This article is devoted to certain aspects of the cold war reflected in the teaching of mathematics in the Soviet Union. The author deals specifically with direct manifestations of the cold war, not with the teaching of mathematics during the cold war in general. His aim is not to present a comprehensive examination of school programs in mathematics offered during the period in question; nor is it necessarily to demonstrate how these programs reflected the ambition to win the arms race. He is interested in examining direct expressions of ideology, including how the teaching of mathematics was used (or intended to be used) to convey to students on the one hand an image of the enemy, and on the other a sense of national superiority. Much of this article is devoted to the description and analysis of publications that appeared in mathematical-methodological literature as part of various ideological campaigns, particularly in "Matematika v Shkole" ["Mathematics in the School"], for many years the only professional normative-instructive periodical for the teaching community. The author also employs archival materials to reconstruct a picture of life in the Soviet school. The discussion focuses primarily on the period between the end of World War II and the death of Stalin in 1953. (Contains 9 notes.)