Before the Vietnam War many social and racial aspects of our country were overlooked. The events that occurred due to our involvement in Vietnam forced people to confront things previously ignored. . The Vietnam War was the catalyst that brought about incredible and far-reaching change in our country, forever altering its course. Issues such as civil rights and the public's view of war were challenged by Americans, and these changes manifested themselves in the form of popular culture. After the Second World War, after the fall of America's enemy superpowers: Japan, Italy, Germany and their allies, two global players remained; United States and Soviet Union Both countries had polar opposite beliefs. The United States was concerned with rebuilding Europe and Asia through the Marshall Plan, and under Truman and Eisenhower believed in fighting communism wherever it arose. The USSR, starting with Germany, was destined to spread its communist ideals at every step. This ideological difference led the United States to combat communist threats and beliefs both at home and abroad, however the two powers never came to blows, so the resulting conflict is known as the Cold War. The Cold War changed American attitudes toward foreign threats. and ideologies and would set the stage for the great cultural movement that occurred in the 1960s in Vietnam. One of the main reasons the United States felt animosity towards communism was because of political ideologies such as the Truman Doctrine. The Truman Doctrine was an international relations policy that Harry Truman introduced in a speech to Congress on March 12, 1947. To ensure that unstable countries such as Turkey and Greece did not become subject to communist ideologies and rule Har.... .. middle of the sheet ......ll as from Simone de Beauvoir's condemnation of marriage and criticism of the role of women in society, The Second Sex. According to Beauvoir, “feminist ideas were slowly entering the movement.” (Kurlansky, 315) As these ideas slowly became part of the movement, the role of female gender was called into question. Cora Weiss, leader of the Women's Strike for Peace (WSP) shared her progressive view on the gender role of women when she mentioned in a conference: "It's okay to go out and demonstrate, it's okay to write leaflets, it's okay to go see the president of the United States.” (Wells, 49) Without the anti-war committees, which included women for protection from violence, but also allowed them to express their opinions, the women's rights movement would not have taken off African American civilians took off during the height of the Vietnam War.