causes of the cold war

Hist. 5240 james martel H. W. Brands claims that, " the burden of responsibility for the cold war rested on the United States, the more powerful of the two countries, and the one with less to fear from the other." (The Devil We Knew: Americans and the Cold War, 1993) This statement stems from the idea that America had no evidential basis for a foreign policy that called for a containment of Soviet expansion. Brands is claiming that …showed first 75 words of 1240 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1240 total…Dulles, and the rest of the American government, because they knew the Soviets were not equal anymore. They understood that continued direct conflict would result in actual war. Yet they continued a set of policies that was purely anti-Communist for it's own sake. For the period during the 1950's, I agree that "…the United States, (was) the more powerful of the two countries, and the one with less to fear from the other." james martel