On August 29, 1949, the Soviet
Union exploded its first atomic bomb. It came
as a great shock to the United States because
they were not expecting the Soviet Union to possess
nuclear weapon knowledge so soon. Previously,
the United States had used two atomic bombs on
Japan to cause them to surrender during World
War II. The impact that the possession of nuclear
weapons by the Soviet Union had upon the United
States was that it caused Americans to question
their own safety.
President Truman responded by reevaluating the
United States position in the world and called
for the United States to build up its conventional
and nuclear weapons to halt the spread of Soviet
influence around the globe.
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