The most senseless of wars - America against the "evil empire", the Soviet Union, lasted for almost half a century. The Cold War, which cost the world large human losses and colossal material costs - who benefited from it?
Confrontation
After the victory over fascism in 1945, two superpowers emerged on the world stage: the USSR and the USA. Europe was liberated from the fascist plague, but President Harry Truman warned: "Now we have to worry about the communist plague that is trying to take over the world." Two powerful countries with conflicting ideologies - this was the reason for the start of the Cold War. It is the reason, not the reason.
From the polar ice caps to the equatorial jungle, from submarines on the ocean floor to military satellites in space, the war raged everywhere, reaching institutions, colleges, libraries, film studios, TV channels, radio voices … But was it real? As a conspiracy theorist, today I can confidently say that the Cold War was a well-thought-out adventure. Another means to achieve goals - not only state ones, but also personal ones. Let's take a look at the list of conspirators - there are some truly unique personalities.
Demonic Senator
The number one conspirator is Senator Joseph McCarthy. Rich high-ranking officials are bored without secrets and riddles. And the mentally limited mediocre politician has nothing to stand out against the general background. So he came up with a terrible "threat" solely to increase his rating.
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On February 9, 1950, he released information about a "massive communist conspiracy." McCarthy argued that the Truman administration is full of "hidden communists" who are secret agents of Moscow and are active in anti-American activities. Even more monstrous were the accusations he leveled on June 14, 1951 against General George Marshall and Secretary of State Dean Acheson: "These two are actively cooperating with Stalin and helping communism take over the world, entangle America with the world communist web woven in Moscow." There was absolutely no evidence at the heart of these accusations, but McCarthy chose the timing well - that year America learned that, thanks to the Americans, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the Russians were in possession of an atomic bomb that was practically copied from the American one.
The senator achieved his goal - a "Commission to Investigate Anti-American Activities" was created, which was allocated considerable funds. Its goal is to search for "red" spies in offices, libraries, schools, colleges, churches, kindergartens, Hollywood … The McCarthy Commission was supplied with information by the FBI. And the "suspects" had two choices: either "hand over" the communists, or lose their jobs. Democrats who refuse to accuse anyone of communism have become victims of perjury. The results of the "investigation" are appalling - thousands of professionals and prominent, socially useful personalities were fired, blacklisted, deported or driven to suicide.
Conspiracy advocates compare the commission's activities with the activities of the NKVD in 1937. Historian Elm Richardson wrote in his memoirs: "The Americans were indoctrinated that the Communists have occupied high government posts and that it is necessary to identify all the Red enemies as soon as possible."
Witch-hunt
Next on the list of conspirators is Dwight D. Eisenhower. Being a very extraordinary person, he not only became a follower of McCarthy, but also took advantage of the "thoughts and deeds" of the possessed senator - the Republican presidential candidate in the 1952 elections built his election campaign on a very profitable topic: "Korea, corruption and communism." It was an era of paranoia: Americans carefully looked for communists among their subordinates, bosses, neighbors, friends, children, even idols and TV presenters sometimes became “red rebels”. Not surprisingly, Eisenhower won the presidential race.
And what about McCarthy? The senator was very worried about his career and, finding nothing more suitable, again began to sow paranoid suspicions about "the impending takeover of America by the Communists." But when McCarthy accused the army of supporting the Communists in 1954, the government finally decided to remove the rabid senator from office because of inappropriate behavior. McCarthy died three years later without achieving full acceptance of his theory of the "world communist threat."
Storytellers from the Pentagon
The abnormal senator died, but his "theory" was not lost - the election of the 35th US president was approaching. One of the candidates, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, decided to use the methods of Eisenhower and McCarthy to win the election. But the myths about the communist threat have already set voters on edge. A new format was needed, a sensitive topic.
Rockets! Nuclear bombs! Oh, by the way - after all, in the second half of the 1950s, there was widespread fear that the Soviet Union had gone ahead in the development of nuclear bombs. The rumors were repeatedly denied by American intelligence, but this did not prevent Kennedy from launching, like a new warhead, another conspiracy - America's "lag" in the development of the missile industry.
The reports of the US Air Force and the Congressional committee in 1957 clearly stated: “America is far superior to the USSR in the number of missiles. There are enough American nuclear warheads to destroy life on the planet. " But the media reported other data: "America is significantly behind the USSR in the number of bombs and missiles!" In a televised debate with Richard Nixon, Kennedy accused Eisenhower of lagging the United States behind the USSR in the development of strategic defense, thereby ensuring himself a brilliant success in the elections. The conspiracy worked and provided huge financial investments for the Department of Defense.
In 1964, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara presented a defense industry budget of $ 54.4 billion. The minister stressed that the Pentagon needs myths (!) About "lagging behind in the missile field": "This will further increase the Pentagon's budget." And the myths immediately appeared - the naval missile systems of the communists. In the Soviet Union they never heard of such …
Ministry of Paranoia
By the late 1960s, the American public was deeply concerned about the rapid nuclear arms race. The media have already shouted: “If there is a bomb, it will explode! If the number of weapons increases - wait for the war! The flourishing of ballistic missile production reached its apogee both in the USSR and in the USA. The threat of a third world war has become a reality.
In 1972, President Richard Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev attempted to halt the arms race in the missile field - a missile defense treaty was signed. But these measures turned out to be only a temporary lull.
I present to you the next followers of the paranoid senator: in 1976, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Chief of Staff Dick Cheney and analyst Paul Wolfowitz began preaching a new "American gospel": saving Americans from communist political domination. Rumsfeld stated that the Soviet Union was secretly creating weapons in large quantities to destroy the United States.
The Pentagon created Team B to investigate the extent of the threat. Team leader Dr. Anna Karn summarized her activities: “We could not find evidence. But their absence does not mean anything. The Soviets strive to conquer America - such is the Russian mentality. Quite convincing, isn't it?
"The Soviet Union is like a terrorist threat to America, like the PLO or the Irish Republican Army," reporter Claire Sterling echoed, to persuade CIA chief William Casey. And Casey believed it, adding to the list of conspirators. He persuaded President R. Reagan to increase funding for military developments, including the development of nuclear weapons.
Militarized formations of "death squads", trained in special schools of the United States, killed and tortured "red terrorists" in Colombia, Chile, Honduras, El Salvador, Grenada.
The Reagan administration also supported the Afghan mujahideen - "freedom fighters" and supplied them with billions of dollars and weapons to fight the "Soviet occupiers." Now "fighters" are successfully flooding America and Europe with hard drugs.
The collapse of the communist system in 1989-91 led to the de facto end of the Cold War. It has always been just an excuse for the American arms race. However, for many states and countries, unwittingly drawn into the struggle against the Soviet Union, it cost enormous losses of resources and human lives.
But the peoples of the world exist for that, the descendants of McCarthy are convinced, to pay for American conspiracies.
Max Galitsky. Secrets of the 20th century magazine