The Full Metal Jacket

 From 1950s to the mid 70s, the most important idea in the US was to fight communism. It all started with the Iron Curtain a political, ideological barrier created by the Soviet Union to distance themselves from the western countries. 

In a congess speech in 1947, later known as the Truman Doctrine, Truman promised military and economical aid for Turkey and Greece due to them being threatened by the Soviet Union. It was important to protect  all possible countries to protect the West from communism. In 1957 eisenhowen doctriine offered protection to Middle-Eastern countries.

At the end of World War II, Soviet started to build nuclear weapons. The only solution to protect USA from communism was to answer with the same (Mutual Assured Destruction). It was called the Arms Race.

McCarthy Era:

A very anti - communism time in the US. HUAC trying to get communism out of Hollywood and McCarthy was actively fighting against the inflitration in 1940s - 50s. Left wing was seen as a risk to the government and MCCarthy made a claim that the army is full of communists. A court hearing was shown on television, where he was shown in a bad light.

In 1950, USA troops entered the Korean War  on South Korea's behalf due to being threatened of Russia and China. What formerly was a civil war, became a proxy war between USSR and USA. The conflict got very little public attention.

On 22nd November 1963 J. F. Kennedy was assasinated. He was a president, who represented the youth. He blocked Soviet Union to bring military supplies into Cuba. The limitations are still there today. In 1961 Cuban exiles failed to invade Cuba. Bay of the pigs lost all financial support from USA after failing. Due to the fear of missiles located in Cuba, tensions between USSR and USA were rising. Cuban Crisis was a major confrontation between the two and is the closest the world has ever come to a nuclear war.

Because Arms Race wasn't enough, Soviet Union and USA started a Space Race. The countries used ballistic missile technology to get to space first. Soviet got a head start with Sputnik that beat the USA. In 1961 Kennedy demanded landing on the moon and in 1969 Apollo 11 succeeded.

Vietnam War was the culmination of the era. There are many different causes to the war, but the key point is that Vietnam as a country was very unstable. The outcome of the war was that the communist forces ended it by seizing the South in 1975. 2 million civilians, 1.1 million North troops and 500 000 South troops lives' were lost. During the conflict chemical bonds were dropped, which led to birth defects in the future. The one who took away US troops from South - Vietnam in the end was Henry Kissinger, he opened peace negotiations with the North and was rewarded Nobel Peace prize in 1973.

In June, 1972 burglars broke into the Democratic National Commitee, stealing documents and planting bugs, launching the Watergate Affair, leading to the resignation of then president Richard Nixon. 

A completely different thing that developed from the constant fight between US and USSR was the Counterculture, a cultural phenomenon developing in the West in 1960s . 70s to oppose the war/commercialism/social normes. The hippies, experimenting with drugs and partying. 

The Vietnam war and the events before that ensured the individualism of US and fueled the importance of freedom within the country even more.