From MadMikesAmerica:
What images are conjured up when you hear “The Cold War”? Does it make you think of espionage? The Iron Curtain? The Politburo? Cuban Missile Crisis? Kruschev? Checkpoint Charlie? The Berlin Airlift? Those are all typical answers from the average American that was alive and even somewhat aware of global politics anywhere from 1947 to 1991. It was called the Cold War because there were no large scale engagements between the Western Bloc countries and the opposing Eastern Bloc countries. NATO versus the Warsaw Pact nations. East against West. Sure, there were small skirmishes and minor engagements between some proxy countries but the major powers merely sat back while simultaneously building up their paranoia and their nuclear arsenals. Direct contact between the USSR and the United States was minimal and only a few stories, like Francis Gary Powers’ U-2 shootdown, made it anywhere close to national headlines. But there were other, more serious incidents that remain as unknown now as they were then. To some, the Cold War involved actual life and death situations.