American Policy Of Containment Essay

The Cold War began not too long after World War II ended in 1945, was the continuing state of conflict, tension and competition that existed specifically between the United States and the Soviet Union(USSR) and those countries' respective allies from 1945 (end of World War II) to 1989 (fall of Berlin Wall). Throughout this period, the most powerful countries in the world were starting to became enemies. But instead of fighting with guns and bullets they fought with games and competition like the Olympics meaning that the conflict was expressed through military coalitions, weapons development, invasions, propaganda, and competitive technological development, which included the space race such as competition of who landed on the moon and go
ever went around the world first. Even though the conflict included pricey defense spending, such as a massive conventional and nuclear arms race, and several proxy wars. On the other hand, as a result of the Second World War, much of the globe was divided between the allied powers who were successful in the war. Particularly, the United States and Soviet Union arranged the map placing areas of influence in the hands of each other.
The Allied Powers divided Germany, particularly Berlin, into East and West with Berlin divided into three districts occupied by England, the United States and the Soviet Union. It quickly became clear to the West that the Soviet Union was not satisfied with simply taking their spoils. In addition to this, the United States President during that time Harry S. Truman, felt it was necessary for the US to have a policy concerning the Soviet Union’s appeared designs on Empire. From the Soviet threat came the American policy of Containment. The policy of Containment was a foreign policy strategy created by the US after WWII founding its first key purpose in the Truman Doctrine of 1947. It's also a strategy plan that the U.S. used in the Cold War to prevent communism country, the Soviet Union from spreading Communism by providing either military support, economic and/or technical assistance to noncommunist countries. for instance one of the ways to accomplish this was by establishing NATO so that the western European countries had a defense against communists. Its purpose by so doing was to contain the domino effect of the growing influence and power of the Soviet Union over other noncommunist country's political system
from moving towards communism within its existing limits. As a result, of blocking the expansion of the USSR and communism. It was originally devised by US diplomat and historian George F. Kennan, best known as "the father of containment". His writings inspired the Truman Doctrine and the U.S. foreign policy of containment during the Truman Administration. The Truman Doctrine was a United States foreign policy developed in 1950 by NSC-68 (National Security Council Report 68) , this was a 58 page classified report issued in the United States on April 14, 1950 during the presidency of Harry S. Truman. It pledged the US not only to contain communism, but to take a further step to drive back Communist influence wherever it appeared and to "foster the seeds of destruction within the Soviet Union",as President Harry S. Truman proclaimed the Doctrine on March 12, 1947. It stated that the U.S. would support Greece and Turkey with economic and military help to prevent their falling into the Soviets, in which assumed that the Soviet Union was trying to spread its power across the whole world, in there it was decided that the US should stop this and build a more active, military, and policy of containment. More over it was also designed to stop its spread to Greece and Turkey. Gaining the support of the Republicans who controlled Congress, The Doctrine shifted American foreign policy towards the Soviet Union from détente to the policy of containment of Soviet expansion, which in a way The Truman Doctrine and the NSC-68 reflected through the policy of containment because both contained the same purpose, was to stop communism where ever it occurred .