More handpicked essays just for you.
The us containment strategies in the cold war
Aspects of the cold war
The us containment strategies in the cold war
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Soviet Union and United States wanted to put the halves back together, but had different ideas of how the government should be run, which caused tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States to escalate. The United States thought that the Soviet Union wanted to spread communism to surrounding nations. The United States focused on communism, to start, President Harry S Truman created a foreign policy called the Truman Doctrine to defend the Soviet's political pushes. With the policy established, the United States would contribute any forces or supplies needed to those nations under fire from outside and in-house forces. The plan was set to defend areas anywhere from Asia to Europe.
The United States took proper and a wise political response to perceive aggression from the Soviet Union both in Europe and Middle East. The United States came up with one of the most successful foreign policy, the "Truman doctrine". Communism started spreading around a good number of countries around Europe in countries like Hungary, Poland and Romania right after the World War II. This had gave the western world a big panic and there was one person who people always turned to, Truman was involved in this Europe affair he was the main “player” of the scene. The Truman Doctrine was announced by President Truman and was addressed to congress on March 12, 1947.
Harry S. Truman was in office when containment was created. He helped other countries by sending supplies and money to help their army and economy (Truman 13). Eisenhower used the U.S.’s military to help defend other countries from communism (Ayers 820). Kennedy sent the U.S.’s weapons to other countries to help them defend themselves from communism (Kennedy 9). Truman likes the idea of helping, but not directly, so he sent them supplies, so they could defend their countries themselves, just with our help (Truman 13).
President Truman reflected on the importance of the United Nations and military involvement by stating, “… I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures…” (Document B). However, during this particular time period, America remained one of the only nations actively fighting against communism. Most European countries were subjected to financial duress caused by World War II, thus placing the burden squarely on America’s shoulders. This inexplicable lack of support not only made America relatively weaker, but also allowed communism to spread throughout areas in which they people were not even willing to fight for themselves.
President Truman was the first president to deal with the Cold War.
Communism has since been neutralized as a major threat to national security, but the idea that stronger democratic nations should aid in the fight against dominating regimes, attempting to overtake weaker countries remains a priority for the U.S. proved by the modern employment of The Truman Doctrine. This order more specifically details spending and strategy, whereas the Policy of Containment mainly outlines the ideology and principles that can motivate action against opposing governments stepping over their geological and political
This tug of war between Roosevelt representing an interventionist minority and the isolationists in Congress resulted in little effective headway made in either direction until the United States was once again forced into a world war. In President Harry Truman’s speech, The Truman Doctrine, given on the twelfth of March, 1947 before a Joint Session of Congress, Truman voiced, “I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” After World War Two, the United States realized that a lack of involvement and aid for war torn countries allowed communism and totalitarianism to spread. The Soviet Union took control of many Eastern European countries, and this was called the Iron Curtain by Winston Churchill. Unlike in World War One and the beginning of World War Two, Truman had support from more well liked figures such as George F. Kennan and George C. Marshall. Kennan’s idea was based around providing economic and financial aid to struggling countries, and this heavily shaped the plan America would use.
Communism began to spread during World War II due the success of the Soviet Union Army and the defeat of the Nazi Party. After the war, the Soviet Union wanted to convert more countries to Communism in order to protect themselves from potential attacks of common neighboring Fascist or Democratic nations. The United States and their Western allies worried that the Soviet Union, along with its satellite states, were attempting to over-expand their territory and force Communism on to the world. The political and military tension that resulted between these powers is commonly known as “The Cold War”, which lasted from 1947 until 1991 (“Cold War
America and the Soviet Union were allies during WWII, but it was a “tense ally” (Cold War History). “They now see each other as archenemies” (Out of Many, p. 581) now that the war is over. America was in fear of communism from the Soviet Union and was doing everything in their power to defeat the Soviet Union. In 1947 President Truman made a speech and stated: “ the preservation and freedom of all Americans depended on containing communism” (Out of Many, p. 584) and Truman helped to generate popular support for an anti-communist
“Mankind must put an end to world war or war will put an end to mankind.” (John F. Kennedy). Before the Cold War, the world was in the second world war of the century, soldiers not only killing soldiers, but also civilians. After World War II countries tried to get freedom from the countries that colonized them. Before the Cold War only one country had and dropped a nuclear bomb, but that would not be the case during the Cold War.
Truman was placed as the new Vice President during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fourth term, but quickly inherited the presidency after Roosevelt’s death. Roosevelt was an extremely successful president who pushed for relief, reform, and recovery. Following such a productive presidency would be tough to do, yet Truman was eager to continue Roosevelt’s legacy. He believed that a free society at home cannot exist without a free society abroad. Truman responded to the spread of Communism to Greece and Turkey by declaring in the Truman Doctrine that “the United States would aid the democratic struggle against totalitarianism by supporting ‘free peoples who are resisting the subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.’”
He wanted to secure and protect territorial areas that are threatened by communist territories. Most of the time, that included massive retaliation or brinkmanship. Brinkmanship is when they would scare people into doing what we want, and massive retaliation is if someone does something to us, we do something back to them, but bigger than what they did. After Eisenhower, came
The Soviet Union began demanding adjustments to its relations and control over Turkey, as well as Iran. Though Stalin backed down at the threat of U.S. Naval forces, his actions led to the containment policy. This policy is used to prevent the spread of communism. Later, in 1947, the United States took over the responsibility of providing economic aid to Turkey and Greece and announced that they would be helping the nations affected by Communism. The Marshall Plan was put into effect later that year and it offered reconstruction aid to much of Europe.
The Arduous Struggle Against Communism The Cold War was not the stereotypical war, instead, it involved many different strategies and approaches to try and resolve a conflict between two great powers. Although the United States and Soviets had fought together during World War II, they soon entered a time of pressure between the two, better known as the Cold War. The textbook explains the policy of containment as a way of fighting communism with the use of the military, military aid, and economic aid(Ayers,et al 819). The three presidents that were in office during the Cold War preferred using different aspects of the policy and each president’s mistakes helped influence the next president 's choices.
The Cold War lasted forty-four years and left a lasting social impact on the United States. The spread of communism and The Soviet Union left many Americans in a constant state of fear and paranoia. The space race between the United States and The Soviet Union significantly impacted the education system in the United States and the curriculum that was taught for years to come. The social emphasis on gender caused a crisis on American masculinity and feminism by influencing many to assume certain gender roles and feel that they were not masculine enough or too feminine because of their view on communism. The Cold War socially impacted the United States through fear, education, and gender.
