Film Lesson: The Right Stuff

The U.S. and Soviet were competing in the movie because the soviets had launched their first satellite into space and their space program was going well and the U.S. felt that they were falling behind in terms of technology. So the U.S. tried to catch up by making their own space program but theirs was struggling so the Soviets were winning the space race and the U.S. became so desperate that they sent a chimp as their first American in space. One scene that will stay in my mind was when the Americans were testing out their rockets and it was just a disaster because every rocket they sent up just blew up and they failed and failed but they never gave up because they refused to fall second place to the Russians and that just shows the determination of the U.S. at that time and their refusal to give up.

NATO and The Warsaw Pact

During the Cold War tensions were high and even though there was no actual fighting involved there was still a threat of war that the U.S. and the Soviets could not afford to ignore. It was that threat of war that prompted the U.S. to form an Alliance with several other countries who were also against Communism like France and Great Britain and named this Alliance NATO which stands for North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The Soviets, having heard of this Alliance felt threatened and formed there own alliance with countries that supported communism and they named there Alliance the WarSaw Pact. So basically the NATO and WARSAW PACT were precautionary Alliances that were made to feel more secure during the threat of Nuclear war in that time but of the two only NATO still runs today.