A Preponderance of Power

In the United States, the Cold War sparked a political culture in which politicians and officials used national resources to advance secret agendas, created institutions that facilitated wartime policies, and promoted national priorities that benefited their constituents. Abroad, it influenced the United States’ relationship with other countries, including Germany, as well as the destinies of people everywhere. The war led to an arms race undertaken by all United Nations countries and massive sales of military equipment to poor nations. For at least four decades it left the world in a chronic state of tension where a miscalculation could trigger a nuclear holocaust.