Throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s, America was riddled with hysteria known as the Red Scare; fear of Communists referred to as the "Reds" due to their allegiance to the red Soviet flag. This mass hysteria over the constant threat of nuclear war led to a climate of fear and repression, highlighted by its profound effect on popular culture in America. The Cold War raised many concerns in America that leftist sympathizers worked as Soviet spies in America, posing a threat to United States security. This apprehension led to the dismissal of the past concepts of personal liberty and freedom of political organization, seen in President Truman's Executive Order 9835, mandating that all federal employees be analyzed to determine whether…show more content… Protest songs during the 1980s reflected unease towards escalating tensions between the Soviet Union due to Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher's hard line against the Soviets. To show their contempt, many artists wore military uniform-like costumes as a reflection of the increased militarism evident in the 1980s. Furthermore, a number of punk rock bands emerged in the 80s, such as The Clash, who attacked Cold War politics, such as Reagan and Thatcher's nuclear deterrence brinkmanship. Books also proved to direct the American public away from Cold War sentiments as seen by the George Orwell Novel 1984. A dystopian novel, it depicted a world of perpetual war and an omnipresent government, "Big Brother", persecuting all individualism and independent thinking. As books sought to appeal to audiences through their Cold War themes, television emerged as the definition of American culture as by 1960, ninety percent of Americans owned a television, allowing for marketers to dictate American values in order to sell their goods. The Wendy's Hamburger Chain commercial from 1985 showing a fictional "Soviet Fashion Show" reflected the Soviet society's uniformity and standardization, a stark contrast to the individualism and freedom of choice in
