The Dispute To Communism Dbq Analysis

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.

The Korean War was a defining part of the United States foreign policy in the Cold War Era and was a response to threats from the Soviet Union. The Korean War was a culmination of tensions between North and South Korea that had resulted from the influences the United States and the Soviet Union inculcated into the countries during their occupation. When the Korean War was initiated, by the invasion of South Korea by North Korea, the United States and their allies in the United Nations perceived the invasion as a bold communistic expansion effort that occurred without provocation. (Document A). Further validating this idea was the fact that the attack was endorsed by the USSR, and partially lead by Red China, both of which were communist countries

The first method of preventing the spread of communism was implementing US policy. This strategy included external resistance to Soviet imperialism and competing in the international arena. As a nation, we did not want the USSR to feel superior in any area. In order to do so, the US needed to modernize its military, conventionally and nuclear, so the USSR would not underestimate our country. This also intimidated

Imagine if you lived in a place where you had no freedom and was ruled by a terrible man named Joseph Stalin. That is what it was like in many countries until America’s policy of containment. The United States made a policy of containment because they didn’t like the idea of communism. Communism is where you have no freedoms and you were under the rule of a dictator. The three main reasons for how did the US contain communism are: the Berlin airlift, Korean war, and finally the missile blockade in Cuba.

In June 1950, 90,000 soldiers from the communist Korean People’s Army crossed the 38th Parallel into South Korea. The most important reason for a military response from the US was the document NSC 68, which stated that they must meet communism wherever it arises. Due to this document, it was the US assumption that the invasion on South Korea was not a Civil War due to the events in Korea, and the permanent divide in 1948. However, there was also US domestic policies, and Truman’s fear of being accused of being ‘soft on communism,’ as well as the US based organisation, the UN, which was a new institution, which Truman had to support. Furthermore, containment in Europe and Asia and the

1.     How NSC-68 influenced America’s response to Communist North Korea’s invasion of South Korea in June 1950 and to Communist expansion in Southeast Asia in the 1960s. The NSC-68 called for military assistance programs that would meet the requirements of our allies. Since South Korea was an ally, we assisted them in repelling the invasion of another communist nation. This help for South Korea meant that a communist nation would be weakened and therefore possibly cripple a potential ally for the Soviet Union. Also, South Korea would then respond to a call for aid if the Soviet Union ever attacked

After World War 2, everyone was happy, unfortunately this happiness didn’t last long. The Soviet Union and United States had many differences. One of those many being, the Soviets believing in Communism and the United States believing in Capitalism. This little disagreement sparked one of the deadliest wars in U.S. history. The U.S. put the Soviets under a policy known as containment. This meant the Soviets were going to be watched and kept under control. This was to insure Communism wouldn’t spread fast or anywhere else. The strongest example of containment is the Cuban missile crisis, while North Korea vs. South Korea is the weakest example.

On June 25th, 1950, the crossing of some seventy-five thousand soldiers from the North Korean People’s Army of Korea infiltrated the borders of the 38th parallel. This invasion of the 38th parallel boundary that separated the Soviet backed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Pro-Western Republic of Korea was the first military invasion of the Cold War. Many feared that this was the first step in spreading communism throughout the globe. This reason alone, nonintervention was not considered an option in fighting to contain communist expansion. This fear was made apparent as American

During the Cold War, America's basic policy was that of "containment" of the Soviet Union. The policy of containment was based upon several principles. First, the Soviet Union wanted to spread socialism to all areas of the world. However, it was felt that the leadership of the Soviet Union felt no particular rush to accomplish their goal. "The Kremlin is under no ideological compulsion to accomplish its purposes in a hurry. Like the Church, it is dealing in ideological concepts which are of a long-term validity, and it can afford to be patient. (Hook and Spanier, 42)." In other words, the Soviet leadership believed that, since their ideas were the correct ones, they would eventually prevail, and thus, no direct confrontation would be

During the period of both wars, the U.S. committed to preventing further growth of communism. During the Korean War, the South gained backing and assistance of the U.S., reasoning that the government of North Korea were wanting to pursue the expansion of their communism towards the south of Korea. With the increasing growth of American troops, air and naval forces, and strategic combat, the intervention of the U.S. slowed the North Koreans from advancing south. American involvement in Vietnam was an implementation of the Containment Policy, which was a the obligation of U.S. foreign approach makers to terminate the expansion of communism (Vietnam War). With the participation of the U.S., the South was provided financial assistance and military hardware. This permitted North Vietnamese troops to retain their militia in the south.

Over the course of the 1950s, no event captured the tension of the infamous Cold War more than the Korean War. Fought to prevent the spread of communism in Korea, the Korean War was a bold political victory for the United States because America sent a clear message to the entire world, as it was the first military action of the Cold War, that the spread of communism will not be tolerated by the strongest military in the world, the United States. In addition, the Korean War was an economic benefit for the United States due to the increase of military spending and preserved the freedom of the South Korean people. However, the Korean War is often labeled as the “forgotten war” due to the failure of the United States to eliminate communism in

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”.

1. Truman’s Policy of Containment was that the U.S. would work to stop the spread of communism by providing political, economic, and military assistance to all democratic nations under the threat of communism or any external authoritarian forces. The political aspect of this policy was the alliances made during the Cold War. NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was a defensive alliance among the U.S. and other European countries against the Soviet Union. This alliance still exists today. The Warsaw Pact was a defensive alliance that included the Soviet Union and its satellite governments in Eastern Europe. These alliances assured that if one country was attacked, then the others must react by coming to the defense.

The United States geared up for a war against communism. Not more than a day after Seoul fell, the US had officially entered the war and had ground troops committed, an action backed by the U.N. At the beginning of the war the U.S. soldiers had little combat experience and they were in a foreign land. This was the reason for the mass casualties sustained by the U.S. “US Army casualties from June 25 through July 31, 1950 totaled 6,003: 1,884 Killed In Action, 2,695 Wounded In Action, 523 Missing In Action and 901 reported captured. Of these more than half were from the 24th Infantry Division- 3,610.”( Evanhoe, Ed. "The Korean War." The Korean War. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2012. <http://www.korean-war.com>.)

“The United States adopted a policy called, containment, according to which the U.S. committed itself to preventing any further expansion of the Soviet powers” (Tradshad, par. 5). This was the cause of thousands of American soldiers deaths because it required the United States military to be sent out all over the world to help other countries keep their own types of governmental systems. Many people also payed the United States to keep communism out of the country so that they could remain under the same powers as before the Cold War had ever began. Even though the fear of communism was taken care of, the feelings toward the Soviet Union remained the same in the thoughts that they were trying to ruin everyone’s lives. Except for the fact that the Cuban Missile Crisis was somewhat compromised when the Soviets agreed to remove the missiles in Cuba, which were pointed at the United States, in return that the U.S. would pledge to never try to spy or invade in or around their countries again. 6 but not