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Cold War and civil rights era
Main articles: History of the United States (1945–64), History of the United States (1964–80) and History of the United States (1980–91)

U.S. President Ronald Reagan (left) and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, meeting in Geneva in 1985
After World War II the United States and the Soviet Union jockeyed for power during what is known as the Cold War, driven by an ideological divide between capitalism and communism^[127] and, according to the school of geopolitics, a divide between the maritime Atlantic and the continental Eurasian camps. They dominated the military affairs of Europe, with the U.S. and itsNATO allies on one side and the USSR and its Warsaw Pact allies on the other. The U.S. developed a policy of containmenttowards the expansion of communist influence. While the U.S. and Soviet Union engaged in proxy wars and developed powerful nuclear arsenals, the two countries avoided direct military conflict.
The U.S. often opposed Third World movements that it viewed as Soviet-sponsored. American troops fought communistChinese and North Korean forces in the Korean War of 1950–53.^[128] The Soviet Union's 1957 launch of the first artificial satellite and its 1961 launch of the first manned spaceflight initiated a "Space Race" in which the United States became the first nation to land a man on the moon in 1969.^[128] A proxy war in Southeast Asia eventually evolved into full American participation, as the Vietnam War.
At home, the U.S. experienced sustained economic expansion and a rapid growth of its population and middle class. Construction of an Interstate Highway Systemtransformed the nation's infrastructure over the following decades. Millions moved from farms and inner cities to large suburban housing developments.^[129][130] In 1959 Hawaii became the 50th and last state added to the US.^[131] A growing civil rights movement used nonviolence to confront segregation and discrimination, withMartin Luther King, Jr. becoming a prominent leader and figurehead. A combination of court decisions and legislation, culminating in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, sought to end racial discrimination.^{[132][133][134]} Meanwhile, a counterculture movement grew which was fueled by opposition to the Vietnam war, black nationalism, and the sexual revolution. The launch of a "War on Poverty" expanded entitlements and welfare spending.^[135]
The 1970s and early 1980s saw the onset of stagflation. After his election in 1980, President Ronald Reagan responded to economic stagnation with free-market oriented reforms. Following the collapse of détente, he abandoned "containment" and initiated the more aggressive "rollback" strategy towards the USSR.^{[136][137][138][139][140]} After a surge in female labor participation over the previous decade, by 1985 the majority of women aged 16 and over were employed.^[141]
The late 1980s brought a "thaw" in relations with the USSR, and its collapse in 1991 finally ended the Cold War.^{[142][143][144][145]} This brought about unipolarity^[146]with the U.S. unchallenged as the world's dominant superpower. The concept of Pax Americana, which had appeared in the post-World War II period, gained wide popularity as a term for the post-Cold War new world order.