To what extent can one blame the course of the Cold War on the views/character of leaders from 1945 onward?

Question

and to what extent were dominant national viepoints or ideologies the problem, and how do you account for changes in either domain from the mid-1940s through the Gorbachev era? (Without referring to the vietnam war)

Answer 1

It seems that the USA and the USSR were headed toward a confrontation from the time of the Communist Revolution in 1917 in Russia up through the Cold War. With the Red Scare in the USA, our government and population showed that it was very afraid of communism and what it could mean to a country of workers and industry. Unions were seen as subversive and any other labor organization was equally suspect. That going along with the presence of communists in both government and Hollywood (yes, they were there and yes, they did have influence) made the USA live in great fear.

No one president in the USA particularly contributed to the Cold War. They existed in a world that contained it, they didn't create it. One might argue that Khrushchev had a good deal to do with it, but one even wonders about that.