Specifically, what areas of the US' activities did the Soviet government choose to target with their propaganda, and how effective was it? I know that the United States' presence in Vietnam was a big one -- were there any other standouts besides the usual ideological conflict?
Thanks!
Some anti-US propaganda focused on racism and it's contradiction with freedom. I was born in Leningrad in '87 as the USSR was falling apart. One of my parents gave me an old children's book of theirs called "Mr. Twister." It's about an American man, Mr. Twister, and his family going on vacation. They enter a hotel with that has Black patrons as well as a Black staff. The family freaks out and leaves, cutting their vacation short. You can watch an animated version with translation here.
hi! there have been a few related questions in this sub. I've taken a quick look around; I'm sure I've missed a few, but these will get you started
Why did the Soviet Union hate America so much?
What were Soviet children taught in their classrooms about the United States?
In addition to racism (which has been mentioned), Soviet leaders and propagandists continually made a fuss about how miserable capitalism was. The basic narrative was rather straight forward: there is a small elite in the capitalist world who consume everything while most people live exploited and miserable lives. It is a similar story to what is said about socialist states in the West. It was rather effective, and backfired when many Soviet citizens visited western Europe in the later years of the USSR and saw that clearly even the 'exploited' were doing pretty good for themselves.
A good book on Soviet everyday life and attitudes is Donald Raleigh's Russia's Sputnik Generation, a book of interviews with baby boomers from Saratov. Most of those he interviewed did not have an unfavorable view of the US themselves, and many of them grew up enamored with the Beatles and so forth.