How did the Cold War affect American's political life, education, and cultur

Question:When I was in school, during the Cold War, we had air raid drills. We students crawled under our desks while our teachers opened all the windows in the classroom. After the initial shock wave from the nuclear blast, the teacher was supposed to close all the windows to protect against radioactive fallout. Life, from a very early age, was all about the evil Communist Bloc countries in the USSR and China.

Politically, Richard Nixon improved our relationship with China. He was the first US President to go there since World War II. Ronald Reagan broke the back of the Soviet Union years later, and we all watched as the first non-Communist leader took power over there since the Bolshevik Revolution at the beginning of the 20th Century.

Culturally, a large part of the civillized world was unavailable to the West throughout the Cold War. St. Petersberg, Warsaw, and many other interesting cities were off limits to Westerners. Also, people weren't allowed to leave the USSR so we didn't have the immigration from these countries either, which tended to be another great way to share culture. For many years the average American knew very little about the Communist countries and their rich past.

Today, it's as if it never happened. People travel freely through every country that used to be Communist, and they travel to the west also.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: When I was in school, during the Cold War, we had air raid drills. We students crawled under our desks while our teachers opened all the windows in the classroom. After the initial shock wave from the nuclear blast, the teacher was supposed to close all the windows to protect against radioactive fallout. Life, from a very early age, was all about the evil Communist Bloc countries in the USSR and China.

Politically, Richard Nixon improved our relationship with China. He was the first US President to go there since World War II. Ronald Reagan broke the back of the Soviet Union years later, and we all watched as the first non-Communist leader took power over there since the Bolshevik Revolution at the beginning of the 20th Century.

Culturally, a large part of the civillized world was unavailable to the West throughout the Cold War. St. Petersberg, Warsaw, and many other interesting cities were off limits to Westerners. Also, people weren't allowed to leave the USSR so we didn't have the immigration from these countries either, which tended to be another great way to share culture. For many years the average American knew very little about the Communist countries and their rich past.

Today, it's as if it never happened. People travel freely through every country that used to be Communist, and they travel to the west also.