In discussing the Soviet Union, it is important to distinguish between the phases of its history and the often profound variation from one decade to the next in both the reality and international perception of Soviet rule.

In the early 1920s, the Russian Civil War and enthusiastic pronouncements of imminent global communist revolution had people thoroughly on edge and provided the fodder for the first "Red Scare" in the United States. While the national fear of communist infiltration certainly exaggerated the threat, the fact remains that several acts of terrorism were perpetuated by leftist radicals during the period; these had little to no official connection to the Bolshevik Party of Russia and subsequently the Soviet Union, but the perception of common ideology between the Russians and domestic terrorists was enough to adversely color US perceptions of the country.

When discussing the evils of Bolshevik rule, however, most American discourse incorrectly conjoins the historically distinct dynamics of Stalin's Terror and the USSR's hostile geopolitical relationship with the US.

In the former, Josef Stalin undeniably initiated (though did not entirely control) an atmosphere of paranoia and terror that contributed to the imprisonment, torture or execution of millions, and whose deleterious effect on the Soviet economy and military likely cost the Russians millions more in casualties during WWII. That Stalin was not administratively responsible for the majority of deaths during the Terror is less a defense of the Soviet Union and more an expansion of responsibility to its core agencies (especially the infamous NKVD).

However, Soviet policy underwent a definite de-Stalinization at the hands of Nikita Khrushchev; the man associated in history and the American public imagination with the Cuba Missile Crisis was a political product but not a perpetuator of the Terror. The distinction is important when recognizing that the enemy of the US during the height of the Cold War was in most respects less domestically brutal than at its beginning or during the events preceding WWII.

The economic history of the USSR is another point of great importance in the American historiography. While the USSR endured famine and devastation during the 1920's, it also experienced a truly impressive economic renewal under the New Economic Policy (which, interestingly, did allow for capitalistic practices in small firms) and displayed great industrial capability under the first Five Year Plan.

However, the central management of market factors in the Plan(s) did present serious obstacles to the achievement of efficient economic behavior (i.e. a coal surplus in one region might go unused by its neighbor because the massive complexity of the central plan could not quickly accommodate it). Corruption among local party leaders became a substantial though not universal problem (when the coal surplus is finally allocated, the central planners find that the train's load grows unexpectedly lighter at every station), and would remain an unfortunate theme of the Soviet economy well into its severe decline in the 80s.

Daily life in the USSR in the latter half of the 20th century was not altogether miserable, but basic products (i.e. toilet paper) were often in short supply, and consumer products of a less essential nature were often limited as well. The classic example in US historiography is that the Soviets had a black market for American jeans.

TL:DR The Stalinist Terror was a serious failure of Soviet institutions at the highest levels of government, with disastrous implications for the well-being of the Soviet people. The US's enemy in the Cold War grew from that legacy but did not experience the same degree of civilian victimization. Corruption and economic inefficiency made life difficult for the majority of the population, and provide fodder for modern American hostility to Socialism or perceived continuations of ill-fated Soviet policy. "Propaganda" certainly embellishes this story, but the truth of the matter is a tragedy in its own right.

Edit: The moderator below reminded me to provide my sources:

"Let History Judge" by Roy Medvedev

"Inventing the Enemy" by Wendy Goldman

"Stalin: A New History" edited by Davies and Harris

"Darkness at Dawn: The Rise of the Russian Criminal State" by David Satter

"The Story of American Freedom" by Eric Foner