How did the term Cold War become a symbol for relations between the United States and the Soviet Union?

The term "Cold War" became a symbol for the post-World War II relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union because it characterized a unique state of intense political, ideological, and economic rivalry that avoided direct military confrontation.12

The phrase was first coined by English author George Orwell in a 1945 article to describe a nuclear stalemate between "super-states," where the possession of weapons of mass destruction acted as a deterrent against full-scale war. This "cold" status was maintained because both superpowers feared the consequences of mutual destruction, leading to a tense standoff rather than open battlefield combat.12

In the context of sociology and public opinion, the term solidified as the two nations engaged in a global struggle for influence, fought through propaganda, espionage, and the support of opposing ideological blocs—capitalism versus communism. By the late 1940s, prominent figures like Bernard Baruch and Walter Lippmann popularized the term to describe the institutionalized division of the world into two competing spheres.23