One allegedly defensive weapon maneuvered by the Soviets was "defending" Cuba with long-range ballistic missiles. According to Document 9, "these weapons were only meant for defensive purposes." These weapons were later withdrawn in response to President John F. Kennedy's speech referenced in Document 8. Another defensive tactic by the USSR, while not entirely intentional, was the Iron Curtain, an invisible border that divided the east from the west with no passage between. One weapon used by the US was an elaborate financial aid program. The Marshall Plan was a strategy to contain and smother the spread of communism. This decision was made public on June 5, 1947 by Secretary of State Marshall as seen in Document 3. A more specific pan to suppress the communist threat was the Truman Doctrine, a program to aid financially depressed countries in order to maintain their government and not succumb to communism. This included "giving Greece and Turkey $400 million in aid" as displayed in Document …show more content…
In 1948, NATO (Or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was formed, which was an Alliance of North American and Western European nations. As stated in Document 4, its aim was to "restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area," using force of necessary. However the USSR felt this was a cloak by the United States to hide imperialistic strategies. The Soviet government's response to this was the Warsaw Pact, signed in Poland in 1955. This was a similar alliance with Russia's eastern European satellites. In Document 9 you can see the effects of this alliances, dividing NATO members from Warsaw Pact members with an invisible iron