Foreign Policy Development in the 20th Century Essay

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.

During the cold war was an period of time were the United states and the Soviet union did not agree on things, like communism. The policy of containment was when the United states tried different things and many strategies to stop the spread of communism (Ayers 819).

Being a capitalist democracy, the United States was afraid of the potential spread of communism. Communism was seen as a threat to American social, economic, and political life. American leaders of the late 1940s, sought to remedy this agonizing fear of potential American Communism. Consequently President Truman developed his three-part Cold War policy. Involving military buildup, containment, and economic assistance. The Americans they felt if one country fell under the influence of communism, the surrounding countries would as well, commonly referred to as the domino theory. Therefore, The United States exercised containment, a major policy in the Cold War; suggested by George F. Keenan, an American diplomat stationed in Moscow Russia. In regards to economic assistance the most successful foreign policy

This was very important because the U.S did not want communism to spread in Europe. The Marshall plan changed the economic situation in the European and also of freed up trade policies within the continent. This created a situation in which trade could be conducted freely and this ended up helping their economy prosper. Factories started to operate again giving thousands of people jobs and a way to provide for their families. The North Atlantic alliance was created by trade relation that

“The United States countered Soviet expansion and propaganda with a policy of containment, initially with the Truman Doctrine of aid to Greece and Turkey in 1947, the Marshall Plan (1948) for Europe’s economic reconstruction the airlift (1948-49) to the blockaded city of Berlin, and the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949” (Nogee, 2005)

The foreign policy of containment, is the policy of using numerous strategies to prevent the spread of communism abroad. In order to prevent the spread of communism after World War II, the United States followed the policy of containment, the Truman Doctrine, and the Marshall Plan. The Americans wanted to bring democracy to nations abroad, while the Soviet Union wanted communism to spread throughout the world. The primary goal of this policy was to keep Soviet Union-based communism isolated and to prevent the spread of it to neighboring countries. The United States was successful at meeting the goals of containment because there are only three big communist countries that exist today.

“The United States countered Soviet expansion and propaganda with a policy of containment, initially with the Truman Doctrine of aid to Greece and Turkey in 1947, the Marshall Plan (1948) for Europe’s economic reconstruction the airlift (1948-49) to the blockaded city of Berlin, and the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949” (Nogee, 2005)

Beginning in 1947 and gradually declining in solemnity until its end in 1991, the Cold War kept the United States and the USSR at high tensions for over four decades. The name refers to the fact that no fighting took place throughout the war, and that it was solely based around threats and propaganda. During this time, a major goal of the US was to stop the spread of communism through containment, which was made possible through the Truman Doctrine. It was believed that if communism began to spread, it would start the domino effect and over time all of Europe and Asia would fall to communism.

The Cold War began when Joseph Stalin, leader of the Communist Party, used the Red Army to take control of most of the countries of Eastern Europe. The United States as well as Western European countries were greatly concerned. In response to Stalin 's military movements, President Harry Truman issued the Truman Doctrine in 1947. In his address to Congress, President Truman decided that “the United States would aid any country that asked for help in resisting communism” (Browne 263). The Truman Doctrine became known as the basis for containment, the policy to keep communism from spreading to other countries. According to White House documents online, after the Truman Doctrine, George Catlett Marshall, Secretary of State, proposed the Marshall Plan, the European Recovery Program through which the United States provided aid to Western Europe after World War II, in June 1947. The Marshall Plan was offered to all European countries, but Stalin would not allow the countries his military was occupying to take part. “In April 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed” (Browne 263). The countries involved in this pact were the United States, Britain, France, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Portugal.

Furthermore, Capitalism helped with the collapse of the U.S.S.R and helped the U.S win the Cold War through a series of events in Germany from 1947-1961. If it were not to Capitalism, there would have been a greater chance of Soviet expansion, thus Communism would be a dominant ideology. The U.S amalgamating its zone with Britain and France allowed democracy to prosper in West Germany. The U.S issuing the Truman Doctrine as well as the Marshall Plan allowed Communism to be contained and prevent further expansion. The U.S also sent aid to European democracies to help them economically rebuild their nations, thus preventing Communism. Stalin underestimating the West’s determination to keep West Berlin had a positive outcome for the Allies as

After WWII, the U.S. became fully interventionist. US interventionism was motivated primarily to contain the spread and influence of communism and made us a leader in global security, economic and social issues. We then entered into the Cold War. President Truman’s Containment policy was the first major policy during the Cold War and used numerous strategies to prevent the spread of communism abroad.

The revisionist theory that the Cold War was caused by US expansionism is upheld by Nicholas Bethell …the aggressiveness by which the US undertook its policy of containment, raises the question of whether the US were containing communist or rather expanding capitalism… " (Nicholas Bethell). The US strategy of control against the Soviet Union was only a front for a thorough battle to grow capitalism and build up friendly governments, which would open monetary markets to the US and set up strong militaristic strongholds. This US expansionism was created between 1945 and 1953 through different procedures and various military campaigns. In 1947, the US built up the Truman Doctrine, which was an approach intended to stop communist expansion by giving up to $17billion to war-torn countries as the US trusted that country would support capitalism more if they had jobs, homes and food. In 1950, the US passed the NSC-68 arrangement, which set out an enormous campaign of military assistance to anti-communist nations, for example, in Asia, Africa and the Middle East with the point of building up military stations in territories of geopolitical significance, for example, in the Korean War, which brought about a colossal unforeseen of the US military being positioned in Korea. US military and financial expansionism was bringing

Containment, first proposed by George Kennan in 1947, became the basic strategy of the United States throughout the Cold War. Kenna believed that if the United States stood firm on their resistance to Soviet expansion that it would eventually compel Moscow to adopt more peaceful policies.

The military spent about 8 trillion dollars on the Cold War and to contain communism. This price is very low compared to the 100,000 American soldiers who paid the ultimate price and lost their lives. (Boundless) The Cold War was a period of tension between the United States of America and the Soviet Union during the years of 1947 through 1991 regarding communism. Three of the presidents during the Cold War campaigned against communism using containment. Containment is the practice of preventing something harmful, such as communism, from spreading to other places. (Ayers et al. ***) George F. Kennan was a big advocate for containment and his writings inspired the three presidents’ foreign policies. (Ayers

It played a major role in changing the business perspective between Europe and U.S. It helped European countries to pass the initial phases of post war unfavorable conditions. However, the U.S apart from supporting Europe also wanted to lower down the biggest threat of communism to spread. The aid was also offered to Soviet Union but was turned down by them as they considered it an attempt by U.S to set its control in communist regions. Overall the plan was highly efficient and proved to be a support to the war affected countries and also to U.S in hindering communism to spread.