The origin of the term “Cold War” has been credited to politician and financier Bernard Baruch who used it in a speech he gave in 1947. It was meant to encompass a state of existence between two nations or groups of nations that are at odds in virtually every way – ideology, economy, culture, basic freedoms, and so forth.
The Cold War was considered cold because the United States and the Soviet Union never actually went directly to war with one another. They came frightfully close on several occasions, including the Berlin Crisis of 1947–48, the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, and a couple of sketchy moments during the Korean and Vietnam conflicts. Thankfully cooler heads prevailed (pun intended), and the cold war never got hot.
