Republicans wanted credit for winning the Cold War, because they believed that military spending policies had forced the Soviets to the brink of economic collapse. Democrats argued that the containment of communism was due to 45-year bipartisan policies that began with Democrat Harry Truman. While some Americans argued that there was no winner in the Cold War. The United States spent trillions of dollars arming itself for a confrontation with the Soviet Union that never took place. Ultimately thousands of American lives and lots and lots of money were spent during the wars in Korea and