The Cold War and Propaganda
The Cold War was a clash of ideologies, in which the East and the West accused each other of threatening the fundamental ideals of individual and national freedom. Tensions between the Soviet Union and the West were high as their wartime allegiance quickly disintegrated following the fall of their common enemy. The Cold War was characterized by the presence of nuclear arsenals on both sides and also by the lack of willingness to use these weapons. It was the first war fought under the imminent threat of nuclear destruction after America lost its World War II monopoly over nuclear weapons. Spanning over four decades, the war never saw any direct fighting, hence the use of “cold” to describe the tension between the two blocs. The superpowers would instead divide the world as each tried to impose and maintain their ideology in other nations. An economic, political, and military battle raged between capitalism and communism, sustained by years of proxy wars, threats of nuclear destruction, and propaganda. Cold War propaganda was a psychological weapon instrumental in gaining public support for the war by glorifying one political system and demonizing the other.
Primary Document
Hanhimaki and Westad’s The Cold War: A History in Documents and Eyewitness Accounts serves as the primary document for this paper. The book consists of an array of official and unofficial records that provide a multifaceted examination of the war. Unique to this book is the analysis of the Cold War as a global war. The editors take on a wide range of perceptions and experiences when looking at the battle. Hanhimaki and Westad understand that there was no single Cold War experience. Physical location, social position, ideological inclinations, and time era all influenced how different people experienced the war. The editors attempt to emphasize these differences in how the conflict was perceived and its significance in different parts of the world.
Hanhimaki and Westad and argue that bringing out these differences is “perhaps the most important aspect of studying the war”. The book attempt to offer the audience an array of perspectives, rationales for taking part in the war, and understandings of the role of the war. The Cold War is often only viewed from the eyes of the two superpowers and Hanhimaki and Westad succeed in providing a more multifaceted interpretation of the Cold War. The book is intended for a broad audience and is particularly valuable in educational settings due to its portrayal of how the regular people from all walks of life were impacted by the decade’s long division of the world into two blocs. Unlike other historical accounts of war, Hanhimaki and Westad’s work has a personal feel, making it easy to relate to. The book reveals the far-reaching impacts of the Cold War, some of which can still be experienced in the present day. The profound number of sources incorporated into the book, including telegrams, memos, and actual communication between heads of state, not only lend to its readability but also its credibility.
Background/Historical Context
The Cold War was a state of geopolitical tension between the Eastern Bloc and Western Bloc that lasted from 1947 to 1991. The Eastern Bloc consisted of the Soviet Union and its satellite states including Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Poland. The Western Bloc consisted of the United States and its NATO allies, including the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Canada, Denmark, and Norway. During World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union functioned as allies, and both countries were critical in the fall of Nazi Germany and the end of the war (Keylor 2011). The United States, United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union held conferences following the end of the war to establish the new world order. The Soviet Union, under Stalin, was given responsibility for Eastern Europe under the condition that states were allowed to hold free and fair elections (Gaddis 2007).
However, communism soon spread over the region, and the West had to intervene to save countries such as Iran and Greece from a Soviet takeover. The relationship between the East and West soon deteriorated. The formation of NATO gave the impression that the West was planning to encircle and take down the Soviets (Keylor 2011). The announcement of the Truman Doctrine in 1947 was an official announcement that West intended to stop the spread of communism (Gaddis 2007). This set the path for the beginning of the longest war in American history. At the prelude of the Cold War, Europe was still recovering from the destruction of the war. Cities were in ruins and resources were scarce. Communism became a symbol of hope and restoration, and it quickly gained popularity. The West noticed the rapid spread of communism and began to take measures to stop this. One of these measures was the Marshall Plan. $12b was sent to Western Europe to help in its economic recovery (Castillo 2005). This aid became an incentive for Eastern Europe nations to leave communism and set the pace for this unique war.
Propaganda
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines propaganda as “the organized spreading of often false ideas”. From a political perspective, advertisement is the deliberate attempt to use words, images, and icons to advance a systematic message that is intended to influence and shape popular beliefs, behaviours, and attitudes (Brandenberger 2012). In their book, Hanhimaki and Westad write off some of the tactics used by both the Communists and the West to gain support for their ideologies, quell secret doubts, and undermine the enemy. In Chapter 13 of The Cold War, Hanhimaki and Westad argue that,
“No single aspect of the Cold War is more important – and more difficult to understand –than the way mindsets and cultures came to define, intensify, and prolong the conflict on a global scale” (p. 412).
The Cold War was primarily a war of perception. Hanhimaki and Westad state that from the beginning of the war, the struggle between the Soviet Union and Western powers was tied back to how people viewed themselves and their place in society. This saw large groups of people from across the world align themselves with either one or the other of the two sides. Hanhimaki and Westad argue that educational and religious background was a determining factor in how people viewed the superpowers and their political ideologies. The party that individuals and their countries chose had a significant impact on how they perceived either Moscow or Washington. Unlike its predecessors, the Cold War was not a show of military might, it was an intellectual battle of political ideology. Propaganda was part of the struggle for perceptions whereby words spoke as loud as actions, and in some cases, replaced activities completely (Taylor 2013).
Intellectuals from both sides, therefore, dedicated themselves to arguing the strengths of their respective political stands and the weaknesses of the alternative. Hanhimaki and Westad note that these conflicts between intellectuals on both sides of the divide were indistinguishable from state-funded propaganda battles that the two blocs waged against each other. This propaganda peddled by the superpowers was central to the Cold War. The nuclear weapons controlled by both sides were capable of destroying human life, a risk no one was willing to take. Propaganda and psychological operations became an alternative to traditional warfare (Taylor 13) and were used to win the approval of international opinion and isolate the other side. Propaganda took on many forms and was initiated both by the government and by voluntary organizations. According to Hanhimaki and Westad, both the Western and Eastern blocs hired writers and film-makers to use their talent towards the propaganda cause. Interestingly, payment was only an added attraction for these individuals as most were already supportive of the object.
An example of voluntary action taken by institutions during the war was the production of a series of propaganda films by the Extension Department of Harding College. In one such film produced in 1949, the protagonist is a fictional animated character named Joe, King of the Workers of the World. The propaganda cartoon was intended to “create a deeper understanding of what has made America the finest place in the world to live” (Harding College 1949). This particular film achieved its goal by demonstrating the aspects of American society that triumphed all other nations. The narrator continually speaks of the “American way” of doing things to highlight advancements in the business, economy, human rights, technology, industry, transport, and even home appliances. The Americans had the advantage of cinematic promotion and were able to produce films to sway public opinion (Shaw 2002). The Soviets eventually released their own array of propagandist productions to fight the depiction of the Communist threat in American films.
As Hanhimaki and Westad state, propaganda functioned differently in the Eastern Bloc than it did in the West. For one, intellectuals in the West were given options on the ways in which they could offer vocal support for the cause. Those on the East, on the other hand, had only two choices. They could either speak out in support of the regime or remain silent. In addition, leftists in the West were punished for their rebellion through professional dismissal and in some cases, deportation. Those on the other side, however, faced more severe punishment including imprisonment, detention in labour camps, and admission into psychiatric institutions. This was demonstrative of the differences in the political approaches taken by the two sides. Further demonstration of this was the fact that communist propaganda was not only limited to talking and writing. They also used kidnapping and arbitrary arrest to slow down Western efforts (Hanhimaki and Westad 2004).
Taylor (2013) asserts that the Cold War was a war of the mind, a contest of ideologies and a battle of nerves. Nietzel (2016) also supports the idea that the Cold War was not a military conflict, but rather a global struggle of ideologies that was realized through a war of words. The battle was characterized by its use of words and its threats of nuclear action more than anything else. The fear of atomic destructions loomed over the international community. Propaganda flourished in this climate of fear. Both sides held a considerable arsenal of nuclear weapons, which, as Taylor (2013) explains, propaganda exploited by instilling fear of the enemy who held the bombs. Some of the themes that propaganda promoted in relation to the nuclear threat included technological determinism, deterrence, and capability to strike first. As Taylor notes, despite both the Soviets and the West threatening the other with nuclear warfare, propaganda from either bloc spread the idea of the other side being a real and imminent threat to peace and freedom. Propaganda focused on portraying the enemy as aggressive, repressive, and militaristic (Taylor 2013).
Despite America’s success in spreading propaganda materials aimed at promoting American capitalist ideals, the Soviet Union had far more experience in propaganda. Under Lenin and later Stalin, the USSR is often referred to as the first propaganda state (Brandenberger 2012). The Soviet political system in the early twentieth century was characterized by mass indoctrination through propaganda and ideology. By the start of the Cold War, the Soviets had considerable experience in running propaganda campaigns which climaxed during the 1930s (Brandenberger 2012). They dedicated resources to indoctrination, and propaganda was one of their strategies of choice. The Soviets turned the phrase “Propaganda state” into a political system that harnessed the press, mass culture, and educational institutions for the purpose of mass indoctrination across Eastern Europe. Some of the tactics used in Berlin as highlighted by Hanhimaki and Westad included false stories peddled through the media, the flooding of West Berlin with pamphlets, and cars placed at the border with large speakers emitting propagandist messages.
The media played a critical role in this struggle by producing, contributing, and maintaining political and cultural antagonism (Stafford 2013). During the period of the Cold War, the media evolved from print and radio, into television and this new medium gave the media more power to support the ideals of capitalism and communism when either were threatened. Domestic consumption also became a propaganda tool during the Cold War. This is because the home was portrayed as a promise of security in the face of insecurity (Le 2017). In the American propaganda video featuring the character King Joe, the narrator states that Americans own 72% of the cars in the world, 92% of bathtubs, and nearly all the refrigerators in existence (Harding College). Operation Abundance, which saw America bombard the Soviet Union with western goods, including ladies’ stockings, was intended to give Russians a taste of American riches. As Castillo (2005) puts it, the Russian people would soon grow tired of receiving tanks and spies instead of vacuum cleaners and beauty parlours.
The use of household consumption, the Marshall Plan, the media, and other propaganda strategies was most evident in Berlin, which was the epicentre of the battle that raged between the Soviets and the West. Germany was still under the control of World War II allies, and its capital city Berlin was divided between both sides. There was nowhere where the political showdown between the two blocs erupted more than in a town that was reconstructed on a set of competing ideologies. Prior to the erection of the wall in 1961 when the interaction between East and West Berlin was still open, propagandists devised new ways to reach audiences on the other side of the divide who regularly engaged in economic trade. Household exhibitions were one of the ways Americans used to expose citizens on both sides of the city to the advantages of the Marshall Plan, which according to Castillo (2005), combined democratic freedom with rising private consumption.
Conclusion
The tension between the Soviet Union and the Western NATO allies, led by the United States, following World War II threatened to destroy human life on earth through nuclear warfare, a significant advancement in military prowess. Another distinct feature of the Cold War was the reliance of both the Eastern and Western Blocs on massive propaganda campaigns, which offered a safer and more effective alternative to nuclear warfare. The goal of both sides was to exploit the daily fear of nuclear annihilation and the uncertainty of the future. Cold War propaganda did not just stop at the promotion of Western and Soviet culture, it also instilled more fear and suspicion of communist and capitalist ideals.