Macarthur's Responsibility Of The Allies During The Cold War

Both the ideologies of the United States and the Soviets were unchanging and unwilling to compromise. Given the Soviets recent advances like obtaining “the bomb” and Mao Tse-tung’s victory for communist china, Americans were beginning to conclude that something had to be done. Victory was the only option. This belief can be echoed by the fact that neither President Truman or Secretary Acheson were willing to give in to appeasement. Acheson announced that the U.S would not “pull down the blinds and sit in the parlor with a loaded shotgun, waiting.”

America was ready to strike back. But not only did they have Japan to worry about, they had others too. Three days after congress approved the declaration of war, Japan's allies Germany and Italy declared war against the United States. One reason Germany lost the world war was because its forces were split between East and West. If they only focused on the soviet union, it wouldn’t have been as bad. It wouldn’t take twice the resources and casualties. For the U.S., concentrating on just Japan may have changed the whole outcome. Maybe they wouldn’t have dropped the bomb, because the focus is all on one country, not

Additionally, Americans feared Soviet motives. In April 1941, the Soviet Union signed the non-aggression pact with Japan, however after Germany’s defeat, they declared war on Japan on August 9th, 1945. The increase in Soviet influence in Eastern Europe, after the surrender of Germany, and perhaps in Asia, if the declaration of war actually occurred, troubled the United States. Unease at the fact that an attack on Japan would cause extreme American military losses resulted in the atomic bomb drop. Due to this, President Truman delivered the Truman Doctrine. “The Truman Doctrine amounted to a declaration against Russian influence beyond the boundaries laid down in 1945” (73). This document showed America’s first strides towards repressing communism. Truman reacted before Russia had the chance to expand its communism across Europe.

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

situation at this point in time and was not making any new allies. The Japanese had began to get

After WWII, the United States had devastated Japan by unleashing two atomic bombs. The shock and fear these weapons invoked in countries such as, Russia, caused a panic. The United States started an “arms race”. The Soviets had the fear of America using the devastating weapon on their home country; creating new weapons to rival the United States (Document A). With this new threat, American leaders started a global mission to end communism. The Soviets made attempts to spread its communism to developing countries, allowing them to have access to new resources. The United States formulated plan to extend military force and financial aid to other European countries (Document D).

During World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union created an alliance to prevent Nazi Germany from spreading their fascist and radical ideals, but after the war, it quickly became apparent that both countries had intentions to exploit their previously stable relationship. Shortly after World War II, the Soviet Union made it their primary goal to expand their communist policies across Europe (and eventually the world). Their communist policies heavily contradicted the reason why the United States joined World War II, contrasted American ideals, and placed American democracy in jeopardy. Although relations seemed healthy shortly after the war, the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union dwindled to war due to the United States’

By the end of the war, the need for uniting to overthrow Japan and Germany had ended. After World War II, the United States began having an unsettling partnership with the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was an alliance that was necessary to defeat the Axis powers: Germany, Japan, and Italy. The United States believed the Soviets wanted to have dominance in the world, but the Soviets thought the same of the U.S. If Communism spread across the world, the U.S. was afraid that they would lose their freedom and democracy after giving up so much to keep it during World War II. They wanted to make the Nazi Germany into a tradable, capitalist democracy. The Soviets wanted to destroy Germany and create more communist s on the west border to avoid being vulnerable to an attack. The U.S. government felt threatened by the expansion of communism from the Soviets to Eastern Europe, which had spread to China, Korea, Vietnam, and China. As communism began to rapidly spread, the Soviets went to extreme measures to scare their rival. David Ropeik (June 25, 2012), an author and an instructor at Harvard, explains in his writing, The Historical Roots, and Impacts, of our Nuclear Fear, that in August 1945, Americans sent bombs to destroy the Japanese towns of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This not only killed hundreds of people, but also created extreme fear during World War II. Americans soon began to pursue the communists

In an article by George Kennan, he stated that we “must continue to regard the Soviet Union as a rival, not a partner in the political arena” (Doc 2). He continued, implying the impossibility of peaceful coexistence with the USSR (Doc 2). This impossibility of peaceful coexistence hinted at the eventual conflict that would come in the future. The United States wanted to charter against the Soviets. In the creation of NATO, they drew up a treaty stating, “The parties to this Treaty...are determined to safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilization of their people, founded on the principle of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law” (Doc 3). The Allied countries had used ideas from their faults of World War II with Germany. They learned to never appease an aggressive country, as it would lead to further aggressiveness. In response to NATO, the Soviet Union drew up The Warsaw Pact, and forced it upon the Allies. This showed the taking of sides, but if either side would make a move, war will break out (Doc 4). In relation to future events, this formation of the pact instigated further tension as both countries felt the need to assert their

The war against Japan provided the Allies with completely new problems as they faced up to an enemy with completely different tactics. Japan’s imperial ambitions had been evident from as early as 1931. Japan became seen as a serious threat to the economic interests and influence of the US and European powers in Asia. By July 1937, Japan was engaged in all-out war with China and turned to the Axis powers, signing the Tripartie Pact with Germany

The Korean War changed the face of American Cold War diplomacy forever. In the midst of all the political conflict and speculation worldwide, the nation had to choose between two proposed solutions, each one hoping to ensure that communism didn?t sweep across the globe and destroy American ideals of capitalism and democracy. General Douglas MacArthur takes the pro-active stance and says that, assuming it has the capability, the U.S. should attack communism everywhere. President Harry Truman, on the other hand, believed that containing the Soviet communists from Western Europe was the best and most important course of action, and that eliminating communism in Asia was not a priority.

During the period of the Cold War the United States became involved in global affairs to control areas that seemed dangerous by modernizing and providing economic aid with the hopes of containing communism. In 1947 the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan confirmed the US commitment to keeping Europe free from communism. Then the United States signed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization agreement in April 1949 confirming American willingness to go to war if necessary to protect democracy from communist challenges. The events of 1949, when the Chinese communists emerged victorious from their civil war and the Soviet Union detonated its first atomic bomb, seemed to confirm to the United States that communism was expansive and aggressive. By 1950, the Cold War had become pervasive both at home and abroad. In foreign policy terms the United States had proclaimed itself as the only major protection against communist expansion. In five short years the world had transformed dramatically. Harry S. Truman quickly made his mark as President and quickly turned cold warrior. President Truman proclaimed that the United States should act as the leader of an international moral crusade against an evil and aggressive foe, meaning the Soviet Union. Korea was not explicitly part of the United States sphere on interest. In the post-war era American policy makers saw the world as bi-polar with the ensuing Cold War becoming

The United States responded to the “Hawks”, President Harry S. Trueman still wanted and continued to keep communism “bottled up”. In result the Marshall Plan was created (Doc. 2). World War Two had left Europe in pieces, and the United States wanted to gain support from them. The plan was to help Europe rebuild. Between 1948 and 1952, the United States provided more than twelve billion dollars in aid. The United States helped reduce the spread of communism in Western Europe. The Trueman Doctrine basically “bribed” Greece and Turkey to think again about communist expansionism. The United States provided them with four hundred million dollars in military and economic aid. The Berlin Airlift also stopped west Berlin from falling into the Soviets arms. The United States and Britain provided helicopters and planes to drop food, fuel, and other supplies to about two million Berliners everyday. Little children would call these planes “chocolate bombers”.

Based upon their World War II experiences, the United States and the Soviet Union created a few foreign policies during 1945. The Soviet Union’s foreign policies include spreading communism, creating more buffer states, and to form a sphere of influence in Manchuria. Stalin wanted to spread communism so he would eventually control Europe, that did not work out because the Allied powers spread capitalism. The Soviet Union also wanted to create buffer states which are small neutral countries, settled between two bigger militant countries, serving to avoid the surge of

This caused the US to believe that Soviets had mainly expansionist aims. The US was “not prepared to see the opportunity for future investment [in Eastern Europe] foreclosed” (Crockatt 67) and this belief sparked the development of the containment policy directed by George Kennan, outlined in the Long Telegram (Lightbody 5). In addition, “the west had to oppose the Soviet Union for its own survival” (Lightbody 5) as the nuclear race between the US and USSR ensued and the USSR strived to equal the already well-established program of the US. This tension did not recede as Soviets sent spies into the US Manhattan Project, the nuclear development program (Lightbody 5). When the Soviets refused to join the Baruch Plan – which controlled nuclear weapon development – the USSR became even more openly viewed as a threat to US security. The growth of communism in Asia within the countries of Korea, Vietnam, and China along with tensions between the “Iron Curtain,” or divide, between Eastern and Western Europe also contributed to increasing threat towards capitalism and the Cold War’s inevitability.