Cia Intervention During The Soviet Union

The Cold War had a significant impact on American foreign policy, changing it substantially in both attitudes to social and economic factors. The heavy influence of a difference in political standing between the Soviet Union and the United States, in conjunction with the high tensions that followed in the post war period, set the foundations for American foreign policy to adapt and change to better suit the developing political agender of the time. Socially, the two sides were heavily split, with the Soviet Union seeking communist support and allies whilst the US sought to counter their progress in a similar manner. Economically these relations with foreign countries that either joined the eastern or western blocs helped to further the

Because of this red scare, Americans have historically grown to become weary of communism. Under the Truman Doctrine in 1947, American forces were granted permission to intervene in any foreign relations so long as they focused on the breakdown of communist forces. Americans have had a long history of being involved with communist affairs around the world long before their support of the Nicaraguan Contras existed. But because of this fascination and fear of communism, it pushed American officials to become further emerged in the battle despite its lack of American interests.

The United States has influenced many nations in the world throughout history. Some of the ways the U.S. has been able to dominate poor countries are with military action and corporate activities that allowed the United States to influence their governments. Since the United States extends its power with the previously mentioned methods, it is recognized as an imperialist nation. The United States has specifically demonstrated imperialistic forces in Latin America. The effects that the United States’ imperialism had on Latin American economies and politics were negative since it brought violence and caused the poor to struggle even more. When the United Sates government did not like policies that Latin American presidents were creating, they would take military actions to force American ideologies into Latin American countries’ governments by installing puppets into their governments. Generally, these countries would have flourished economically without the United States, but since the U.S. became involved with the countries’ policies, their economies have weakened because the U.S. wants the benefits of controlling countries’ resources without being responsible for the people who reside there. This pattern of the United States’ imperialistic behavior has been demonstrated many times in Latin America.

Over the past several decades, there have been great tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union which continue into what is known today as Russia. Suspicions and tensions between these two countries increased greatly during and directly after World War II, particularly between 1941 and 1949.

Even though the United States emerged as a clear victor of World War I, many Americans after the war felt that their involvement in the conflict had been a mistake (Markus Schoof, “The American Experience During World War II,” slide 3). This belief, however, did not deter the country from engaging in many other international affairs in the future, most importantly the WWII and the Cold War. Right from the Manifest Destiny, which led to expand its empire at home and abroad, to the World War I, the country had come a long way from being somewhat a lonely-land to a global superpower of the 20th century. Its influence in the international arena grew unprecedently after its commitment to the World War II, and like they say, the rest is history. If the WWII was a resounding success to the American legacy, what followed, the Cold War, put many implications on the American diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and to the world. Although the rising Fascism in Europe and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor drove the U.S. to enter the WWII, historians over the years have laid equal blames on both nations for starting the Cold War. These two events helped in shaping up many domestic and foreign policies for the U.S.

After World War II, during the Cold War, the United States started acting more multilaterally by forming treaties and joining groups such as NATO and the UN (Gaddis 67). This was all in an attempt to stop the spread of communism and combat the influence of the Soviet Union. The United States intervened in countries to deter them from becoming communist. They

In the 1960s the United States suffered through the horrible tragedy of John F. Kennedy’s assassination. This left most of the American families heart broken. This showed other countries that the United States can be conquered. In the 1970s, the United States had faced some serious economic problems. One severe problem was inflation, meaning the cost of goods and services were increasing. These rising prices created a problem for all the families in America. Later there was a conflict in Vietnam, the Vietnam War. This turned into battle ground for the Cold War because “Communist countries such as the Soviet Union and china armed North Vietnam” (Pierce, 2005). Given that the US opposed the spread of communism, they had to go in and fight. This made tensions high between the US and the USSR.

During the early year of the nineteenth century, aside from Mexico, almost every other important colony in Latin America gained independence from its Mother country in Europe. However, as this occurred, certain powerful monarchies in Europe threatened to stamp out representative governments if they developed in the old colonies. That was the reason that in 1823, President James Monroe issued his now-famous policy statement called The Monroe Doctrine. In it, Monroe warned the European power that he would considered any attempt on their part to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and safety. In other words, the Monroe Doctrine warned the European monarchies that they could expect a strong response from

Following World War Two, the two legitimate world powers were the United States and the Soviet Union. With the Soviet Union under a communistic government and the United States being a nation founded in Capitalism, tensions between the two nations rose, resulting in the Cold War. Against the wishes of the United States, small countries in East Asia began to turn communist. Fear that one country turning would have a chain reaction turning many more, the United States turned to a policy of ‘containment’. This policy was tested in the Korean War and would be again tested in the Vietnam War. Starting as a War with the communist North Vietnam against South Vietnam and the French,

While the Cold War does not mark a significant distinction from US involvement in Latin America pre-Cold War, the inclusion of ideology in US foreign policy decisions did mark a change in attitudes and focus. While US policy can be described as rational to a certain point, the Cuban dilemma caused an irrational fear in US foreign policy makers to avoid a second-Cuba. The fear of a “second Cuba” can be seen in the various interventions by the US in Latin America during this period.

The United States and the Soviet Union competed against each other during the Cold War in the second half of the 20th Century like a chess game, with the world as their chessboard and countries as pawns in their game. For the Russians, a critical part of the chessboard was Cuba and Latin America. The Russians believed that if they could align themselves with countries in the western hemisphere, America’s “backyard”, it would help the Soviet Union counter the strong political influence and military presence America had in Europe, which made the Russians feel threatened. The Soviet Union tried to align itself politically, militarily, and economically with as many Latin American countries as it could. In

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the United States was the most dominant power in the Western Hemisphere. European nations conceded to the United States their right of any intervention in the Western Hemisphere and allowed the United States to do whatever they wanted. The United States took this newly bestowed power and abused it. The United States intervened in many Latin American countries and imposed their policies on to these countries against their will. A perfect example of this aggression is what occurred in the Dominican Republic in 1904. The United States intervened in this sovereign nation and took control of their economy and custom houses. A memorandum from Francis B. Loomis, the United States Assistant

Generally, the US foreign policy concerning Latin America was of course for the US' own benefit. If the person in power was trying to nationalize their country's economy, the US accused them of communism and proceeded to push them out, unofficially, under the pretext of national security.

Imperialism has usually been defined as the process of accumulation of land, resources, and labor, as well as the creation of power and influence through military force. In less neutral words, the claiming of already occupied lands, the overtaking of resources, and the establishment of slavery. A key part of imperialism is the mentality of being the oppressor country. Imperialism is supported by the ideology that suggests that people of certain areas and of certain races require assistance and to be shown “civilization.” Profit was the ultimate goal of imperialism, but behind this goal was the justification that people from lands far away should be ruled over and it is the empire’s duty to rule over uncivilized peoples, as they believed them to be. This fact in regards to Latin America can be seen in the evolution of the Monroe Doctrine, which I want to get into further along this paper.

This bi-polar system appears to have ended in 1991, leaving the US economically weakened USSR disintegrated. Ever since the end of the cold war, a multi-polar balance of power has been emerging, based on western Europe, China, Brazil and other new economic superpowers which can partially offset the combined military and economic power of the USA. In the years to come this multi-polar balance might even shift away from the western world and towards new, unknown global players like Nigeria or