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The Cold War was reflected in culture through music, movies, books, and other media. One element of the Cold War often seen relates directly or indirectly to the threat of nuclear war. Another is the conflict between the superpowers in terms of espionage. Many works use the Cold War as a backdrop, or directly take part in fictional conflict between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. The period 1953-1962 saw Cold War themes first enter mainstream culture as a public preoccupation.

The Cold War was also reflected in the attitudes of people in their every day lives. The Hollywood blacklist determined who would create, work on, and star in motion pictures; in politics the House Un-American Activities Committee questioned those thought to be communist sympathizers; in the US Senate, Joseph McCarthy created difficulties for many as well.

Contents 1 Music 2 Movies and Television 2.1 Films depicting nuclear war (The Cold War gets Hot) 2.2 Films depicting a conventional US/USSR war 2.3 Films depicting Cold War Espionage 2.4 Films reflecting non-military competition between the superpowers 2.5 TV Shows 3 Arts 3.1 Musicals and Plays 4 Video Games 5 Books and other works regarding nuclear war 6 Commercials 7 Sports 8 Politics 8.1 House Un-American Activities Committee 8.2 Political Campaigns 8.2.1 1950 Defeat of Senator Claude Pepper 8.2.2 Daisy 8.2.3 1976 Presidential Debate 9 Protest Culture 10 Other 11 References 12 External links

There were many protest songs during the 1980's that reflected general unease with the escalating tensions with the Soviet Union brought on by Ronald Reagan's and Margaret Thatcher's hard line against the Soviets. For example, various musical artists wore military uniform-like costumes, as a reflection of the increased feeling of militarism seen in the 1980's. Songs symbollically showed the superpowers going to war, as in the Frankie Goes to Hollywood song "Two Tribes." This song's MTV music video featured caricatures of US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet President Konstantin Chernenko in a wrestling match. Other songs expressed fear of World War III, as Sting in the song "Russians" where Sting eloquently states "I don't subscribe to his [Reagan's or Kruschev's] point of view" (that Reagan would protect his people, or that Kruschev would "bury you"). Other examples include Sly Fox's "Let's go all the way," a song about "going all the way" to nuclear war; The Escape Club's "Wild Wild West" with its various references to the Cold War; the Genesis song "Land of Confusion" expressed a desire to make some sense out of the world, especially in relation to nuclear war.

Probably the most famous of the 1980's songs against increased confrontation between the Soviets and the Americans was Nena's "99 Luftballons," which described the events that could lead to a nuclear war.

Imperiet -- "Coca Cola Cowboys" -- a Swedish rock song about how the world is divided by two super powers that both claim to represent justice.

The 1959 film On the Beach, depicted a gradually dying, post-apocalyptic world in Australia that remained after a nuclear Third World War. Other films include:

• By Dawn's Early Light (HBO, 1990)
• Miracle Mile (1988)
• Testament (PBS, 1983)
• When the Wind Blows (1986)
• On the Beach (Showcase, 2000)
• Countdown To Looking Glass (HBO, 1984)
• Threads (BBC, 1984)
• The War Game (BBC, 1965)
• Dr. Strangelove (1964)
• The Sacrifice (Sweden, 1986)
• Fail-Safe (1964)
• The Children's Story (1982) short film , which originally aired on TV's Mobil Showcase, depicts the first day of indoctrination of an elementary school classroom by a new teacher, representing a totalitarian government that has taken over the United States. It is based on the 1960 short story of the same name by James Clavell.

• The Day After (1983)
• War Games (1983)
• Duck and Cover -- Educational movie explaining what to do in the event of a nuclear attack.
• The Manhattan Project (1986) -- Though not about a nuclear war, it was seen as a cautionary tale.

In addition to fears of a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union, during the Cold War, there were also fears of a direct, large scale conventional conflict between the two superpowers.

• Amerika (ABC, 1987), a peaceful takeover of the United States by the Soviet Union.
• Red Dawn (1984) -- presented a conventional Soviet attack with limited, strategic Soviet nuclear strikes on the United States, aided by allies from Latin America, and the exploits of a group of high schoolers who form a guerrilla group to oppose them.
• Invasion U.S.A. -- The 1952 film showed a Soviet invasion of the U.S. succeeding because the citizenry had fallen into moral decay, war profiteering, and isolationism. The film was later parodied on Mystery Science Theater 3000. (This is not to be confused with the similarly-titled Chuck Norris action vehicle from 1985.)
• A 1962 government-sponsored short subject, Red Nightmare, narrated by Jack Webb, imagined a Soviet-dominated America as a result of the protagonist's negligence of his "all-American" duties.

• Firefox (film) The film details an American plot to steal a highly advanced Soviet fighter aircraft (MiG-31 Firefox) which is capable of Mach 6, is invisible to radar, and carries weapons controlled by thought.

• The Hunt for Red October is a film based on a Tom Clancy novel of the same name about the captain of a technologically advanced Soviet ballistic missile submarine that attempts to defect to the United States.

• James Bond first appeared in 1954. Fans loved the beautiful scarcely dressed women, exotic locations, tricky gadgets, and death-defying stunts. The films were based vaguely on the Cold War, but fans probably paid less and less attention to the politics. Bond movies followed the political climate in depicting Soviets and "Red" Chinese. In Casino Royale (1954), Bond was an American agent working with the British to destroy a ruthless Soviet agent in France, but he worked better as Agent 007, James Bond, of Her Majesty's Secret Service, was played by Sean Connery in 1971 and many actors since. Although the first Bond films involved the Cold War as a backdrop, later Bond films during the Cold War had with less and less Cold War and more and more sex and stunt work in each version.

• «TASS Upolnomochen Zayavit...» (TASS is Authorized to Announce...) - a Soviet TV series based on Julian Semenov's novel. The plot of the movie is set around fictional African country Nagonia, where CIA agents are preparing a military coup, while KGB agent Slavin is trying to prevent it. Slavin succeeds by blackmailing the corrupt American spy John Glebe.

• Rocky IV

• The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show
• Mission Impossible
• Several episodes of Star Trek featured a futuristic version of the Cold War, in terms of the United Federation of Planets vs. The Klingon Empire, analogs for the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., respectively.
• I Led Three Lives -- The first foray into mass culture dealing with the Cold War. ^[1]

The U.S. and Russia engaged in a competition in the arts as well- mainly ballet. They would send previews of their country's ballets to prove their superiority. In the U.S., this caused a dramatic increase in government funding. In both countries, ballet was turned into powerful political propaganda, and they used dance to reflect life style in the "battle for the hearts and minds of men."

• Chess The game of chess was another mode of competition between the two superpowers, which the musical demonstrates.

• Missle Command
• Firefox (arcade game)
• Raid over Moscow

• Nuclear Paranoia by Chas Newkey-Burden
• Alas, Babylon By Pat Frank
• Arc Light by Eric Harry
• Resurrection Day by Brendan DuBois
• Twilight: 2000, role-playing game.
• Warday by Whitley Strieber and James Kuselka
• Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy, about a conventional NATO/Warsaw Pact war.
• Nineteen Eighty-Four
• Spy vs. Spy
• Frederick Forsyth's formula spy novels sold in the hundreds of thousands. The Fourth Protocol, whose title refers to a series of conventions that, if broken, will lead to nuclear war and that are now, of course, all broken except for the fourth and last thread, was made into a major film starring British actor Michael Caine. The point of such novels—like that of American movies of the 1950s and 1960s such as My Son John, Kiss Me Deadly, and The Manchurian Candidate—is to vilify the "enemy within," the treacherous peace movement activists, and simple Labour party voters who, by 1988 were marching against the Cold War.

• Masters of Deceit -- a non-fiction work written by the FBI, through J. Edgar Hoover's office, extolling the vices of Communism, and the virtues of Americanism. ^[2]

Wendy's Hamburger Chain, had a commercial showing a "Soviet Fashion Show," with the same woman wearing the same outfit for various situations, the only difference being in the accessory she had with her.

Apple Computer's "1984" ad.

• 1980 Boycott of the Summer Olympics by the US
• 1984 Boycott of the Summer Olympics by the USSR

Jackie Robinson was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee, specifically stating that he was not a Communist. ^[3]

Main article: House Un-American Activities Committee

The House Un-American Activities Committee interfered in American cultural life through its questioning of actors, directors, and others who produced movies in Hollywood. The effect of this questioning was the Hollywood blacklist, and was felt far beyond Hollywood.

A pamphlet was circulated with the title The Red Record of Senator Claude Pepper, ^[4] which painted him as a communist sympathiser, and cost him the election. He later served in the US House of Representatives.

Daisy the most famous campaign commercial of the Cold War. Aired only once on 7 September 1964, it was a factor in Lyndon B. Johnson's defeat of Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential election.

The commercial begins with a sweet young girl standing in a meadow with chirping birds, picking the petals of a daisy while counting each petal slowly. Her sweet innocence and several mistakes in her counting endear her to the viewer. When she reaches "9", an ominous-sounding male voice is then heard counting down a missile launch, and as the girl eyes turns toward something she sees in the sky, the camera zooms in until her pupil fills the screen, blacking it out. When the countdown reaches zero, the blackness is replaced by the flash and mushroom cloud from a nuclear explosion. The contrast between her sweet innocence and the harsh reality of nuclear war is very disturbing for many viewers.

As the firestorm rages, a voiceover from Johnson states, "These are the stakes! To make a world in which all of God's children can live, or to go into the dark. We must either love each other, or we must die." Another voiceover then says, "Vote for President Johnson on November 3. The stakes are too high for you to stay home."

In 1976, President Gerald Ford made a mistake in saying that he believed that Poland was free from Soviet influence.

• Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
• Committee for Non-Violent Action
• Peace Action

Barbie -- Barbie represented the American way of life, because she was the ultimate consumer. ^[5]

1. ^ Whitfield, Stephen J., The Culture of the Cold War, page 66
2. ^ Whitfield, Stephen J., The Culture of the Cold War, page 68
3. ^ Whitfield, Stephen J., The Culture of the Cold War, page 194
4. ^ Whitfield, Stephen J., The Culture of the Cold War, page 29
5. ^ Whitfield, Stephen J., The Culture of the Cold War, page 71

• Orwell, George. (1949). Nineteen-Eighty-Four. London: Secker & Warburg. (later edn. ISBN 0-451-52493-4)

• Video of the Daisy ad, from the PBS website
• A Historical Look at Campaign Commercials
• Spy vs Spy Gallery
• Missile Command at the Killer List of Videogames