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
It seems that the United States has been one of the most dominant, if not the most dominant, countries in the world, since the Declaration of Independence. Yet, on Monday, April 17, 1961, our government experienced incredible criticism and extreme embarrassment when Fidel Castro, dictator of Cuba, instantly stopped an invasion on the Cuban beach known as the Bay of Pigs. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, his advisors, and many Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officials, made the largest error of their political careers. Once the decision was made to invade Cuba, to end Castro and his Communist government, Kennedy and his administration were never looked at in the same light nor trusted again. Russian leader Nikita
After it became officially globally acknowledged that Cuba was in fact a communist state and was being led through a dictatorship run by Castro, it did not take long before powerful enemies and essential allies were formed. The act of seizing all foreign land with none or very little compensation was received with great hostility amongst those who lost in their property through this process, and probably the reaction that had the biggest impact on Cuba’s economy was that of the US. Castro’s communistic policies did not of course help calm this resentment and also took part in leading to the establishment of trade embargos with Cuba from the US. This meant that Cuba would now lose a very valuable buyer of their precious sugar, [5] but they did however gain another one, a powerful nation that shared quite similar Marxist ideals and were quick to form an alliance with the Cubans, the USSR.
George Kennan's containment plan is a radical shift in the U.S foreign policy when the Policy of the United States towards the Soviet Union prior, and during the World War II is considered. The containment policy marks the shift of American foreign policy towards the Soviets from alliance to deterrence. Kennan's states in the Long Telegram, "USSR still lives in antagonistic "capitalist encirclement" with which in the long run there can be no permanent peaceful coexistence." (Citation needed) only two years after the end of World War II, a war both the U.S and the Soviet Union fought side by side for a common ambition. If the aspect of radical shift in the U.S foreign policy is seen from a post-Cold War perspective, another radical change can
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
Following World War II the alliance between the U.S., Britain and The Soviet Union began to unravel as the USSR pushed for the spread of communism which threatened America and the free world. For the next few decades, America’s leaders would need to strategically combat the expansion of the iron curtain and communism. Issues broke out all over the world but the most significant “battles” were that of Berlin, Korea and Cuba. The U.S. contained communism in Berlin by remaining persistent, in Korea by battling, and in Cuba by taking caution.
policy in Latin America after the year 1959 can be written down to three potent words: "no more Cuba’s." However, in order to achieve this goal, Washington pursued a two-track approach which was: foreign assistance to encourage modernization and economic development, and the training and arming of Latin American militaries supportive of U.S. objectives. After a decade of minimal economic aid to Latin America, the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, in collaboration with U.S. multinational companies, pumped in twenty billion dollars of economic assistance. Moreover, the Alliance for Progress did contribute to per capita economic growth for most nations during the 1960s, but meaningful social and agricultural reforms proved
Within the center of this division lay Berlin. Russia’s communist intentions were becoming clearer to western powers. Stalin had no plans to back down from further conflict. In 1946, Churchill delivered the “Iron Curtain” speech, symbolizing future relations with the communist powers. In 1947, U.S. president Truman established his famous doctrine of containment policy, which outlined in vague terms the west’s distain and containment intentions of further communist expansion by Russia. In 1948, Americans witnessed the pressurized showdown in Berlin between western forces and Russian occupiers, which eventually led to the division of Germany, and the construction of the Berlin Wall. Once, the Russians began developing and testing nuclear weapons, and the subsequent development of space flight, Americans placed their lives in the hands of their government to handle this new, Cold War.
The people of America are the one nation in world’s history to subject many human beings to the atomic bombs purposely. That fact is well known to many people, but too little Americans think that the atomic bombing of Japan by the U.S. in August of 1945 in such cautious terms. Before the bombings occurred, there was a debate which was limited to the few top officials who knew of the secret of “tube alloys” and secret “S-1”. Once there was an announcement of the bombings, those who were amongst the war, overall accepted these acts had properly vanquished the destructive Japanese who forced the U.S. into war through their infamous sneak attack on Pearl Harbor years before. The Japanese no longer seem apparent and multiple people have an
Kennedy took Eisenhower’s plan off of the shelf. Along with the CIA, he made changes to the plan. The U.S wanted to bring an end to the communist government led by Fidel Castro. This plan became know as “The Bay of Pigs Invasion.” During this invasion, President Kennedy sent 1400 Cuban exiles to the Bay of Pigs and there they were met by Cuba’s military force which consisted of 30,000 men. The U.S had executed a failed invasion. A dynamic leader such as Fidel Castro was ready to fight for his country. Castro was able to defeat the invaders because he believed that the American invasion was of the whole island and as a result he mobilized the entire army to the Bay of Pigs and Kennedy did not provide air provide air support for the exiles because he did not want the invasion to be
Another consequence of the United States withdrawing her hand from barring the totalitarian grip of Communism was the 1950s insurgency of Communist Fidel Castro in Cuba. In 1959, after years of conflicts with the incumbent
The Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba by the United States on April 17, 1961 was in the planning stages before John F. Kennedy became America 's President. The plan was made by the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) during the Eisenhower years, and JFK supported the decision with modifications. Kennedy’s goal was to remove Fidel Castro from power of Cuba, cut his ties with the Soviet Union and establish a friendly government of the United States. He wanted the invasion to seem just plainly anti-Castro, but the plan got leaked and when it actually did happen, nearly everything went wrong. The attempt was handled poorly and it made JFK look very bad. Even though Kennedy took the blame for it, it was not entirely his fault. To this day, Castro remains in power of Cuba and the United States does not have control of it at all.
The United States planned the Bay of Pigs invasion which was an attempt to overthrow Castro. The plan was to arm Cuban exiles living in Florida and once they had made an appearance in Cuba, unhappy Cubans would want to join them and help take down Castro. The Bay of Pigs was a failure, because Castro’s forces had stopped the plan. The Cuban Missile Crisis was a 13 day confrontation between the U.S. and Soviet Union. Castro has a target on his back after the Bay of Pigs
On Friday, January 20, 1961 John F. Kennedy was inaugurated into office as the United States 35th president. Prior to President Kennedy taking office, President Eisenhower had ordered the CIA to overthrow Fidel Castro and to ultimately rid him from power in Cuba. During the 1961 election, a series of debates took place in which Kennedy was able to express his views on foreign policy. The debate on hand regarded Cuba and it’s new ruler, Fidel Castro, whom had overthrown the Cuban dictator, Fulgencio Batista. During the debate, Kennedy’s opponent Richard Nixon argued that the island was not “lost” to the United States, but Kennedy disagreed. Kennedy argued, “Cuba is lost for freedom.” Shortly after taking office, Kennedy was briefed on a plan
Castro intended on helping Cuba’s high poverty, but Castro did not turn Cuba into a democracy like he said he would (“Cuban missile Crisis”2). In 1960 the soviet premier attempted to convince Castro to become communist, soon after this castro became communist, probably influenced by the soviet premier (“Cuban missile Crisis”3). A new american president, that could probably change the war, was coming into office around this time, President Kennedy. The new president would take on the problem of this new cuban leader (International Encyclopedia of the… 1). Before him, Eisenhower trained about 1,500 Cuban Exiles in secret to try to take over Cuba, Kennedy allowed this to go on. On april 17, the exils attempted to invade Cuba(“Cuban missile Crisis”3). Since Castro had found out about the invasion, he was ready and defeated the the incoming force easily(“Cuban missile Crisis”3-4). The failed invasion seemed to help the Cuban opinion of Castro. He was now an obvious threat and so the U.S. decided to start operation Mongoose. Operation Mongoose was a secret operation to get rid of Castro, it was an operation where the U.S. would try to sabotage Cuba, but Operation Mongoose never ended up happening. The U.S.S.R. did not want to lose Cuba so they decided to secretly send weapons into Cuba, including nuclear weapons (“Cuban missile Crisis”4). These arm shipments would lead to one of the
In The Sources of Soviet Conduct, George F. Kennan explained “Containment was the central post-war concept of the United States and its allies in dealing with the Soviet Union”. To contain communism, the United Stated strategy was to have a strong