The United States had a total of seven presidents in office throughout the Cold War. All presidents had different views and ideas on foreign policies. Due to a change in situation every time a new president was elected all presidents had to deal with certain situations, situations we not the only thing that played a role in the differences in foreign policy but ideals, for example their political party (Democrat or Republican). Due to these reasons every president in office has different view on how to handle foreign policies, many of which succeeded while also enduring some type of setback.
President Truman was the first president in office during the Cold War, which started a few years after World War II had ended. Because only a few years had passed since World War II ended many countries were still suffering from lack of economic stability. (Doc A). This is why President Truman created the Marshall Plan which provided aid to countries who needed the money post World War II. (Doc C). The Cold War was not the only conflict that Truman had to deal with, he also dealt with the Korean conflict which was a conflict the UN was involved in to keep communism from spreading from North Korea to South Korea, which held up his policy of containment (Doc B). Although the goal of keeping
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President Eisenhower’s military background influenced many of his foreign policy decisions, specifically the “Zero tolerance” policy. The idea of the Zero tolerance policy was to not just to contain communism like Truman, but to destroy it. (Doc D). Eisenhower was so set on the idea, that he increased the spending for US defense drastically during his term. (Doc I). Although Eisenhower talked about destroying communism, the nation was shocked when Hungary decided to revolt against Communism for Democracy, and Eisenhower did nothing to help them, leading to Hungry losing the revolt and continuing to be a communist
Truman gave his iconic Truman Doctrine speech in front of a joint session of congress. This speech outlined the broad strokes of the Truman Doctrine as well as marked the declaration of the Cold War as well as sets the direction of American foreign policy for the next 40 years. Truman used this speech which was broadcast on the radio across the country as a form of going public to help his doctrine pass through congress. The Truman Doctrine finically aided Greece and Turkey in their ongoing war against communism as well as established Truman’s containment policy towards communism. A year later in 1948 when Truman planned to spread a program much like the Truman Doctrine across Europe in the form of the European Recovery Program. Truman knew that due to his high unfavorable rates he would need to use bargaining this time instead of going public to enact his plan. The Marshall plan is born with Truman recruits popular Secretary of State General George C. Marshall to be the face of the plan in order to garner support. While Marshall was the face of the plan Truman worked diligently behind the scenes to garner support for the plan from republicans. The Marshall Plan ultimately passed and in the end sent 13 million dollars in relief funds to Europe to aid in rebuilding from World War II in addition to holding at bay the treat of communism spreading. Truman became a shining example of how going public and bargaining both of there place in the
During the cold war, the United States engaged in many aggressive policies both at home and abroad, in which to fight communism and the spread of communist ideas. Faced with a new challenge and new global responsibilities the U.S. needed to retain what it had fought so strongly for in World War II. It needed to contain the communist ideas pouring from the Soviet Union while preventing communist influence at home, without triggering World War III. With the policies of containment, McCarthyism, and brinkmanship, the United States hoped to effectively stop the spread of communism and their newest threat, the Soviet Union.
Prior to World War I, the United States generally chose to follow Washington’s farewell address and stay out of “foreign entanglements”. The United States foreign policy from 1918 to 1953 shifted from isolationism or independent internationalism to a more involved internationalism and containment of communism due to various international events, economic conditions, and US public opinion.
During presidencies, Eisenhower and Truman both struggles on how they would end the cold war around the globe. They had high expectations on how they would prevent the war in crippled Europe using America‘s foreign policy.
Throughout the mid to late twentieth century the United States was extremely concerned with their foreign policy due to mishaps that surfaced as a result of lazy administration when dealing with communism. As an example, one mishap was how the Truman Administration dealt with China after the KMT surfaced following WWII. Instead of immediately defending the People’s Republic of China, the United States stayed mostly secluded and independent and let China slip into the favor of the KMT. This was an example of the United States’ being too moderate in their foreign policy. However, on the other hand, there were examples where the United States was too aggressive in their foreign policy. An example of this was how the US chose to dealt with North
The Truman Doctrine affected the Cold War by stopping Communists from destroying Europe any further. History.state.gov states, “President Harry S. Truman established that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces.” In his speech, he asked Congress to give support to the Greek government and go against the Communists. If the U.S. government failed to help the Greek government, the Communists would continue to damage Europe. The Truman Doctrine affected the Cold War, and another policy that affected the Cold
1947: Truman Doctrine: The Truman Doctrine was one of the policies under President Truman’s “Containment Policy.” In the Doctrine, he requested $400 million to bolster forces in eastern Europe to defend against Communism. Congress agrees and passes the doctrine. Dean Acheson, who was the Secretary of State at the time, argued that the fall of a Communist country will have a “domino” effect on the neighboring countries, and they need to be properly prepared for such a situation. As result of this policy, the US became the “global
Eisenhower’s administration took many actions to strengthen anti-communist states and prevent the spread of communism. One example would be the use of former President Truman’s containment policy to prevent ware between the U.S. and the USSR. Another example would be, to prevent the Soviet Union from attacking the U.S., the Eisenhower administration began massive retaliation or the mass building of nuclear weapons. This would help the United States save money and cause our enemies to think twice before starting an attack. The USSR building nuclear bombs themselves put the U.S. at risk (Doc E), this should be taken with a grain of salt though because the potential of a war and destruction was too much of a risk for both countries to attack. This potential put both countries back at a stalemate position. Ultimately, massive retaliation acted as a protective barrier for the U.S. and American citizens, calming the fear of
Truman also worked on the containment issue. He worked really hard to stop communism in the United States and also not letting communists to be in the United States as well. He also supported the creation of the United Nations in order to avoid future world ward and to help solving conflicts peacefully. Another of his accomplishments was to create the Truman Doctrine that helped countries from Europe to be able to resist communist intervention.
Both President Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon were presidents during the cold war. Their uses of presidential power within foreign policy greatly shaped the United State’s strategies in cold war politics. Comparing their actions as Chief Diplomat, Chief Legislator, Chief Executive and Commander in Chief shows how they have used both their formal and informal powers to lead the nation. President Eisenhower was much more successful in gaining congress approval through working with them yet had much more trouble dealing with peace abroad. Nixon was able to use powers to make successful gains within the cold war abroad, yet had trouble
From the 1920s to the beginning of the World War II, as the country which played a dominant role in Europe, Germany was the one that took advantage of other small Europeans country by its strong power. Hitler and his Nazi party demonstrated their ambition to make Germany a stronger country. Under the pressure of the German power, other European countries were afraid to justify equality and agreements among all the European countries.
Truman only used military when he absolutely had to, He was the one that called the nuclear strike on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He used military aid To combat communism(Truman 2), if a country needed military aid all they would have to do is ask. He once sent military aid to greece so they would not fall to communism. He would provide Economic Aid to countries so they could get back on their feet(Truman 2). He sent money to greece so they could become a strong country
The Truman Doctrine was the impetus for the change in United States foreign policy, from isolationist to internationalists; thus we were drawn into two wars of containment and into world affairs. The Truman Doctrine led to a major change in U.S. foreign policy from its inception - aid to Turkey and Greece - to its indirect influence in Korea and Vietnam. The aftermath of World War II inspired the U.S.
An economic aspect of Truman’s policy of Containment was the capitalistic vs communistic governments. The communistic government believed no private person should profit. All money should go to the government and everybody gets the same. This made everybody equal by making everybody poor. The capitalistic government is largely or entirely privately owned (by individuals or companies) and operated for profit. A cultural aspect was that many democratic countries feared the spread and uprising of communism. There was a Bi-Polarization of Europe due to this and it created a bi-polar world.
The USA exercises its foreign policy through financial aid. For example, scarcity relief in North Korea provides not only humanitarian aid but also a base for the development of democratic ideals and bodies.