Why Did The Us Get Involved In The Cold War

The domino theory was defined as the held belief that if one communist country fell, neighboring communist countries would fall with it, and in turn, communism would eventually reach America and take over the world. This was theorized by American foreign policy advisors, but the phrase was popularized after Dwight D. Eisenhower’s use of it in one of his speeches. In this speech, he talked about the importance of American intervention in South Vietnam to allow the creation of a buffer country (South Vietnam), a country or state that stood between a potentially

They speculated that "if one land in a region came under the influence of Communism, the surrounding countries would follow in a domino-like effect". (Small) So basically, once one country turns to Communism, all the surrounding countries will follow until it has taken over completely. This theory was used by U.S administrators during the Cold War to clarify and justify the need for American intervention around the world. The idea had been in existence for quite some time, but it was only clear what it really was when President Dwight D. Eisenhower put it into words in 1954, when referring to communism.

Due to pressure, humiliation and great losses of troops, the strain was clearly beginning to show and in the same year, the French pulled out of the war. When China fell to Communism in 1949, the US treated the Chinese with suspicion as they believed that they would try to spread communism and consequently, they feared that the whole of south-east Asia would turn communist, country by country. The dominant idea in the US foreign policy was the 'Domino Theory', strongly upheld by President Truman, which outlined their fear of the whole of south-Asia falling to

The United States from the Cold War and into the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) continues to face challenges in translating military might into political desires due to its obsession with raising an army, electing politicians and assembling a diplomatic corp that continue to gravitate towards State-to-State engagements that if not rectified could lead to substantial delays in fighting terrorism and non-terrorist adversaries or worse total failure of the United States Military’s ability to properly carry out it’s politicians objectives due to being blindsided.

After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as the two new superpowers and as archrivals. The United States wanted to keep the Soviet Union from spreading communism by force so the United States came up with a plan of containment, which was to block the Soviet Union wherever possible to contain the spread of communism therefore beginning the Cold War. (Davidson et al., 2005)

The Cold War was a state of tension between the Soviet Union and the United States of America. It was characterized by an arms race particularly in nuclear weaponry. The Soviet Union and the United States were also embroiled in a space race. The American people were afraid of nuclear war and the global spread of communism after World War II. The Eisenhower administration did not address these fears effectively, although he attempted to relieve these concerns.

I believe that the United States’ involvement in the Cold War had a significant influence on the debate as well as the Supreme Court decision of the Brown v. Board of Education case.

On the 7th of April 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave one historic press conference [1]. In that conference, he announced his so called “Domino Theory”. It was a substantial aspect of the US involvement in the Vietnam War, involvement in terms of its military support and methods used in Vietnam. Even though it was greatly enhanced by other factors, such as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, it was the trigger, and therefore the source of all US involvement in the Vietnam War. The main rationale of the theory was that if one country fell down to communism, all the surrounding countries would do the same, hence why it was called the ‘Domino’ Theory. Eisenhower thought that Vietnam’s fall to communism would lead to consequential communist uprisings in neighboring countries, such as Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. He also that that it could possibly extend as far as India, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Australia and New Zealand -[1]. This gave The US enough motivation, and more importantly, justification as to why they greatly increased military presence in Vietnam. Eisenhower said, “The possible consequences of the loss [of Indochina] are just incalculable to the free world.” [2]. Even though the theory was imprecise, and only Laos and Cambodia joined communism after the US lost the war, it was significant as the foundation of the US involvement in the conflict.

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.

Conflict with the USSR, such as mutual antagonism has brought the United States to cause the Cold War. Many modern-day wars have been created and have been battled in to achieve a greater goal than simply the notion of creating war for a false objective just to fight to fulfill satisfaction. In cases like this, many battles lose its purpose, as conquering the opponent, or enemy, becomes the prime reason of the war, and the original objective becomes forgotten or secondary. The establishment of the Cold War had been partially ecological and partially politically purposeful until both superpower states promptly dismissed their incitements while controversies began to intensify between the two superpower states, converting the conflict into a

After you WW2 the United States sent their soldiers home after a great win but soon after another war began. This war was called The Cold War this was between the Soviet Union and the United States. This war was based on political issues on how Soviet Union mission was to spread communism and the United States mission was to contain it and which did in several ways like the Korean War, Berlin airdrops , the Cuban missile crisis , and the Mmarshal Pplan. This war was basically a war between expanding and containing. Discuss why there was a cold war

Fear of communism, otherwise known as the Domino Theory, strengthened the American resolve to intervene in Vietnam. In addition, the US needed to maintain its credibility by coming out on top in the Vietnam conflict, so as to provide bargaining power in other conflicts. Of course, internal politics too played a role in the decision to intervene in Vietnam, with Lyndon Bane Johnson taking action that would directly involve US in Vietnam during his election. Once internal politics took hold, the slippery slope came into effect with Americans having to commit to the conflict in Vietnam without any serious way out.

“Joseph Stalin saw the world as divided into two camps: imperialist and capitalist regimes on the one hand, and the Communist and progressive world on the other” (“Soviet Perspectives”). The United States considered capitalism as a free system and communism as a system that wanted control over other nations. During the Cold war, President John F. Kennedy and many other American leaders became convinced that the Soviets intended to dominate the world. The US built support on the homefront for participation in the Cold War by informing the American people the negative effects of communism in other countries around the world.

In turn, domino theory and the spread of communism affected America and Vietnam in ways that had a political implications, led to America having military concerns, and had societal implications. Domino theory had political implications on both America and Vietnam leading up to and during the Vietnam War. After WWII, America became focused on the Soviet Union and the idea of communism. In the Eisenhower Doctrine of 1957, President Eisenhower spoke on how American troops can be used “to secure and protect the territorial integrity and political independence of such nations, requesting such aid against overt armed aggression from any nation controlled by international communism”(Eisenhower Doctrine, 1957). This meant that the US could send troops into a country if it met any American political or economic concerns.

The Domino Theory was the idea that communism was an aggressive, expanding imperialism that would spread from one country to the next and shaped United States’ policy on Asia during the Cold War. The United States’ government used the “Domino Theory” to justify their support of a non-communist regime in South Korea against the communist government of North Korea. China became a communist state in 1949 and President Truman feared the next “domino” would be Korea. President Truman quantified, “If we let Korea down, the Soviets will keep right on going and swallow up one place after another.”