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What was the us domestic policy duing the time of the cold war
American domestic policy during the cold war
Was containment an effective policy towards Communism during the cold war
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During World War 2, the United States and Soviets were allied as they had common enemies. In the war, the United States saw major differences in government and also the Soviet ambition to become the world power. These ambitions became clearer as the Soviets took control of East Europe after the war and made them communist states. The United States came up with the Containment policies to prevent the spread of communism. The ways that the United States uses to contain communism are through aid supplies, aid forces to fight, and negotiation.
The United States’ efforts to oppose this expansion were known as containment. The United States was able to contain communism by aiding West Berlin, intervening in the Korean War,
American being a capitalist national and Russia being a communist nation, these two highly contrasting ideologies resulted in major aggression between the two countries resulting in a series of proxy wars across the world including Korea and Vietnam in a attempt to eradicate each other. Communism ideas began to become more prevalent in China during the 1950’s. China then began to support smaller countries in Indochina to become communist nations such as Korea and Vietnam; this was an early example of Australia using military action in order to defeat communism in the Asia pacific. The domino theory was a thesis put forward by America stating that if South Vietnam were to fall to communism, because of its geographical position the entire region would eventually convert to communism therefore communism had to be eliminated in South Vietnam to prevent the spread of communism in the Asia Pacific. Australia due to its allegiance with Europe became weaker overall after the war as Europe would be unable to support Australia in case of a mainland invasion as they needed to rebuild from the effects of war, this left Australia in search for a new powerful ally.
The United States has established itself as a superior nation that is concerned with struggling minorities subjected to oppressive and tyrannical forms of government often associated with the death of individuality. Throughout the twentieth century, widespread fears of communism contributed to a prominent desire to protect weaker nations from this destructive form of leadership that could ultimately defer trade and spark national tensions. From this fear arose the controversial containment policy, which granted the United States the ability to intervene in foreign nations if it would potentially assuage communist revolutions. The underlying futility of these attempts was exposed as miscalculations of opposing power caused great monetary loss
World War II caused many tensions in the world, even in the allied nations. After the war, relations between the United States and the Soviet Union were especially tense. The communistic ideals of the Soviet Union clashed with United States capitalism on many occasions. The Soviets wanted to expand their empire and economy to other areas of the world; the U.S. wanted the opposite. They were determined to keep communism where it is, which brings up the question: how did the U.S. contain communism?
Containment was used by the United States so they could prevent communism spreading and was used towards the Guatemalans, Greece, Turkey, and Cuba during the cold war. In which was successful in stopping communism from spreading but did require people being killed or be put in jail which is bad because they got punished for something they believed on. This happened around 1954 because at that time they were fighting the cold war so they had to come with a quick and effective way to stop communism from spreading and containment was the solution. Containment was a big step for the Unites states, they were to intimidate the Soviet Union.
As the Cold War raged on, the United States continued to try and contain the spread of communism. A popular belief during this time was the domino theory, which stated that if a country fell to communism, the surrounding countries would also fall. Therefore, the United States began sending aid to the South Vietnamese in order to resist the communist North. However, this quickly escalated into more and more troops being supplied, and the Vietnam War began to take shape. The Vietnam War would be marked by failure in both military and political leadership, angering the American public at every turn.
Imagine if you lived in a place where you had no freedom, and you were ruled by a man like Joseph Stalin. That is what it would be like in many countries if it weren’t for the United States’ policy of containment. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union wanted to take over other countries and make them have the government system of Communism. The United States didn’t like that, because they thought their governmental system of Democracy was better. As a result, the U.S. adopted a policy of “Containment”.
In an effort to stop communism from spreading, the United States and its allies practiced containment. Containment is the act of keeping something harmful under control, this meant that the United States and its allies will get involved if they needed in order to stop communism from spreading. The U.S and its allies managed to help several countries from falling into communism, but they also suffered their hardships and lost many men during a war to protect their allie, South Korea. On February 1946, the United States, State Department received a telegram, the telegram seemed to give of two warnings.
The Cold War is a term coined by Bernard Baruch in 1947. Leaders, the press and individuals used the term to describe the tensions that existed between the democracies and communist governments around the world. After World War II, United States foreign policy begins to focus on containment. Containment is the use of economics and military aid to stop the spread of communism as opposed to military engagement with the Soviet Union or China. However, domestic policy focus is on finding communist sympathizers, and eliminating an insider threat that has infiltrated the government at the highest levels.
Hobbes vs Locke When a unlawful crime happens we are shocked and paralyzed by fear and despair. Well ,with these crimes comes governmental responsibility this is why. Without a strictly ruled government violence, no productivity, and consequently no knowledge of the Earth would result. To begin, with “Without a common power to keep them in awe, it will result in a state of war” as Thomas Hobbes states. Strict power is important, absences of this allows us to forget that we are all equal and no one is higher than the other.
America’s fear of communism stretched beyond the western hemisphere; the Domino Theory became popular in the 1960s as the Vietnam War was increasingly seen as a threat to democracy in Asia. The Domino Theory is the belief that a communist victory in one nation would start a “chain reaction of communist takeovers in neighboring states. ”(Domino Theory) In the Vietnam War, this theory was used as a justification for American involvement. Communism, as understood by the American people, was a threat to peace and liberty.
The United States of America first acquainted with the Indochina area in 1954 after it began supporting France in its effort to reestablish control over its Vietnamese colony of which the United States’ main reason for supporting was to keep the idea of communism from spreading to another country’s government from Communist China. Containment, is the term in which describes the government United States’ attempts to limit the ever-expanding grasp of communism. This ideal developed during the early days of the Cold War, and gained momentum because American policymakers “learned from the pre-war era—that appeasement of aggression merely fueled increasingly more strident and unreasonable demands from dictators” and also from the “domino theory”,
One good example of a way the U.S. contained communism is carrying out The Berlin Air Lift. The Berlin Air Lift is when Germany divided into two sides, East and West, and one side was in need of food and supplies. So the U.S. air dropped supplies onto the starving country. (DOC B) shows a map of all the places that surround Berlin. This proves that it was in desperate need of help.
The United States believed that it was their responsibility to contain Communism. They wanted to stop the spread of communism across the world. They saw that Vietnam as the start of the spread of Communism so it contributed as one of the reasons of going to war. The Domino theory was a theory that if one country in a region falls to Communism that the surrounding countries would fall to communism as well. The U.S. also saw the Domino Theory in Vietnam.