What was the impact of the Cold War?

The Cold War affected the Soviet Union and the United States profoundly.  The United States invested trillions of dollars in its defense that could have been used on domestic spending.  To this day the United States does not trust Russia.  Thousands of young men have died fighting proxy wars against Communism in Korea and Vietnam.  A great deal of our scientific research in space and atomic energy was driven by an urge not to fall behind Russian scientists.  
In the Soviet Union, distrust of the United States led to the nation's slow rebuild from WWII.  The Soviet economy never quite fully recovered from the war, while Western Europe received Marshall Plan funds.  The Soviet Union expanded into Eastern Europe, and to this day, the economies of those countries still lag behind the West.  Soviet paranoia led to crackdowns on political and religious dissenters that killed or imprisoned millions during the Cold War era.  Even today, there are older people in Russia who do not trust the West due to the propaganda of the Cold War.