The Cold War Begins

After 1945, the U.S. and its wartime ally, the Soviet Union, became bitter rivals. The main rival of the United States during the Cold War^Q108 was Russia, the center of the Soviet Union. It was "cold" because the two superpowers never fought each other directly, though both built huge nuclear arsenals.

One main concern of the United States during the Cold War^Q109 was communism, a system in which the government controls the economy and allows little freedom. Americans feared it would spread from country to country.

In 1950, communist North Korea invaded South Korea. The United States entered the Korean War^Q110 to stop the spread of communism. Dwight Eisenhower, the general who had led the D-Day invasion in 1944, was elected president in 1952. Dwight Eisenhower is famous for many things^Q107, including being the president at the end of the Korean War, which ended in a 1953 ceasefire.

In 1959, Alaska and Hawaii joined the Union. On July 4, 1960, a new flag was first flown, designed by an Ohio high school student. The flag has 50 stars^Q122 because there are 50 states.