While the question of who "started" the Cold War is a debated one*, the more interesting question, I'd say, is why it continued. Those who put the blame on the United States focus on the Truman Administration's shift in Soviet policy and the rise of McCarthyism, while those who blame the Soviet Union blame Stalin -- but both Truman and Stalin were out of the picture in 1953, and McCarthy was curbed soon after. Then in 1955 came the
Geneva Summit -- the first time US and Soviet leaders met since Postdam, and marking a fresh note of optimism in the future US-Soviet relationship.
So my question here is, what happened? Why did Eisenhower, Kruschev, and their successors fail to wind down the Cold War? This is similar to an
old thread, only what I'm especially interested in is how much of a detente could have plausibly been maintained in the decade or so following the summit.
*Note that while I absolutely do
not want this thread to be about this question, JFTR:
I would definitely say Stalin.