ABSTRACT
Throughout the Cold War, most American leaders and the American people assumed that all communists held similar goals that emanated from the Soviet Union. The Cold War was a zero-sum game for Americans living through it. Victory meant maintaining freedom and democracy, and defeat mean succumbing to communism and totalitarianism. In addition to the sweeping changes in America's strategy and diplomacy, the United States (US) military underwent similarly dramatic social transformations after the end of the Second World War. Following the end of the Second World War, the US military experienced dramatic demobilization. The biggest surprise and most pressing emergency in the Cold War demanded an immediate realignment of American focus on more than 150,000 North Korean soldiers streamed cross the border into the south. Every Cold War president feared being portrayed as passive or inactive in the face of the communist menace.
