A Tenuous Relationship

The theme for this week is relations, and as most of you know, relations were a big part of the Cold War. Sometimes relations were good with the Soviets and sometimes they were bad. Our artifact of the week is a helmet from Francis Gary Powers, and it helps represent the ups and downs of the US-Soviet relations. The U2 incident represented a low point for both countries. While Us and the Soviets knew there were spying operations going on, this was a tangible confirmation that really did not help the situation between the countries.

Helmet worn by Francis Gary Powers

Since the beginning of the Cold War, it had always been the US versus the Soviets, and capitalism versus communism. This was not merely a division between the US and the Soviets; other countries were often forced to pick a side. (Or a side forced the country to adopt its ideology.) You could not have had two more opposite ideologies than capitalism and communism, so there was already built in tension between the two. There was a real fear of invasion; not necessarily physical invasion, but the invasion by the opposing ideology.

The fear could be seen everywhere in the US and the Soviet Union. Popular fiction of the time had the opposing country as the enemy of the story. Television and movies had the "good" guys fighting the "bad" guys. Both nations were paranoid that spies were infiltrating the most top secret projects, and many were imprisoned or killed over accusations of being spies.

It wasn't all bad, though! Sometimes, relations between the two countries were surprisingly good. Some say Khrushchev's visit to America was a high point in relations. There was also the time that Andropov answered a letter from a concerned young girl in America. The US and the Soviets, once bitter space race opponents, were able to collaborate on the Apollo-Soyuz mission in 1975.

The US and the Soviets were engaged in a tug-of-war for the entirety of the Cold War. The relationship between the two nations was one of complete hatered and reluctant respect. Relations between the two hit awesome highs and ridiculous lows. All of these elements contribute to one amazing story that was the Cold War. To explore this story, please visit the Cold War Museum. If you have a story to share, please leave it in the comment section. We would love to know your take on the relations between these two great nations during the Cold War!