For full points, aim for 30 total individual bullet points in the three boxes of your graphic organizer.
United States
Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.)
How are they alike?
How are they different?
How are they different?
Part 1- Interpret/Discuss
How does this cartoon illustrate the idea of a race?
What are the two powers racing to do?
Why stick to arm wrestling when you have a nuclear weapon at your disposal?
How does this cartoon demonstrate the guiding principles of Cold War conflict?
Based on this primary source, was the arms race only a nuclear arms race?
United States
Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.)
How are they alike?
How are they different?
How are they different?
Part 2- Read/Watch
Add to your graphic organizer as you work through the next section of reading, political cartoons, and short videos
After WWII, The Soviet Union brought many countries in Eastern Europe and Asia under its leadership and control, starting with military occupation and eventually ensuring the installation of communist governments.
Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, China, Northern Vietnam, and North Korea and others all came to be part of the “Communist Bloc”
Other democratic nations around the world, particularly in Western Europe, were very much in the American sphere of influence, though less force was used (usually).
Note the names of the organizations that defined the two “camps” of the Cold War, and their members and affiliates. (The names of these two organizations should be in your graphic organizer)
Soviets criticized the United States and its allies as being societies without economic equality, a society where a few big businesses controlled the government and grew rich at the expense of average citizens. Their criticisms largely reflected the Marxist criticisms of 19th century industrialized societies that we have seen in previous political cartoons.
Americans criticized the Soviet Union for being a society without political freedoms. The Soviet Union did not have freedom of speech, freedom of the press, or the right to privacy, rights that are constitutionally guaranteed in the United States. The Soviet Union had only one true political party, and total loyalty was demanded. Disagreement with the government was dangerous, and information was controlled and monitored by the government itself. People who wrote or said anything that opposed communist ideology were often exiled, imprisoned, or killed. In addition, the state created its own state-run news agency.
In the American cartoon on the left, Stalin covers the world with communist propaganda.
While communist parties often staged “elections”, Soviet citizens had no real freedom of choice in electing representatives or diversity of political parties. Basically, you could vote for the communist official you liked best, but it was a one party state. In the United States, free and fair elections continued, although you were unlikely to be able to vote for a Communist or even a far left candidate, since the U.S. government was actively removing suspected communists from public office.
The American cartoon at right critiques the Soviets’ fear of free and fair elections.
Stalin was well known for “purging” (exterminating) people who criticized him, who he saw as a threat to his power, or who he thought of as “anti-communist”. Anyone who was did not demonstrate constant loyalty and purity of communist belief fell into this category. Anything that suggested a person sympathized with democratic or capitalist ideas could put them in this category. Any ties to wealth, religion, or democratic countries would be discovered and punished. Those who Stalin did not execute lost careers, health, and family when forced to work in gulags (labor camps). It required little or no evidence for Stalin to brand someone an enemy of the Communist Party. In the culture of fear around Stalin, people were also motivated to falsely accuse each other as a show of loyalty.
In the cartoon below, fearful servants of Stalin bring him the head of a dissident on a silver platter.
Under Senator Joseph McCarthy, the House Un-American Activities Committee, similarly investigated and purged suspected communists in the United States in the 1950s. Both government officials and civilians were targeted.
Watch: The House Un-American Activities Committee
Watch
How does one “spot a communist” according to the film?
What does this suggest about the social climate in America at this time?
Part 3- Interpret/Discuss
In small groups, add to your graphic organizer as you work through the next section of primary sources and discussion questions
Interpret the political cartoons.
Summarize the common messaging in the political cartoons referring to the “SALT” treaties (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaties) signed between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
The SALT treaties were agreements that both the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. would limit the development of more and increasingly powerful nuclear weapons. Both were signed in the 1970s.
What group of people was the primary target of anti-communist campaigns (led by the House Un-American Activities Committee) in the United States?
Looking at the headlines on this slide, what kinds of people (other than government workers) were targeted during the American “Red Scare”?
Why might these particular groups be targeted for their ideology? In what way do they present a particular threat?
Who is urging people to expose and oust “Reds” (communists) according to the highlighted headline?
What First Amendment freedom is challenged by a “president’s plea to publishers” to expose and attack “poisonous propaganda”?
''a few hundred'' Americans were jailed or deported during the Red scare, and ''about 10,000 or 12,000 lost their jobs.'' The number of victims ''may well have been higher.'' She reports knowing of ''about 10'' suicides, and ''no doubt there were more that got no attention.''
-Thomas C. Reeves reviewing the writings of historian Ellen Schrecker for the New York Times, 1998
In what way is a government-led campaign to fire, jail, or otherwise persecute people for expressing communist views an assault on the American Bill of Rights, as suggested by the political cartoon?
Consider the graph, which shows the population of gulag labor camps and labor colonies in the Soviet Union.
Compare the severity of “purges” of dissidents in the Soviet Union and the U.S.
What fear is being expressed in these public service advertisements?
How do you think these ads might have impacted teachers and other school employees?
How might articles like the one on page 11 of this American Legion Magazine affect the personal and professional lives of American university professors?
Based on the Soviet law code at left, , what would likely happen to teachers who did not teach this way?
Is promotion of the home ideology and concern with the influence of the opposing ideology in public education more of a similarity between the Soviet Union and United States, or a difference?
“All the work in the school and the whole education of school life should promote proletarian class consciousness in the minds of its pupils and create knowledge of the solidarity of Labor in its struggle with Capital as well as preparation for useful productive and political activity.”
-Soviet Education Law of 1923, Article 32
“We professors and instructors, obligate ourselves to conduct our work such that every day spent by a student in a higher educational institution will nurture him in Bolshevik ideology.”
-Public resolution from a 1946 Moscow meeting of Soviet Education. The Resolution was published in Pravda, (translated from Russian “Truth”) the Soviet state newspaper.
During his interview, a young history teacher, Demchenko, spent a full hour answering biographical questions but was not asked anything about instructional methods or his knowledge of history...This encounter was one incident in a larger campaign to certify all elementary and secondary teachers…
E. Thomas Ewing “Stalinism at Work: Teacher Certification (1936-39) and Soviet Power.” The Russian Review, vol. 57, no. 2, 1998, pp. 218–235.
Below, “Knowledge Breaks Chains”
Left: Glory to the Soviet Teacher!
Why is heavy involvement in education important to most governments, especially totalitarian and/or extremist governments?
Left: “Love books-they are a source of knowledge!
Right:“Be an excellent student”!
Who is the intended audience of these posters? Why do you think Soviets thought it was important to encourage young people to be scholars?
National Defense Education Act (NDEA), U.S. federal legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower on September 2, 1958, that provided funding to improve American schools and to promote postsecondary education. The goal of the legislation was to enable the country’s educational system to meet the demands posed by national security needs. Of particular concern was bolstering the United States’ ability to compete with the Soviet Union in the areas of science and technology.
-Encyclopedia Britannica on the National Defense Education Act, accessed 2025
How is the emphasis on education in both states related to the competition in STEM fields characteristic of the Cold War?
Near Right, “Glory to Soviet Science!”, 1977
How does this image (not a primary source), convey what was going on in global politics during the Cold War?
How does this image illustrate American concerns about the spread of communism? Why do you think communism is depicted as an iceberg?
How might these sources influence the typical American’s opinion of Soviet Russia?
How do these cartoons (this one and the two in the previous slide) portray Stalin’s intentions? How would cartoons like this affect Americans’ perception of Russia and Russians?
"Long live everlasting, indestructible friendship and cooperation between Soviet and Cuban nations!"
How does this poster make it clear that the U.S.S.R. supports Cuban communists?
In what contexts do we use the expressions “up in flame”, or “up in smoke”?
What is the artist intending to communicate with the background of this comic?
How are these two sources similar?
“Capitalists of the world, unite!”
What three democratic/capitalist countries are the Soviets criticizing in this poster, and what is their criticism?
“Only rich people enjoy abundance there, and we want abundance for everyone.”
Why do you think both sides have to put so much effort into convincing their citizens of the absolute correctness of their ideology? What about the U.S. might be attractive to Soviet citizens? What about the Soviet Union might be attractive to U.S. citizens?
Soviet Propaganda poster, 1948. The captions read ‘Under capitalism’ and ‘Under socialism’.
Contrast Soviet depictions of racial dynamics in the U.S., relative to racial dynamics in the Soviet sphere of influence in Soviet propaganda.
Above, early cold war era Soviet propaganda poster with the word “peace” in various languages.
Left, “If freedom is here, what does prison looks like?” Note the most forward/prominent figure behind bars at the bottom of the poster. Consider American historical patterns in the 1960s.
Contrast Soviet depictions of racial dynamics in the U.S., relative to racial dynamics in the Soviet sphere of influence.
Left, photograph of the bombing of Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama by white supremacists. The bombing killed 4 young girls.
Solidarity of women of the world!’ says this Soviet poster from 1973.
How does Soviet propaganda critique events midcentury America?
What is the (sarcastic) symbolism of the halo in this comic?
Why is the figure shown as speaking from the other side of a fence?
What is the intended message of this comic?
What is the symbolism of the hammer and sickle?
What historical events do the skulls growing out of the tilled field represent?
What historical pattern does the “missile patch” represent?
What reason would an American cartoonist have to associate communism with “Godlessness”, “slavery” and “death”?
According to the poster on the left, what would happen if Russians were ever to invade the U.S?
Why are images of women being brutalized by invading forces is such a common theme in wartime propaganda?
American comic books in the 1950’s and 1960’s often featured heroes battling communist foes.
How does this impact children’s perception of communist countries?
Identify the 4 historical references from these collectible trading cards sold in packs of bubble gum. Children bought and traded, endeavoring to collect all 50 in the set.
Who is the intended audience of these sources?
Left: Pioneer! (an expression for young Soviets) Learn to fight for the cause of the working class!
-Lebedev Krasilnikov.
Right, Mochin the Pioneer’s Heroism, a story about a Young Pioneer helping the Red Army in the Russian Civil War of Reds vs. Whites, illustrated by Vera Ermolaeva
Left, early examples of nuclear power
Center, 1953 American political cartoon.
Right, Soviet Propaganda poster with the caption: Atoms to work for peace, for communism
This toy laboratory set was intended to let young people perform small scale experiments with radioactive materials in their own home. Equipped with a small working Geiger Counter, a “cloud chamber,” and samples of radioactive ore, the set’s creator claimed that the government supported its production to help Americans become more comfortable with nuclear energy. A.C. Gilbert Company, “U-238 Atomic Energy Lab” (1950-51), via Wikipedia.
Below, nuclear power (here, electricity, not weapons) generation over time.
“All World Records Should Be Ours!”, 1948.
In what ways does this poster remind you of discussions of the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin?
Left: An athlete wearing a jersey with “CCCP”, the cyrillic characters for U.S.S.R.
Caption: A mighty sports power!”
What do Russian athletes have to do with Russian politics? Why would a government put money and effort into promoting and celebrating athletes?
The 1980 Olympic Games paired Americans against Russians in Hockey. Americans won the match, going on to win the gold. Here, American athletes snag the cover of sports illustrated.
Why do you think the “Miracle on Ice” was such a big deal to Americans, given what you know about the Cold War?
What role do sports play in nationalism?
What role can sports play in the “soft power politics” of international power struggles?
Posters encouraging Soviet athletes to up their game in soccer (left), and telling Soviet children to aspire to be like the Soviet Union’s strongest and most celebrated athletes (right).
Released CIA internal memo, 1975.
Media referencing the U.S.-Soviet “Space Race”. Russians were the first to put a satellite and a man in space, while Americans were the first to put a man on the moon.
Russians were the first to put a man in space, which is commemorated in this poster
Space missions have to limit what they take with them.
Why would it be important for these astronauts to have a flag, a large object of no scientific or practical value?
Left: “For the glory of communism!”
Right: A portrait of the leader of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, Lenin, with Soviet rockets in the background.
What do rockets have to do with communism? What is the intended message of these posters?
In the following 3 slides, identify references to the United Soviet Socialist Republics (acronym U.S.S.R. in the Latin Alphabet, C.C.C.P. in the Cyrillic alphabet used in Russian) and visual symbols of communism.
Left, “Motherland! You've been the first to light a star of progress and peace over the Earth. Glory to science, glory to labor! Glory to the Soviet regime!”
Right, Miron Lukianov and Vasily Ostrovsky, “Through the Worlds and Centuries”. July 1965
Identify evidence of nationalism in these posters.
Identify references to Marxism in these posters.
Left, poster for The Race for Space, a 1959 American documentary film. Because the film was a co-production between a private production company, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S.S.R. Ministry of Culture, it can fairly be considered a propaganda film. Above, Boris Berezovsky poster Glory of the Space Heroes - Glory of the Soviet People!
Contrast these two primary sources.
Above, Boris Berezovsky poster. “Glory of the Space Heroes - Glory of the Soviet People! “1963
Left, Soviet Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, first woman in space (1963)
Right, American Astronaut Sally Ride, first American woman in space (1983)
How large is the gap between these milestones?
What do the dates possibly suggest about the acceptance of women into male-
dominated fields in each of the two countries?
Why do you think children took a natural interest in the space race?
Why do you think governments actively encouraged that interest?
In the consumer society of the United States, the Space Race was a common theme in toys, cartoons, and movies for children.
In the consumer society of the United States, the Space Race was a common theme in toys, cartoons, and movies for children.
In the Soviet Union, there were far fewer “luxury” consumer products made that did not meet basic material needs.Still, the Soviets produced some space themed toys.
United States
Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.)
How are they alike?
How are they different?
How are they different?