Did the U.S. start the Cold War?

Some sources suggest that the United States was the main aggressor in starting the Cold War at the end of World War II. A source written by a Soviet ambassador to the United States in 1946 states that American desire for capitalist world expansion led the U.S. to establish naval and air bases, start a competitive arms race, and stockpile weapons. The ambassador suggests that the United States has put the Soviet Union in a defensive situation to combat the American desire for expansion. Another source provides a similar view of American plans for expansion from the point of view of an American academic writing about American diplomacy in 1959. The views of this academic, Williams, are consistent with those of the Soviet ambassador. Williams believes that the U.S. pursued an "open-door" policy that had missionary and economic components. Williams believes that the American policy of expansion, particularly after the detonation of the atomic bomb, left the Soviets no choice except to give in or confront the Americans with their own hostile forces. Both of these sources lay the blame for the development of the Cold War with the Americans.

Other sources suggest that the blame for the beginning of the Cold War rests with both the Americans and the Soviets. The cartoon, from an American newspaper in 1947, shows both Uncle Sam and Stalin, the Soviet leader, ready to carve up the world between them. Therefore, this source suggests that both American and Soviet plans for post-war power and expansion were the source of the Cold War.