Cold War

The Cold War was a sustained, lengthy state of political and military unrest between national powers after World War II. It was termed as "cold" because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the major superpowers, although there were major regional wars, known as proxy wars. The Vietnam War was one of these proxy wars that saw both anti and pro communist forces battling for supremacy over their ideological principles. In the real world, the Cold War lasted from 1947-1991. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and the United States and China were able to form friendly relations with one another due to President Nixon's 1972 visit to the latter. Despite the war in Vietnam being present in both realities, it is unknown how accurate the Cold War was in the Fallout world.

The tensions did end sometime before 2052, albeit temporarily.

Influence on Fallout world
As the Cold War never ended, production priority leans towards pragmatism and ruggedness, giving birth to domestic robotics that can handle house chores and basic survivalist skills. Land transport remained largely as it was as the culture never tuned into "sleekness" nor see the point of downsizing.