Cold warrior is a phrase used to describe the men and women involved in the shaping and executing of American and Soviet policy during the Cold War. Since the end of the Cold War, the term has sometimes been used pejoratively to imply that a person's views are obsolete. For example, a politician who is unfriendly to a Communist state might be labeled a cold warrior and accused by his or her critics for viewing the world in terms of Communist and non-Communist states and treating a potential trading partner as an enemy. Alternatively, a general who advocates missile defense might be called a cold warrior and attacked by his critics for not focusing on anti-terrorist measures instead. Cold warriors include both shapers of the Cold War and those who oversaw the decline of the Soviet Union. Notable figures include:
- Leonid Brezhnev
- George F. Kennan
- Henry Kissinger
- William Lederer
- Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
- George Marshall
- Richard Nixon
- Maxwell D. Taylor
- Harry Truman - Notably for the Truman Doctrine
- Adlai Stevenson
- Nikita Kruschev
- John F. Kennedy
- Jimmy Carter
- Zbigniew Brzezinski
- Ronald Reagan
- Jeane Kirkpatrick
References
- Brands, H. W. Cold Warriors. Eisenhower's Generation and American Foreign Policy (1988).
