Love, Hate & Propaganda (Series 2)

Soviet leader Joseph Stalin tries to build an image as the sole conqueror of the Second World War as he consolidates his grip on Eastern Europe. Within Germany’s borders, a game of psychological chicken between east and west leads to the dramatic Berlin Blockade and Airlift. While Americans enjoy unprecedented prosperity, Senator Joseph McCarthy’s House on un-American Activities leads a witch-hunt against anyone suspected of pro-communist views. Stalin leads his own witch-hunt within the communist empire. The balancing of the nuclear scales will lead to a climate of fear and mistrust that will last for more than forty years.

The US government launches propaganda campaigns to reassure people that a nuclear attack can be survived and that the atomic bomb may not be so scary, but, with the sudden construction of the Berlin Wall and then the Cuban Missile crisis, the world seems on the brink of nuclear war.

Berlin became the Cold War under a microscope: German authorities manufactured their own pop star, Frank Schöbel, in hopes of eclipsing Western rock groups. The Soviet Union invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 was overwhelmed by the US government’s struggle to contain the Vietnam War. The Soviets sent the first man into orbit, and the Americans sent Neil Armstrong to the moon. In this era, even a gentlemanly game of chess turned into a high-stakes propaganda battle—but messages began to be questioned on both sides of the Iron Curtain.

In the 1980s, three men speak out and change the rules of the Cold War. American president Ronald Reagan challenges the Soviets to tear down the Berlin Wall. Pope John Paul II and Union Leader Lech Walesa galvanize Poland and rattle the Iron Curtain. Facing growing dissent fueled by a faltering economy, Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev unleashes reforms that will shake Communism to its foundation. For almost 50 years, the fight between two superpowers shaped our societies and our way of looking at the world.