I interviewed my father, Robert Shumake Jr., on March 16th about his experience growing up during the end of the Cold War. We started by discussing some basic biographical details such as his parents, where he went to college, and when he moved to Tampa. He remembers that in his early childhood, he did not perceive the extent of the fear the adults around him felt. However, as Robert grew up, he gained the ability to contextualize the events of the Cold War and realize what it meant for the country. We discussed events like the Vietnam War, Chernobyl, and Ronald Reagan’s Star Wars and how he and others understood them. Finally, we discussed the repercussions of the Cold War and how his experiences of it affects him today.

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In general, Robert does not remember feeling any real fear surrounding the Cold War. He sums it up as, “The Russians aren’t gonna bomb us and we’re not gonna bomb them.” Many people lived their life normally because they did not seriously think that either side would pull the trigger and launch a bomb. However, he does point out that his father, who served in both WWII and Korea, thought it would come to physical fighting. As for how the Cold War affects his political views, Robert heavily favored Ronald Reagan’s aggressive action towards the Soviets. As an example, in reference to the Iranian hostages, he states, “(Jimmy Carter’s) yellow ribbons didn’t do anything. What did do something was B-52s warming up on the tarmac.” Robert thinks that Reagan succeeded in fighting against the Soviets using words and a superior will. Presently, although he generally likes the Russian people as individuals, Robert feels that we have not left the Cold War behind and that we still fight what he believes is an evil force that controls Russian politics. He wants the US to return to more aggressive policies in handling relations with Russian leaders.

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Robert is very pro-free market and anti-Communist and is open and convinced of his opinions. Coupled with a fervent interest in American History, he is prone to go on tangents and rants about politics. However, during the interview, I found that he was more comfortable talking about what he thinks happened during the Cold War from a withdrawn view rather than discuss his personal experience living through it. I think Robert had a difficult time discussing how his parents felt about the Cold War because their politics and views greatly differed from his own. I also found it interesting that, with all of his knowledge of history and facts that he has memorized, he did not know how the Cold War actually ended. It is as though, for him, it never ended and is only more discreet.

My dad is not an emotional man. Growing up I can only remember him crying three times and they have all been related to his family. Taking this into consideration, the last thing I expected during this interview was for him to get emotional. However, I understand that his father has always been a sensitive subject for Robert to talk about after he passed away. I think my grandfather’s views on the Cold War were very grim. For him, every past generation of young men had been forced into war and, with the way the Cold War was heading, there was a good chance that his own son would be forced to see combat. When my dad related this to me, I think he realized how this must have felt for his father. He realized how his father and other adults tried to hide their fear from their children. He realized how afraid his father was to see his son march off to fight. I do not think that this was an uncommon fear for many American veterans coming home from WWII. It is therefore understandable why many Americans preferred to negotiate with the Soviet Union rather than risk another war.

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Interviewing Robert has allowed me to see the events that we have learned about in class through the eyes of someone who lived through the last of it. Although it was a very turbulent time, many people who were born during the last part of the Cold War did not seem to fear nuclear annihilation and many older people, it simply felt like just another way the world was going to end. Therefore, for the average citizen in rural America, there was not this feeling of hysteria that, as we look back and study it today, we expect to find. However, Robert does possess the feeling of mistrust for Communists that we see in much of the media that we view in this class, The Manchurian Candidate being the most recent example. Robert has this underlying fear that we are giving up our Constitution for more Communist policies. While he may not blame Russians specifically or even American politicians, he still retains this fear that Communism is seeping into our government. Having discussed the Berlin Wall with Robert, it seems that the re-unification of Germany and the destruction of the wall was more of a symbolic win than a physical win for Americans. This idea is repeated many times during this class such as Benny Goodman’s tour of the Soviet Union or the American Exposition in Moscow in 1959. While the media coverage was positive and the general feeling in America was one of triumph, these events served merely as symbols of advancement in relations with the Soviet Union and not actual progress.

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Robert also displays the feeling of American pride that was common during his time. In class, we’ve discussed how Americans thought that they had the superior way of life with better housing and better technology and better education. This is Robert’s whole mentality when it comes to any conflict between the United States and another nation. For example, when he spoke about Chernobyl, he said that this kind of tragedy would never happen in America because they value human life and follow safety protocols, unlike the Soviet Union. He believes that the US will always win because we have the better government and economic system. Additionally, if this was as common of a view as Robert seems to consider it to be, it is therefore understandable how American citizens could buy the idea that we would win any competition between the US and the USSR, whether it be the Space Race or an international chess match. Robert is also under the impression that everyone else in the world knew that as well, including the Soviet people.

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Specifically interviewing my dad has helped me analyze the Cold War as my relatives would have seen it. I learned more about my paternal history as it relates to the Cold War along with how many other Americans experienced the Cold War. I now better understand the emotional impact these events had on people. While we can discuss them in class and analyze media from that era, hearing the fear or excitement or pride in the voice of someone who has lived through it is a powerful experience. Having interviewed someone close to me about the Cold War, it gives me a new appreciation for what we learn in class and the past generations who had to endure it.