During World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union were reluctant allies against the Nazi enemy. With competing ideas about society's organization and economic systems, the two victors of the Second World War soon emerge as superpowers, with enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world over. The search for the next even more powerful weapon became a race for everything as both superpowers competed with each other for influence and domination. Spies and spying became the currency of what quickly grew as the Cold War.
Soviet spies sought to acquire technical expertise and infiltrate weapons development programs. American spies sought to penetrate the Soviet government and acquire weapons blueprints and capabilities. American Spy planes flew above the Soviet Union, examining weapon depots, military bases, and nuclear sites. But then the United States was shocked when the Soviets put the first satellite into space atop a rocket that could carry a nuclear warhead anywhere in the world. The United States was behind!
With John F. Kennedy's election, the nation now had a young and untested leader at the helm. Soviet leadership, experienced and having lived through the Second World War, sought to continue the spread of Communism around the world. As more warheads are built and deployed, strategic competition is becoming a deadly game where one wrong move will cause nuclear armageddon.
The Cold War in general, and particularly tense moments such as the Bay of Pig invasion, the U2 plane shot down over the Soviet Union, and the Cuban Missile crisis, marked the collective imagination and continues to influence the course of events today. Fans of history will enjoy the drama behind this real-life spy and geopolitical thriller!
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