Cold War Policies

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

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.

Would you like it if you were forced to think and act in a certain way? In the past, there were countries, such as Germany, that tried to use force to make other people think the same way as they do, by killing people that were different, or thought differently. The United States and other countries didn't feel that they could just stand around and let things like this happen. The United States worked with others in the United Nations to put policies in place to protect and keep peace between nations. The Cold War is a good example of the United States working with others in order to protect against the spread of communism. It was called The Cold War because

“I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” This declaration, made by former President Harry S. Truman on March 12, 1947, is part of the Truman Doctrine, and was the basis for U.S. involvement in Western Europe throughout the Cold War. Although the North Atlantic Treaty, and the resulting North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), was established during the Cold War “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down,” NATO has persisted since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990. This essay will seek to examine the U.S. decision to create and participate in NATO. It will begin by providing a history of NATO and the U.S. decision to participate in NATO before considering how this decision is both an instance of continuity and change in U.S. foreign policy since former President George Washington’s Farewell Address. The essay will conclude by considering the legacy of this decision and its impact on U.S. foreign policy. While this essay will consider the period of time leading up to the formation of NATO and will briefly touch on the present day, greatest consideration will be paid to the time period immediately preceding and following the formation of NATO in 1949.

The Cold War took a lot of affect on the United States Domestic Policy and American society. Domestic Policies were changed due to the world affairs, and the American society had a dramatic change from the war. The United States Government became extra secure and protected. Many new political cartoons were created from the fear of Communists and other big events and things that were happening during this time period. War was the leading problem in the US during this time period. Many citizens became upset and protested. Also, many American citizens were scared because they heard many people talking about the war,and what was happening and took as many measures on safety as they possibly knew and could. Later, through science, we have learned that many of their tactics when it came to protecting themselves would not even have worked.The United States spend a lot of extra money during this time period to keep up with the war. (DBQ questions)

After the end of World War II communism became wide-ranging. In hope of making new allies, the Soviet Union wanted to spread communism all across Europe. After the fall of Germany in 1945, moods changed when the United States started getting suspicious of the action led by the Soviet Union. This was thought of as a power move by the Soviet Union to have world domination. The United States formed a new policy calling it Containment in return.

During the cold war, containment was the first major policy in order to prevent the spread of communism in Europe and some parts of Asia. This began postwar, when the Soviet Union decided to extend communism to more countries. There were two blocs, one democratic, the other republican which had an impact on the Cuban Missile Crisis, Korean War, and Berlin Aircraft. These examples show the United states got involved and how containment was effective during these times.

Yet, this hope was met with failure. In response to NATO, the Soviets created their own alliance called the Warsaw Pact which unified the Soviets and their satellite states. Overall, because of legislatures like Truman’s policy of containment, NATO, and The Marshall Plan, the United States funded billions to limit the Soviet’s from expansion as well as protect their own interests both domestically and

The Cold War was a significant time for the United States and the Soviet Union, while the rest of the world watched intently. Although no actual war took place, both of these powerful countries did their best to promote their political and ideological ideas while trying to gain some ground in the seemingly never ending arms race. This war was driven by both fear and the strive to become the strongest and most powerful country. During the time of the Cold War, the United States proved to be a strong influence over Canada. Given its location, it was obvious as to which side Canada was on. While Canada believed in the same ideologies as the US, this nation was still reluctant to fully emerge themselves into the hysteria that had been emerging in the US. However, even though Canada had just received world recognition for its contribution during the Second World War, this large yet acutely populated country had much still to prove. During this time, Canada just recently became a founding member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). But while Canada was making huge steps in their peacekeeping and military growth, there were still rumours of espionage circling the country.

Almost as soon as World War II had ended, the Cold War began, and the Soviets wasted no time in spreading their communist ideals to nearby countries by forcefully establishing communist governments. Soon after, they held on tightly to their eastern block of Germany as a first defense from western political thought, even going as far as blockading Berlin from any form of help, especially from the West. The West quickly responded by airlifting supplies that included food, coal, etc. . This marked the first instance of the American policy of containment, which was the idea that the Soviet Union and Soviet communism should not be allowed to spread (Background Essay). As time went on and acts of communism began to burst out globally, the U.S. policy of containment became an effective

According to an article written by Clif Staten he asserts that John Lewis Gaddis has argued that the history of our containment policy toward the Soviet Union reflected the swing of a pendulum between periods when our resources did not match our ever-expanding goals and periods that required us to react to this deficit by either reducing, redefining or reprioritizing our goals to bring them in line with our limited resources. He continues to argue that the pendulum swing is illustrative of the shift between our idealist and realist sides. In the early years of the Cold War, our foreign policy goals focused on containing communism in Europe. We recognized that our resources were limited. We had been demobilizing since the end of World War II and the American public had reverted to its traditional isolationist character. Containment was limited only to Western Europe where our military strength was greatest.

After the defeat of the Axis powers in World War II it was apparent that the victors would come out as the new world powers. With the United States and the Soviet Union being the strongest nations of the victorious Allies they were the two countries who emerged as the new world powers but their views varied drastically. The Democratic United States and the Communist Soviets butted heads about each others views and the U.S. wanted to halt the spread of communism so it couldn’t get to the rest of the world. The U.S. adopted a policy of containment to keep communism in the USSR and the other places it had spread. The U.S.’s main goal was to prevent the spread of communism and they did everything

Throughout the book the author demonstrates the relationship between the cold war domestic policies and cold war foreign policies. Thomas Borstelmann shows how the United States faced challenges with their foreign policy and with their domestic policies on race relations, segregation, and desegregation. Borstelmann sees civil rights more as a moral issue than a political one but still shows how government officials saw it as political.

All of the cold war presidents have different but similar policies and deal with the aid of many less fortunate countries. Truman and Eisenhower focused on the policy of containment, which is the strategy to prevent the spread of communism(Ayers 818). Kennedy focused on flexible response, which is strengthening the U.S. forces so the U.S. would have other options for weapons(Ayers 886). All the presidents were worried about the idea of domino theory. Domino theory is theory that if one country would fall to communism the others around it would too (Ayers 950). Harry S. Truman was the first cold war president.

The United States continued to use their power in Europe for their benefit. The Untied States, Canada, and ten European nations formed a mutual defense pact called NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) which an attack against one of them would be an attack against all of them, all for one, one for all. The Americans were able to keep Russia out, Untied States in, and Germany down which was perfect for them.