<P> During the Cold War itself, with the United States and the Soviet Union invested heavily in propaganda designed to influence the hearts and minds of people around the world, especially using motion pictures . </P> <P> The Cold War endures as a popular topic reflected extensively in entertainment media, and continuing to the present with numerous post-1991 Cold War - themed feature films, novels, television, and other media . In 2013, a KGB - sleeper - agents - living - next - door action drama series, The Americans, set in the early 1980s, was ranked #6 on the Metacritic annual Best New TV Shows list; its six - season run concluded in May of 2018 . At the same time, movies like Crimson Tide (1995) are shown in their entirety to educate college students about the Cold War . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Th> Periods in United States history </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> (hide) <Table> <Tr> <Td> Colonial Era </Td> <Td> 1607--1775 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> American Revolution </Td> <Td> 1765--1783 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Confederation Period </Td> <Td> 1783--1788 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Federalist Era </Td> <Td> 1788--1801 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Jeffersonian Era </Td> <Td> 1801--1817 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Era of Good Feelings </Td> <Td> 1817--1825 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Jacksonian Era </Td> <Td> 1825--1849 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Civil War Era </Td> <Td> 1849--1865 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Reconstruction Era </Td> <Td> 1865--1877 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Gilded Age </Td> <Td> 1870s--ca 1900 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Progressive Era </Td> <Td> 1897--1920 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Roaring Twenties </Td> <Td> 1920--1929 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Great Depression </Td> <Td> 1929--1939 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> World War II </Td> <Td> 1941--1945 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Postwar Era </Td> <Td> 1945--1964 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Civil Rights Era </Td> <Td> 1964--1980 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Reagan Era </Td> <Td> 1981--present </Td> </Tr> </Table> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Timeline </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Th> Periods in United States history </Th> </Tr>

How the cold war started between us and ussr