During the "Cold War", did Americans/Westerners call it such?

I am old enough to remember the fall of the Soviet Union, but not old enough to have had any interest in world affairs in the times before.

Did Americans/Westerners refer to the "Cold War" by that name during the Cold War? Note: I am not asking about the origin of the phrase. I'm sure it was coined long ago.

Specifically, it seems odd to refer to the historic event in a present sense, especially since the Cold War was marked by a lack of war-like activity. Saying "the war in Afghanistan" makes sense, because it is happening, and war-like things are taking place.

But in the modern context, saying "the Cold War" refers to an era, not an event (or set of events).

In short, did people, during the Fifties, Sixties, Seventies, or Eighties, commonly refer to the the state of Western-Soviet affairs as the "Cold War"?

Solution 1:

As this ngram shows, the term began to be used in the 1940's and it peaked in usage (at least in the materials Google samples) around 1960.

The coining of the term to describe US and Soviet relations is generally attributed to Bernard Baruch in a speech given in 1947. He stated that it was suggested to him by H.B. Swope, the editor of the New York World.

George Orwell also used the term in a somewhat similar manner in 1946

Solution 2:

I am 70 and clearly remember the term being used when I was in high school (1957-1961). My understanding was that it referred to a war of words and wills rather than to a "hot" war.

Solution 3:

The answer is emphatically 'yes'.

The first reference the OED has was in an article by George Orwell in Tribune in 1945.

Britain, being closer geographically to the Soviet Union became aware of the potential for tension earlier than the Truman Administration. Hence Churchill (who had been voted out of office in 1945) when he spoke at Fulton Missouri in March 1946, used the opportunity (with the understanding of Britain's Labour Prime Minister) to counsel the US Administration as to the dangers ahead. He spoke of an 'Iron Curtain' which now hangs across Europe. The first real crisis was the blockade of Berlin in 1948.