You bet it did.
In 1980 if you had said that in 10 years the USSR would have collapsed and the Cold War would end with effectively zero bloodshed, people would have laughed hysterically. The meme at the time was that we would lose the Cold War or that it would end only with a nuclear exchange.
Comparing the relative risk to US of USSR vs. Islamists: USSR = death. Islamists = sprained ankle.
“The meme at the time was that we would lose the Cold War or that it would end only with a nuclear exchange.”
I have told my kids more than once how unbelievable it is that there is not the constant threat of all-out nuclear war today. It was just a given growing up. Not to say that Obama might pick at that scab over Syria however.