US Actions in World War I

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.”

The United States entered World War I because of German submarine warfare against merchant ships trading with Britain and France, which led to the sinking of the RMS Lusitania in which 128 American lives were lost. [3] The US had also intercepted the Zimmerman Telegram which had been sent between Germany and Mexico, urging Mexico to declare war against the United States. [4]

The United States decision to release the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was a way to intimidate the Soviet Union. The United States did this by revealing to the Soviet Union what they were capable of doing during war. According to Document 3, Dwight D. Eisenhower did not want the Soviet Union to enter the war. Eisenhower believed that the United States did not need aid from the Soviet Union during war. Also, according to Document

Second, another goal of American participation in the war was to ensure financial security. A great number of businessmen from the U.S loaned money out to Great Britain and France with the interest of helping the Allies succeed. Their total contribution was around three billion dollars, all of this was loans, however. The U.S realized that if the allies didn’t win the war against the axis powers, the likelihood of the loans being repaid to the businessmen was fairly slim. The ‘Preparedness Movement’ arose out of this concern, which stated that the U.S should enter the war and support the Allies in order to better ensure their victory. As long as the allies won, the loans would most likely be repaid. A final goal for American participation in the war was to stop unrestricted submarine warfare, which was damaging American ships and crippling the shipping industry. Protecting American shipping was a pretty major goal in entering the war. On January 9, 1917, Germany announced that it would start using unrestricted submarine warfare. The reason for Germany doing this was desperation. They

There are people who suggest that President Eisenhower was “cautious in . . . international affairs.” Assess the validity of this statement in regard to policies toward Korea, Vietnam, the Suez Crisis, Iran, Israel, and the Soviet Union.

The United States entered World War I to fight for democracy. Another reason they entered war was because the arguments about capitalism. Part of the reason they entered the war was because of the German submarine warfare. Lives of innocent people were being taken for no reason. “German submarine warfare against commerce is a warfare against mankind.” “American ships have been sunk, American lives taken, in ways which it has stirred us very deeply to learn of.” John Kenneth Turner said that the he thought that the war was a war for business. World War I made 21,000 new american millionaires, and 60,000 men made more than three billion dollars over their normal income. War makes money which is why Wall Street wanted war. America’s war aims were to keep the people safe, and increase the trading. They wanted to have peace and justice in the

peaceful  coexistence,  but  his  aggression after the U2 spy plane incident of 1960 and the gamble with  peace

He wanted the Soviet’s to change their government policy (Doc 3). America's national security policy for planning post-war was a cause of great discomfort for the Soviets. Due to this, the Soviets were much more conscious of America's post-war planning in which America planned to regain their previous interests and possibly gain more. America’s post-war planning and their use of the atomic bomb caused tension between them and the Soviet Union. After World War II, American political policies towards the Soviets changed severely.

When World War 1 began in 1914, the United States was neutral and wanted to remain that way because their chief objective was to continue doing business with Great Britain, France and Russia (Keene, Cornell & O’Donnell, 2013). By remaining neutral, America would benefit from all sides. We know that this would cause hatred among other nations. However, what really caused the United States to part-take in the war was the “sinking of the Lusitania ship by a German submarine.” This was a British Passenger ship that was transitioning from New York to the British Islands and had crossed into the war-zone. This was not a mistake as what was described in that driver who took the wrong turn, ending the lives of Archduke Francis and his wife that started the initial war 1 (Keene, Cornell & O’Donnell, 2013, p. 595). Was that ship smuggling ammunition and other contraband on board the passenger ship? If this is true, we can see how the heart of man is very brutal; the love of money is the root to all evil. America had to find a way in protecting their loan to Britain. Overall, one can say, if Archduke had given Serbia its independence from Australia to a Slavic state, would there be a World War 1 (DeVry University, 2016)

The United States response began as a total cover-up and progressed through many versions of the facts. After the plane was shot down, the United States’ first announcement was that an “unarmed weather research plane based at Adana, Turkey, and piloted by a civilian American” was missing. First the government stated that the pilot was a civilian employee of the Lockheed corporation flying a U-2 plane chartered by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. On May 7 the State Department announced that the plane was an unarmed civilian U-2 collecting intelligence and blamed the Soviet Union’s “excessive secrecy” for our need to spy on them. In a news conference statement by President Eisenhower on May 11, he lists four points: (1) intelligence-gathering activities are needed; (2) intelligence

His successor would have to carry out any long standing deal for de-escalation. The1960 Presidential race was between then current Vice President Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. Kennedy’s main argument against Nixon was Eisenhower’s (and thereby Nixon’s) inability to close the missile gap. (Beschloss, 1986) Without the mythic missile gap, there is a strong indication that Nixon would be president. Yet there is nothing to say that Nixon would be able to continue the work started by Eisenhower. Either way, Khrushchev was not impressed with either candidate; he called Nixon’s campaign a total disaster and thought Kennedy too young. (Beschloss, 1986) To further complicate matters, Khrushchev was receiving massive pressure from the Kremlin. His dissolution of a million soldiers did not sit well with the military. In real life Khrushchev was ultimately ejected by the Soviet Supreme in 1964 partially because of this reason. (Taubman, 2003) There is nothing to say that, given the further softening of Soviet forces, the Soviet Supreme would fire Khrushchev sooner. Speculation aside, history has shown us that both the CIA and the intelligence community as a whole learned its

Eisenhower’s Supreme Commander role and contribution to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization had been beneficial. For example, it had strengthen ties and alliances through actions such as protecting a nation against the spread of communism and the Soviet Union. These alliances would help us in later events, such as when the United States is at war and need more soldiers and other forms of support. Moreover, with his prior experiences, Eisenhower was able to do well in his position. However, his role had negative impact because he increased tensions between America and the Soviet Union. The actions taken by America could have been a reason for the Soviet Union to attack them.

A few months later, in July of 1960, the Prime Minister of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, spoke of arming Cuba with rockets that would protect it from the U.S. In response, President Eisenhower announced that the United States would not “tolerate the establishment of a regime dominated by international communism in the western hemisphere.” Richard Bissell, an aide to CIA director Allen Dulles, described a meeting that took place in the White House on January 3, 1961, stating, “President [Eisenhower] seemed to be eager to take forceful action against Castro, and breaking off diplomatic relations appeared to be his best card. He noted that he was prepared to ‘move against Castro’ before Kennedy’s inauguration on the twentieth if a ‘really good excuse’ was provided by Castro. ‘Failing that,’ he said, ‘perhaps we could think of manufacturing something that would be generally

Clenched teeth and white knuckles as they opened the letter, this was the highly intense and nerve-racking Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The question still remains: Who was most to blame for the Cuban Missile Crisis? The USSR’s Nikita Khrushchev is the most to blame for the Cuban Missile Crisis because of the hostile actions towards the United States that could’ve been prevented if it wasn’t for his bad intentions. The USSR convinced Cuba that is was a good idea to install the missiles for defense and safety of America’s neighboring island. Khrushchev had not only targeted nuclear missiles towards the United States, intending to obliterate it, and to top all of that off, the USSR lied to United States officials about installing the missiles in Cuba. This very well proves that it is in fact Nikita Khrushchev who is most at fault for the crisis. He started with an agreement with Cuba and began poking and pushing America’s buttons, forcing Kennedy to go into panic-mode and set up a defensive blockade. This prompted Cuba to feel threatened by the United States, thinking it would be another Bay of Pigs Invasion and they started advocating for the launch of the missiles on the United States It was a short crisis, but had much importance because it could’ve been the start of a very dangerous war. Kennedy is to blame for overreacting and setting up a quarantine. And Fidel Castro is to blame for their intentions on the missiles and for pressuring the United States with their threats. Although Kennedy and Castro had an immense impact on the start of the crisis, it is Khrushchev who initiated these issues and actually created the crisis that could’ve very well led to a nuclear war. This is why Nikita Khrushchev is the most to blame for the Cuban Missile

I agree with your point that failure had the potential to make us look weak to the Soviets. By the President making it so apparent that an enormous effort with a large financial backing was being undertaken, being unsuccessful would have been poorly viewed by the international community. In this case, there was no glory to be had for second place.