In the years after World War II, tensions strained international relations, national politics, economic markets, domestic workplaces, and lifestyles. Defeat of the Axis powers demanded that the United States and the Soviet Union cooperate, but this alliance did not last much beyond VE Day. Relations between the United States and the Soviet Union steadily eroded into a “cold war” of suspicion and tension. Issues of national security abroad and internal security at home increasingly dominated and narrowed the terms of a more conservative political debate. A series of crises heightened anticommunist fervor and deepened the obsession with national security, ultimately leading to the Korean War. American foreign policy focused even more narrowly on anticommunism and claimed to justify a global military offensive. The Cold War was characterized by a wartime mentality, a swift military buildup, the intermingling of military and economic policies, and an emphasis on consensus and suppression of dissent.

Stresses and strains that had lain dormant beneath the surface of American life seemed to erupt during these years. Shifts in population that disrupted established socioeconomic patterns combined with anxieties about the deepening Cold War to create tensions at home. Suburbia seemed a place to distance oneself from the ever-increasing change. The new suburban lifestyle epitomized the postwar spirit of confidence in the future but offered a way to cushion the impact of the social and demographic changes resulting from the new world order.

During Truman’s administration, there was a growing faith that economic experts could manipulate the economy to assure constant expansion. Domestic economic growth was tied intrinsically to the global economy and thus to national security. Postwar social policy focused on specific segments of society rather than on comprehensive programs for all. Concepts such as national health care and public housing became stigmatized as dangerous welfare schemes, but specific programs could be defended as security measures for people who were entitled to them.

When Dwight D. Eisenhower entered office in 1953, he brought moderate Republicanism with him. This meant few fundamental changes in either foreign or domestic programs, but Eisenhower helped to lower the pitch of the shrill anticommunist crusade. A new sense of calm settled over life in the United States--or so it seemed.