The cold had a profound impact on the way of life in the United States. After the end of World War II the United States was the only country with atomic weapons. This changed in 1949 when the Soviet Union detonated their first atomic bomb. As technology progressed the United States and the Soviets created large stockpiles to deter the other side from starting a nuclear war. The fear of nuclear war was not on American's mind during the the 1950's, but the fear of communism was. Senator Joseph McCarthy led the United States against what was considered the internal threat of communism. American's believed communism was a direct threat to their way of life, anyone that deviated against what was considered normal was a threat and could be accused of being a communist. Trials against communists and communist sympathizers were well publicized, Hollywood was one of the targets of this hysteria. People believed that Hollywood movies had subliminal messages. Many actors, directors, screenwriters were prevented from ever working on movies again. President Eisenhower described Americas fear of communism as "too much hysteria." The fear of communism and the Soviet Union also led to economic shifts. Americans believed that becoming consumers would benefit the United States the most, this led to American consumerism. The United States would consume one-thirds of the worlds goods and resources. These resources were not basic needs, but were luxury goods, this showed the growth of the American middle class. The short answer is that the cold war dramatically affected the way of life and thinking in america.

This is an interesting source of information on american life during the Cold War. http://stmafp.blogspot.com/ also this http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/nash/peopleevents/e_hysteria.html

http://www.gradesaver.com/a-and-p-and-other-stories/study-guide/section8/ http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/hollywood-ten http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_atomic_bomb_project http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/arthur-miller/mccarthyism/484/