Containment And The Cons Of The Cold War

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

Between 1945 and 1960, the United States was confronted with a colossal predicament. A Cold War had emerged between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. This war did not involve any direct attacks between the two, instead indirect confrontations. Subsequently, the war took a massive toll on the U.S. An era of high tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union posed a communist threat to America.

The hysteria of the Cold War caused for many precautions. Throughout the mid 1900s, the spread of communism was causing concern to the United States. President Dwight D. Eisenhower worked to solve these issues both politically and socially to prevent further fear from the American citizens.

The cold war began in 1947 and continued until 1991 for many reasons, some of which included the weapons that were used during the fighting of the war. The world’s concern with containing communism, increasing technological weapon warfare, and military alliances were all issues that led to tension during the cold war. The United States and other non-communist countries were concerned with the spread of communism. During President Truman’s speech, later known as the Truman Doctrine, he claims that it is the duty of the United States to “ support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or outside pressures” (2).

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.

If one was to look at the world post WWII, it would be clear to see that the United States had the upper hand in comparison to the Soviet Union. While the USSR had mass casualties and destruction to deal with, the US only benefited from WWII, with an increased economy, and advantages from being pulled out of the Great Depression. The United States took action during the Cold War to try and restrict the USSR’s power. One of the major steps that the US took was to stop the spread of Communism. To prove this point, President Truman established the Truman Doctrine.

Eisenhower. One of his greatest strategies when it came to dealing with communism was called “brinkmanship.” According to Ayer’s book, this was when the U.S. would make threats that were dangerous enough to get results without actually having to follow through. In other words, going to the “brink” of war. Eisenhower expressed multiple times in his Eisenhower Doctrine, given on the 5th of January, 1957, that he was ready and willing to give economic aid to any democratic country that needed it. He said that the same went for military aid and military use (Eisenhower). He was possibly the most willing to take immediate action out of the three of these presidents. There were even times when he considered something called “massive retaliation” which, according to American Anthems, was when the U.S. responded to a problem with a force of a much greater magnitude. Eisenhower was also the creator of the Domino Theory, which stated that a political event that happens in one country will affect many other countries (Ayers). Eisenhower demonstrated great power while combating communism, but the U.S.A. would be changing again

During the Cold War, Truman was a major influence in fighting against communism. The Chicago Tribune, published in 1947, mentions President Truman’s speech which anticipated conflicts among the United States and the Soviet Union. He clearly stated that the U.S. was against Russia and that an “outcome will inevitably be war” (Document A). One of Truman’s strategies to prevent the spread was a foreign policy known as Truman’s Doctrine.

In order to deal with the postwar tension between the U.S. and Soviet Union, President Truman, who had only recently became president and lacked experience, implemented a new foreign policy to deal with the Soviet Union. (pg. 1006) As illustrated in the primary source titled “The Truman Doctrine,” The Truman Doctrine outlined America’s foreign policy related to the Soviet Union around a declaration of “war on communism, [the Soviet Union’s ideology that clashed against the U.S.’s], everywhere.” (pg. 1006, Truman Doctrine) Truman intended to implement “containment,” in which the spread of communism would be stopped. (pg. 1032) This declaration officially began the Cold War, a conflict that despite involving no actual direct warfare, devastated the relationship between the two countries. (pg. 1001) Many Soviet and American beliefs clashed with each other. (pg. 1022) For instance, American and Soviet views on individual liberties, religious freedom, human rights,

The 46 year struggle known as the Cold War all started over a disagreement at Potsdam. Stalin refused to allow what the Allies wanted. They wanted to give free election to countries in easter Europe like Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. All these countries became satellite rates controlled by the Soviet Union. This made Truman believe that Stalin was planning to conquer the world and that the former alliance was falling apart. This turned into a battle between Communism and Democracy. Throughout almost all of the Cold War the United States adopted a foreign policy called “containment”.The United States contained Communism in Berlin, Korea, and Cuba by not allowing the Soviet Union to gain anymore land or power.

1. Truman’s Policy of Containment was that the U.S. would work to stop the spread of communism by providing political, economic, and military assistance to all democratic nations under the threat of communism or any external authoritarian forces. The political aspect of this policy was the alliances made during the Cold War. NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was a defensive alliance among the U.S. and other European countries against the Soviet Union. This alliance still exists today. The Warsaw Pact was a defensive alliance that included the Soviet Union and its satellite governments in Eastern Europe. These alliances assured that if one country was attacked, then the others must react by coming to the defense.

During the Cold War from 1946 to 1990 the United States had formed a policy called the containment policy which was adopted by President Harry Truman. The containment policy was a doctrine uniting military, economic, and diplomatic strategies to turn back communism and to insure that America would hold the leading role in world affairs.

Within theories and finding, The Truman Doctrine was established and on March 12th, 1947. Truman speech pledged “American support for free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures” (Simkin, n.d.) Congress also agreed to give economic aid to the military to help fight Greece against communism as he felt that the political stability was threatened. With Greece in trouble Truman as concerned the other countries would fall into Communism and was known as the ‘domino theory’. If it was not for Truman then Greece and Turkey could no longer afford to fight the rebels. “Truman said that the Cold War was a choice between freedom and oppression; Therefore, Americans would have to abandon their decisions not to get involved in European affairs; America was OBLIGED to get involved” (Clare, n.d.). The Truman Doctrine was an American challenge not only to Soviet ambitions but also through a policy of containment.

The original main idea of the Truman doctrine and the policy of containment were to support Turkey and Greece – who were on the verge of being subjugated to the Soviet Union and communism. They needed the assistance of an outside power to help them fight off this threat . The main point to understand this is that it set the precedent that the USA would help any country that was under threat from the Soviet Union in any way, including a communist government trying to take power.