The atomic bombs dropped on Japan at the end of World War II marked the beginning of Cold War tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Cold War era was characterized by fears of a cataclysmic nuclear exchange between the two powers.

In the 1950s, the U.S. produced propaganda films like "How to Spot a Communist." Spy novels and films found truth in espionage trials. The House of Un-American Activities Committee blacklisted communist sympathizers in Hollywood.

The 1950s in America were a time of nostalgia and neurosis. Factories poured out goods, the dollar was powerful, and the United States—filled with the heady optimism of victory in World War II—believed that it could politically, culturally, and militarily lead the world. But the decade also saw the solidification of the Iron Curtain in Europe, the entrenchment of Communism in China, years of so-called police action in Korea, and a Red Scare that divided Americans at home. Bill Moyers shows how an initial burst of optimism fostered an era of American conformity, in which fitting in led to a hostility and distrust of those who stood out. (57 minutes)