Preview

Korean War Containment

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
423 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Korean War Containment
Although the Korean War proved a moderate success for United States, the tense foreign relations with the Soviet Union and the disaster of the Vietnam war proved the policy of containment in the United States between 1945 and 1975 ultimately unsuccessful.

Since even before the end of World War II, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union began to plague their alliance. As soon as the Soviet Union threatened to force smaller nations under their communist sphere of influence, the United States adopted what was called a policy of containment. It was an effort to bring to a halt the Soviet Union’s potential for forcing other parts of Asia into communism. The first policy of this effort was the Truman Doctrine of 1947, which

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Giselle Vega-Rojas History 12 4/23/24 The Truman and Eisenhower presidencies, spanning from 1945 to 1960, were marked by significant diplomatic endeavors that shaped the post-World War II era and established the groundwork for the Cold War. During this period, both presidents navigated the complexities of international relations, forging alliances, implementing containment policies, and addressing the emerging threat of Soviet expansionism. One of the most pivotal diplomatic initiatives of this time was the Truman Doctrine, articulated by President Harry S. Truman in 1947. The doctrine outlined a commitment by the United States to provide support to countries or peoples threatened by Soviet forces or Communist insurrection.…

    • 491 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Indeed, Truman was the initiator of the “containment” policy, applied during the entire Cold War. His main actions were the German airlift, Korean War, the creation of the NATO and the creation of NSC-68 (which recommended increasing the military budget three-fold). Then, Eisenhower greatly expanded this policy. More than containment, Eisenhower’s Secretary of State John Foster Dulles wanted to “rollback” the communist extension. He also increased the tensions of the arm race with his “massive retaliation” policy, leading to “brinkmanship”. Its consequence is the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 . To contain communism more effectively, he signed defensive treaties with Australia and New Zealand in 1951 and created the South East-Asia Treaty Organization in 1954. Nevertheless, calmer relations seemed to begin between Eisenhower and Khrushchev: the Russian leader visited the American president in 1959. Eisenhower’s visit to Russia was cancelled after the U-2 crisis. They had similar policies in Vietnam: supported the French with financial aid, but it wasn’t…

    • 438 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Keeley Stout Professor Smoot April 29, 2016 HIS 109 2-3:15 During the Cold War, the Truman Doctrine became the United State foreign policy. It promised aid to countries fighting against communist regimes. The Vietnam Conflict rose out of a commitment to nation building and a desire to contain communism. All the presidents from Truman to Nixon felt as if communism threatened American interests.…

    • 639 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The brilliance and precision of George Kennan's containment policy lies within the America's accomplishments during and after the Cold War. His policy of containment was guided America's foreign policy for four decades, and influenced the policymakers for his unconventional but convincing approach. His fundamental rationale was that a powerful Soviet Union would strengthen communism, and weaken democracy and capitalism, therefore, he proposed spreading the American socioeconomic and political principles to the rest of the world to overpower Soviet influence and preserve the western ideals. The Soviet Union fell in 1991. However, two decades later, his take on how to tackle threats of democracy and capitalism remains the principle strategy of…

    • 114 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1947, under Truman, the United States established a policy of containment in an attempt to halt the expansion of Soviet Union communist influence. The policy was first established in Europe and has been deemed a success. When adopted in Asia, containment had its share of victories, but also astonishing defeats. Between 1962 and 1973, the United States was completely invested in the Vietnam War which they believed was necessary to contain communism. This war was the first in which containment failed to succeed in its mission as the United States called a cease fire in 1973 and was forced to retreat.…

    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    President Harry Truman declared 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” (McClenaghan 486). Truman requested $400 million from Congress to protect both Greece and Turkey from communism (“Truman Doctrine Is”). I think the Truman Doctrine was an intelligent decision the Soviet Union was the center of all communist activity and nations needed to be protected from communist aggression. Two major confrontations between the United States and the Soviet Union were the Berlin blockade and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Berlin blockade was an attempt in 1948 made by the Soviets to limit the ability of France, Great Britain, and the United States to access their sectors of Berlin.…

    • 1896 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Union. All they could muster were relatively hollow threats on an ad hoc basis. It was an approach US Secretary of Defense James Forrestal complained was ‘a patchwork job’. Having formally adopted the concept of the ‘containment’ of Soviet Communism in late November 1948, most policymakers within the Truman administration simply assumed, or perhaps hoped is a better word, that the American atomic monopoly would somehow intimidate the Soviets from breaches of the peace for fear of precipitating an all-out war.…

    • 335 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This was set off by the Truman Doctrine - the first formal policy of containment. As the Soviet Union continued their geopolitical expansion, the Truman Doctrine acted as the foundation for the decisions made by the U.S in the following years. As Foner notes, “it set a precedent for American assistance to anti communist regimes throughout the world, no matter how undemocratic, and for the creation of a set of global military alliances directed against the Soviet Union” (Foner 711). With this, Harry Truman showed that the United States was ready to use their policy of containment, to push back communist…

    • 860 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The United States foreign policy during the Cold War was containment, specifically of communism since Americans were still afraid of another Red Scare. The Marshal Plan enacted by president Truman provided financial aid to European countries. Encompassing 16 countries, the marshal plan allocated $13 billion to support Europe, preventing economic depression or recession and ensuring that Europe would not turn to communism as a result. Truman’s Truman Doctrine also changed the way America acted with foreign countries and allowed America to assist free nations who are resisting communism. One example of this would be the Berlin Airlift as the Soviet Union sought repercussions from Germany and wanted to prevent them from gaining power, so the Soviets invaded Germany.…

    • 1693 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Marshall Aid

    • 878 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Truman Doctrine was seen as a successful policy for containing communism because it was America’s first public criticism of Russia, and it was their first real hostile act towards the Soviets. Just before the Truman Doctrine, Britain had announced that they couldn’t afford to look after Greece and Turkey anymore, because of this America agreed to look after the two countries. Truman knew it was vital that the USSR did not take these two countries over as they would strengthen the threat of communism, and increase the spread of communism over Europe. The Truman Doctrine’s main aim was to stop the spread of communism and this is what it achieved. The Soviets couldn’t take over…

    • 878 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The United States’ alliance with the Soviet Union began to crumble throughout World War II. Fueled by ideological differences, this climate of mutual mistrust between the two nations became known as the Cold War. Conflicts over Poland, a symbol of WWII, continued to divide these two nations apart as Stalin wanted a buffer in Eastern Europe to prevent another invasion. This is best represented by the concept of the “Iron Curtain” dividing Eastern and Western Europe. As a result of being unable to remove the Soviets from areas already under their control, the US implemented the philosophy of containment, as developed by George F. Kennan, to prevent the spread of communism.…

    • 2434 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The communist soviet was expanding and the West was trying to contain that expansion. The Truman Doctrine (1945- 1953) was all about stopping the soviet and communist expansion wherever necessary.…

    • 1242 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    After World War II, President Roosevelt assumed everything was neutral, however tensions rose with the Soviet Union which turned into a conflict known was the Cold War. The Soviet Union kept trying to spread their communist ideology to many countries to gain their power over the world, however with the tensions between, the United States believed they were the only country that could stop them. The American diplomat Kennan suggested to the current president, President Truman , that the containment policy should be taken into operation because the Soviet Union needs to be withheld. The containment policy was a policy that America adopted in mid-twentieth century, where they would prevent Soviet Union from gaining power and turning countries…

    • 810 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    “I believe to we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way”-Truman For Containment (Truman 36). While all the Cold War presidents had their issues, Truman and Eisenhower favored containment to attempt the stop of communism and Kennedy favored flexible response as an attempt. “I believe that our help should be primarily through economic and financial aid which is essential to economic stability and order political processes” (Truman 37). This explained Truman as well for using containment. The Cold War is high United States and Soviet Union tension (Ayers 817). This war was an example of brinkmanship, which is a war, but a war without violence (Ayers 850). Pretty much a verbal…

    • 846 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    While the end of World War II brought peace and prosperity to most Americans, it also created a heightened state of tension between the Soviet Union and the United States. Fearing that the Soviet Union intended to "export" communism to other nations, America centered its foreign policy on the "containment" of communism, both at home and abroad. Although formulation of the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, and the Berlin Airlift suggested that the United States had a particular concern with the spread of communism in Europe, America's policy of containment extended to Asia as well. Indeed, Asia proved to be the site of the first major battle waged in the name of containment: the Korean War.…

    • 1441 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays