the united states was a power in the western bloc during the cold war opposed to the soviet union in the eastern bloc
the first use of the term to describe the specific postwar geopolitical confrontation between the soviet union and the united states came in a speech by bernard baruch an influential advisor to democratic presidents on 16 april 1947
by early 1985 reagans anticommunist position had developed into a stance known as the new reagan doctrinewhich in addition to containment formulated an additional right to subvert existing communist governments