Vestnik Kavkaza provides our readers with the US foreign policy analysis by Patrick Buchanan, the author of the new book ‘’The Greatest Comeback: How Richard Nixon Rose From Defeat to Create the New Majority." The study is published on the website of the American company specializing on studying the public opinion, Rasmussen…
As a harbinger of the United States failure in Vietnam, The Ugly American seems a terribly prophetic book. How could the warnings Lederer and Burdick sounded have gone unheeded? An examination of their book shows us precisely how, for in The Ugly American knowledgeable and skillful executors of American foreign policy (those who believe that "the things we do must be done in the real interest of the people whose friendship we need--not just in the interest of propaganda") are routinely replaced by those who know less, care less, and are eminently less qualified to serve those interests.…
The sweeping rhetoric and universal language the President used in his address was not an accurate representation of the objectives and goals of the new foreign policy, however. Many feared the policy was too ambiguous and reaching. The address gave the impression that the US would intervene on behalf of any and every country facing communist threat, that it would be the United States’ responsibility to defend free people everywhere. This overall impression left many with intense reservations regarding the policy. Even Kennan quietly argued it was best to be forgotten, and Marshall sought to add limits to the objectives. (Gaddis, 1974)…
During the time period pertaining to the Cold War, the foreign policies and ideas established by each president remained in effect despite social and political unrest. However, United States’ involvement in the eastern hemisphere, governmental influence in the nation and in the “hot wars”, and presidential diplomacy caused foreign policies and ideas to contain many similarities throughout the duration of the Cold War. Therefore, the United States experienced more continuity in her methods of dealing with the threat of communism.…
As one of the superpowers during the Cold War, America needed a leader that would adopt a strong foreign policy that would focus in defending democracy. Kennedy embodies this need when he proclaims that he would “pay any price…in order to assure the survival and success of liberty” (4). His specific focus combating “those nations who would make themselves our adversary” further aids in establishing his presidential ethos (11). Kennedy is clearly very confident on America’s ability to help “those old allies…those new states…those peoples in the huts and villages…and those sister republics south of [America’s] border” (6, 7, 8, 9). This confidence is shown especially when he continuously denounces communism in an explicit manner. With the metaphor, “those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger and ended up inside”, Kennedy clearly states that all dictatorships are forever doomed to fail (7). He also refers to communist nations and “hostile powers” that practice “aggression” and “subversion” (9). This outright disdain is one that pleases the American public because they are reassured that the president will protect them. The anger that is continuously used when referring to communist countries creates a hostile and imposing tone. Kennedy is apt in using less commanding tones such as “let ever other power know” instead of…
In October of 1962, John F. Kennedy was faced with the first crisis of his administration. The Soviets were building nuclear missile sites on Cuba, and one of JFK’s first actions was to give his famous Cuban Missile Crisis speech on October 22, 1962. JFK uses repetition, ethos, and pathos to discredit the USSR’s international standing in the world. JFK give his speech to show the people that the government has their best interests at heart. He tells the citizens about what the government has learned and what they intend to do about it. To reassure the people of the US, he describes what he has done so far, and what he plans to do in the future. In the main part of the speech, JFK turns to what the Soviets have done and the implications of this. He does this to unify the country against the Soviets. To unify them he explains how the Soviets have endangered everyone who lives in the western hemisphere, and how this has never been done before. He reinforces this by repeatedly stating that what the Soviets have said are lies. To further discredit the Soviets he shows their disregard for international agreements and for the people living in the western hemisphere.…
When most people are taught about U.S. history, we think of mostly the bad times like the wars, the civil rights movements, President Kennedy’s and M. L. King Jr’s associations, just to name a few. In this paper I will discuss those and more going into the start of the 21st century. The previous five decades consisting of the 1950s into the millennium happened during the U.S. History equally turbulent, but exciting. There also were numerous transformations within social, governmental, plus technological sections, but the WWII era currently seems rather prehistoric. Since the 1950s America has experienced major cultural transformations, starting with four main military disagreements, accelerated technological advancements, new but dangerous diseases, also one president resigns from office instead of facing impeachment or prison, then collapse to the Soviet Union, also numerous economic challenges. The United States was winning the WWII war, also some ensuing economic growth and political circumstances forced the United States in the spotlight. America had money and predictably assisted other countries, while developing their own troubles on the home front, increasing troubles socially plus economically. Numerous big trends happened throughout the 1950’s, ranging from the Cold War amidst America and the Soviet Union grew, and then the Korean War brought America to a new global war, although tensions intensified in “Egypt with the Suez Canal disaster,” and the Cuban Revolution between Castro and the people, then the United States went through some confused moments with the Anti-Communist viewpoints, and the Senator J. McCarthy’s allegations. (Halberstam, 1994).…
By magnifying minor American issues to large, catastrophic problems and…
The years following World War II were a time of economic boon and prosperity for most Americans. At the same time, the Iron Curtain was firmly in place, the cold war was heating up, and the fear that communism would take over the world like a zombie apocalypse was almost palpable. In international politics during the post-war years the United States sought to establish itself as the leader of the free world. We no longer took the isolationism position that had been established as far back as George Washington and generally maintained until December 7, 1941.We began to consider ourselves the “world’s policemen”.…
Brands' purpose for writing this book was to inform the reader of actions taken before, during, and after the Cold War. After World War II, the United States and Russia were the only two remaining world powers. Each had a conflicting method of government, which ultimately led to the Cold War. The two superpowers were at the center of attention for the better part of two decades. The United States underwent a geopolitical battle with the USSR to gain ground in Europe and other Eastern countries. This geopolitical battle led the United States to ally itself with many unstable nations and leaders based solely on said nations/leaders views on communism. As these nations began to topple, the United States turned to secret black ops to ensure the country stayed on the side of democracy and "freedom". The USSR was well on its way to self-destruction far before the Cold War ended. The United States kept the fight against communism alive for almost a decade longer than necessary. Brands said that by antagonizing the USSR, the United States inevitably prolonged the dilemma in the East far beyond what it should have. The USSR was crumbling, and with the United States trying to fight every anti-democratic satellite nation it kept her alive. As long as people of a nation have something to rally behind, it will be hard to stop their cause. Iraq is a perfect example: We toppled their communist dictator to put a democratic regime into play, yet there is more death and hard-line opposition than ever before. Democracy does not fit everywhere regardless of what we here in the United States would like…
“The Cold War forms the organizing principle for the period after World War II. On one level, the rival between the United States and the Soviet Union-or between West and East, capitalism and communism- was quite real” (From the Historical Context in Gorn, 219). During this time, there were three speeches given by Truman, McCarthy, and Kennedy that got the American’s attention about the war.…
To begin with, a massive part of life both social as well as political during the cold war greatly had to do with propaganda, using it strategically propaganda was employed to gain assistance from citizens who wanted to fight for their country and its ideals, even the President Dwight D. Eisenhower knew it was important and sums up how crucial it was, “totalizing propaganda-domestic and foreign was essential to America's Cold War strategy...” Presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower both supported pro-American and anti-Soviet propaganda. President Eisenhower would constantly…
The 30’s were a very difficult time for not only American citizens, but the nation as a whole. After being burdened with economic issues and war reparations, America turned inward to focus on worsening situations at home. Americans viewed their involvement in World War I as the war to end wars, and when shocked to find this untrue, they lost support for having gotten involved in the first place. This lead to a lack of support in the idea of joining another war. This motivating America to stay out of World War II, many hoped appeasement of Hitler would solve the issues at hand. However, as Hitler progressed and was rarely stopped, many Americans found it necessary to join the war with European countries to stop the spread of Fascism, which was America’s ultimate fear at the time. Clearly, the United States shifted from isolationism to interventionism, and with good reason.…
In the years between 1940 and 1953 the capitalist nations of the world such as USA became very concerned about the communist ideologies and its possible spread in the world. As a result, the ideological war period known as the “Cold War” was developed. With the end of World War II, the USA emerged with a renewed sense of confidence as they believed that their role in the Allie alliance was a key factor when defeating their enemy powers. It was not long, however, before ironically, this alliance between USA and USSR would be the cause for rising tensions in the world. It can be suggested that the rise of Cold War tensions led to the Anti-communist policy being being developed in the USA which not only impacted its own country but also renewed Cold War tensions. This is evident when examining McCarthyism, the Witch-Hunts and Trials, and the Propaganda campaign.…
Understanding the importance of ‘the big picture’ is the next step we as a society need to take in order to better understand the world. The idea of ‘the big picture’ alone is vague and misleading, however I use the term in a way to represent the idea of understanding all sides of an issue. In this case, human rights is the issue. There is one quote in particular that fully explains what it means to understand all sides of human rights and why it should be our next move toward greatness. This quote is extremely important to me for many reasons and is also very closely knit with the curricular of my government class this year.…