The Cold War:

The Prevention of a Nuclear Holocaust.

Joseph Chavolla
Independent Website
Junior Division
 Process Paper:

Coming up with a topic that corresponded with communication was very easy for me.

While there are many things that concern communication in our history, my mind immediately

jumped to an event in which it was absolutely pivotal- The Cold War. This was a moment in

history when the world was on the brink of nuclear war; This was a moment when human

extinction was a very prominent possibility. Without communication, this possibility could have

easily become a reality and this is what so heavily attracted me to the subject, ultimately pushing

me to choose it for my research project.

Conducting my research was very simple and intuitive. I began by educating myself and

learning about the entirety of the war: Why it started, who caused it, who participated etc. I

turned to resources like youtube and books to learn about broad parts of the war and when I

noticed important communication that I believed contributed to the prevention of nuclear war I

would do more narrow and extensive research using google and other search engines to dive

deeper on that specific event.

I knew going into this that a simple paper wouldn't be able to explain the intensity and

complexity of this war. It is for this very reason that I decided to make a website. My website

allowed me to implement a broad spectrum of media such as photos, videos and hyperlinks to

help others who are interested learn more. I wanted a place that I could present all of my findings

so that when someone wanted to learn about The Cold War, they wouldn't have to go through the

extensive research I did but rather have it all in one convenient place. This also allows me to not

only discuss my thoughts on the topic but provide others with loads of other sources in which

they can turn to for more information. In my website I was also able to include a section

discussing how it related to the theme of communication.

 My topic closely relates to the NHD theme of Communication. The Cold War was a war

of ideologies- Communism and Capitalism. This disagreement almost called upon the use of

nuclear weapons if it hadn't been for our world leaders use of communication through letters,

phone calls and negotiations. Not to mention other government personnel who voiced their

opinions and disagreements with the use of nuclear bombs. Without this communication, without

these negotiations and discussions, no one would have put down their weapons and presumably,

someone may have used them. This is how communication saved the world from a Nuclear

Holocaust.