Summary Of ' Killing Hope ' By William Blum

Guatemala in 1960 would begin a civil war that would last for decades and since the Guatemalan civil war is very long only the initial years of the civil war will be discussed. According to John A., Booth, Wade, Christine J., Walker and Thomas W, “Colonel Castillo Armas, head of the National Liberation Movement (Movimiento de Liberación Nacional— MLN), assumed the presidency with the backing of the United States.” In 1954, Colonel Castillo Armas was a leader, that was backed up by the United States was pro-capitalism, and as the MLN dominated Guatemalan politics it had only favored the rich and upper middle class. According to John A., Booth, Wade, Christine J., Walker and Thomas W. “The MLN became a political party during the late 1950s, drawing together coffee plantation owners, municipal politicians and bureaucrats, owners of midsized farms.” Eventually Armas was assassinated, and General Miguel Ydígoras Fuentes became president. According to John A., Booth, Wade, Christine J., Walker and Thomas W. “Continued violence and corruption in the Ydígoras government prompted an abortive coup by

Because of this red scare, Americans have historically grown to become weary of communism. Under the Truman Doctrine in 1947, American forces were granted permission to intervene in any foreign relations so long as they focused on the breakdown of communist forces. Americans have had a long history of being involved with communist affairs around the world long before their support of the Nicaraguan Contras existed. But because of this fascination and fear of communism, it pushed American officials to become further emerged in the battle despite its lack of American interests.

During the 1950’s, Communism was a major fear that Democratic nations such as America were afraid of because of its radical ideas. The actions taken due to the Red Scare and the rise of McCarthyism were necessary and completely justified to protect America’s freedom and government from Communist power. With an increase of Communistic nations invading other countries and forcing their ideas upon them there was an uproar of fear in the United States. The Domino Theory was a legitimate fear of if one nation falling to communism, every nation around it would fall as well. Focusing their attention to VIetnam especially, America increased military control in these regions. Multiple Legislative actions taken by the United States such as the creation of the HAUC and the Espionage and Sedition acts were necessary to stop threats to America’s freedom. The heated tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War contributed to the fear of an attack from the East. Senator McCarthy’s convincing accusations lead to many accurate accusations as well as the rise of McCarthyism. Valid points were brought up about president Roosevelt’s New Deal policies of having capitalistic characteristics. While some actions did take away the civil liberties of some Americans, and were not always accurate, they were necessary to protect American Democracy, as well as the safety of the citizens.

The Soviet Union’s communist attitudes made the U.S. suspicious of its intentions. After the Russian Revolution and the Bolshevik takeover,

In the 1980s, the Soviet Union was plagued with a stagnant economy – it had no incentive to promote communism in Central America. Ignoring the USSR’s economic weakness, Reagan asserted squashing the Salvadoran rebels would stem the spread of communism and would reestablish American preeminence in Central America. Reagan believed that enforcing anti-communist ideology would protect American national security interests by protecting the United States from its Bolshevik enemies.

Americans feared Communism would propagate during the Cold War, although Ike addressed these fears during a press conference, he merely fueled their fear claiming, “Makes us act almost hysterically, and you will find hysterical reactions” (doc. A). Three months later, Ike’s Secretary of State confronts Americans fears by claiming if Communism were to capture America, a new front has been established in order to “increase danger to the entire free

Dwight D. Eisenhower said in the Mandate for Change, “The air support enjoyed by Castillo Armas, though meager; was important in relative terms; it gave the regular armed forces an excuse to take action in their own hands to throw out Arbenz” (Document I). Guatemala was clear of its communist President Arbenz due to the help of the United States. Guatemala did not only get rid of communism but Latin America was free (Document I). These marks on history were great failures for communism but great victories for the United

America felt like communism was already infiltrating their country as it was stated that there are communists working inside of the American government. This is shown in document B as it states that their is a list of communist party members “who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy of the State Department” (B). This speech was said right at the height of the Red Scare which raised the fear of the average American dramatically. This paranoia of communism was shown again with the Hollywood 10 who were convicted of being Communist and could never find work using their real name again. After the events of the Red Scare had happened America focused its efforts on not allowing communism to spread at all costs. This was shown in Guatemala when America overthrew the old government and stated that “The domination or control of the political institutions of any American State by the international Communist movement…would constitute a threat to the sovereignty and political independence of the American States”(F). This shows what America thought about the dangers of Communism as they felt if any territory that was involved with the United States falling to Communism is a direct threat to

The United States has been an important part in the history of all of Latin America. Many times, the United States influenced Latin American countries with its economic, political, and military power. The United States looked down at Latin America as its backyard, constantly using its influence to benefit from the land and supporting dictators in the region. The United States used this power to effectively influence Latin America for decades, even when the U.S. faced communism as a new threat during the Cold War. The United States feared the communist influence of the Soviet Union in countries like El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala, because the “evil empire’s” plan for world domination included infiltrating Latin America. Even though these

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.

During the Cold War, the United States was worry of the threat of international Communism. The fear of Communism spreading was the excuse they gave to assassinated presidents in Latin America countries that had an inclination

While the Cold War does not mark a significant distinction from US involvement in Latin America pre-Cold War, the inclusion of ideology in US foreign policy decisions did mark a change in attitudes and focus. While US policy can be described as rational to a certain point, the Cuban dilemma caused an irrational fear in US foreign policy makers to avoid a second-Cuba. The fear of a “second Cuba” can be seen in the various interventions by the US in Latin America during this period.

In my film analysis I chose three films that deal with previous U.S. administrations and more specifically the CIA's covert operations in supporting and aiding groups in other countries that ultimately opposed communism. The support of these groups was a way to perpetuate the containment policy.

America’s war on this communist regime began during World War II. US foreign policy held that communism must be contained and that governments susceptible to communist infiltration and takeover must be assisted. “If this did not occur then communism would expand its global reach, jumping from one nation to its neighbours.” This particularly relevant to Asia, where national governments are weaker and borders are poorly controlled; Asian nations therefore had a lower capacity for resisting communist infiltration and invasion (Alpha

It should be remembered that India was governed by Premier Nehru, and moving into the Soviet sphere of influence; as a result, the US sought to bring Pakistan into its fold. A socialist Iran would make Pakistan's position exceedingly precarious. The stated policy of the Eisenhower Administration was "stopping communism wherever it encroached, and rolling it back wherever possible" (Daalder). In 1954, the CIA would organize a coup d'état in Guatemala, overthrowing the democratically-elected socialist Jacobo Arbenz