At the time we had information available to us that the USSR was not our friend and would be a problem soon. That’s why Patton wanted to keep going East, he easily saw who our next war was going to be against and figured they weren’t in good shape and we could win it real quick. We knew they were an ally of convenience and couldn’t be trusted in the long haul. And we still ceded them a good chunk of Europe at Yalta, and they took more of it than was agreed upon. Clearly we were short sighted strategically, and there were objections raised at the time. But we took the tactical route and ignored the strategic situation, and got the Cold War for our troubles.
Was the Cold War bad for us? It wasn’t good for Eastern Europe, no doubt, but it helped solidify the U.S. as the unquestioned light in the world keeping the darkness at bay.