly cooled his support. Even the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991 did not secure Bush’s popularity; much Cold Warrior credit went to his predecessor, Ronald Reagan, instead.

Young political rival Bill Clinton, Democratic governor of Arkansas, campaigned skillfully for president in 1992 by focusing on the economy. He also suggested that he and running mate Al Gore, the youngest ticket in modern times, were the key to bringing the United States into the future. Voters agreed, and Bush’s political victories between 1991 and 1992, which included the end of the Cold War, did not carry the day. Clinton won the White House, though critics argued that Bush only lost due to the presence of strong independent candidate Ross Perot, who appealed to some conservatives and cost Republicans some votes.