The word "democracy" rings familiar to almost everyone. According to Webster's, democracy "is government by the people in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system." American democracy is more than a set of constitutional rules that determine how the government should function. The government is only but one element in an intricate social web of many varied institutions, political parties and organizations. American democ

Businesses also had profited from the new Cold War. In the early 50's, when the Soviet Union had launched Sputnik into orbit, the American people became petrified that another nation might achieve technological superiority over the U.S. Politicians, under pressure from lobbyists, warned of a widening gap between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in military power and technology. Government spending increased dramatically, and continually for a good amount of time, spurring steady and sufficient economic growth. Another consequence of the Sputnik launch was seen in statements such as, "Communism, it seemed, had won the space race by winning the education race. What would Moscow win next?" Eisenhower passed the National Defense Education Act (NDEA), granting funds for the betterment of education in the U.S.

Power hungry politicians and money hungry businessmen began to see that the fight against communism could be greatly used to one's advantage. Senator Joseph McCarthy became a master at using fears of communism to gain power and fame. For a few years, McCarthy succeeded in making outlandish charges of domestic subversion. Those that spoke out against the Senator found themselves the subject of his attacks and slander. Others used anti-communist speech to make advancements. In a letter from Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote, "If I lived in a Communist country today where certain principles dear to the Christian faith are suppressed, I believe I would openly advocate disobeying these anti-religious laws…" While his anti-communist comment had suggested certain laws were unjust and religious freedom should not be compromised, it also had the dual purpose to help attain support for his civil rights movement. Soon after, George Wallace made a speech in which h!

The Soviet Union and its communist ideology appeared to be the ultimate threat to the values of the United States.

The ultimate price paid by the anti-communist ideology in the U.S. was the blood of millions in S.E. Asia. After WWII, France was completely exhausted, and could not maintain its colonies in French Indo-China, and by the time Eisenhower was in office, the French had pulled out of the area. The nations of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos were on the verge of becoming Communist nation-states. Although a free election was to take place in Vietnam, Eisenhower was quoted as saying, "If a free election takes place, Ho Chi Min would win, and we can't allow that." The political powers in the U.S. felt an ideological commitment to fight communism, because communism originates from Russia or China. The U.S. experts on foreign policy, in particular China, knew that this new communist "threat" in Vietnam was independent from the Chinese Communist Party, like many U.S. politicians and military leaders had feared. However, these experts, that could have stopped Vietnam before

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