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From The Dropping Of The Atomic Bombs On Japan In 1945

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From the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan in 1945 to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the United States of America has pursued a foreign policy of containment to curb the spread of Soviet communism throughout the world. The U.S. spent billions of dollars during the Cold War period on foreign policies of containment, but is criticized that these strategies were ineffective in containing the spread of communism. In 1946, The Long Telegram, put forth by the father of the containment theory, George F. Kennan, stated that in order to defeat Soviet communism the U.S. must to thwart the spread of communism throughout the world. Therefore, the success of the United States’ foreign policy of containment during the 1960s can be measured by …show more content…

After Fidel Castro overthrew Fulgencio Batista on July 26, 1959, he adopted a communist platform and instituted agrarian land reform programs to push the U.S. out of Cuba. President John F. Kennedy was alarmed that communism was close to the U.S. shores and was worried that Castro would spread his communist ideology throughout Latin America. Kennedy implemented the Bay of Pigs invasion on April 17, 1961, which was a plan to depose Castro and end the communist government in Cuba, but failed because Castro defeated the Guatemalan and Nicaraguan forces trained by the U.S.. The failure of the Bay of Pigs invasion exemplifies the failure of the containment policies in the 1960s because Cuba remained a communist country, and therefore shows that the U.S. was unsuccessful in curbing the spread of communism that George Kennan advocated for in his Long Telegram. Kennedy was aware that Castro was trying to spread the Domino Theory, which was the spread of communist ideology into neighbouring countries, so he established the Peace Corp and the Alliance for Progress in March 1961. These organizations were used to send aid to Latin American countries through economic development, which was supposed to reduce the attraction to communism. However, these organizations were a failure in Latin American countries like the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Chile because they turned to Castro’s communist ideology and resisted U.S. land reforms and

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