Why an arms race

Domestic Pressures

• Anti-Communist Hysteria in the USA - arms race, ideological extension. McCarthyism, part of a wider 'Red Scare' Movement. Senator McCarthy in a speech in 1950 says there are 57 Communists in the US department of State. June 1951, Communist Party prohibited in America under the 1940 Smiths Act, Robin Hood is banned in public libraries across the country. 
• In the US and USSR the military-industrial complexes wielded great influence over domestic politics, and a continuing arms race was in their favour. 
• Indeed, in the US, companies like Lockheed and General Dynamics lobbied Congress to ensure that the Arms Race continued - there were 30 million American civilians employed in this…