According to Winston Churchill, “A communist is like a crocodile: when it opens it 's mouth you cannot tell whether it is trying to smile or preparing to eat you up.” Communism is an economic and social system that was designed by Karl Marx to ensure a classless society (Luthra, 1). In theory, all property and assets in a communist society are to be owned by the government, and then equally divided among the people so that no one is ever poverty stricken. Unfortunately, this is only in theory because a true communist society has never existed. These governments tend to have ruthless leaders that hold too much power and the citizens still suffer from poverty (Hoyt, 1).The threat that communism would expand to other countries by force and through …show more content…
Eisenhower, President from 1953-1961. One his main goals was the containment of communism so there wouldn’t be, as he referred to it, a “domino effect” of communism (“Dwight D. Eisenhower:Foreign Policy”, 2). What he meant was that one country after another would not fall to communism. To protect the United States from attacks, Eisenhower adopted a policy called Massive Retaliation so we could use atomic weapons against any country that attacked us (“Dwight D. Eisenhower: Foreign Policy”, 4) This policy was a scare tactic that we used to keep our country safe from intrusions. Eisenhower also tried to improve relations with the Soviet Union by meeting with leaders of Western Europe and the Soviet Union in Geneva, Switzerland in 1955. Even though policies regarding arms control and other issues were not developed, it made the relationship between the US and the Soviet Union less strained. He also tried to strengthen relationships with many European and Asian Countries (“Dwight D. Eisenhower: Foreign Policy”, 5). He ended the Korean War (“Dwight D. Eisenhower: Foreign Policy”, 9), and passed the Eisenhower Doctrine so that economic and military aid could be requested by countries being attacked by a communist nation (“Dwight D. Eisenhower: Foreign Policy”, 8). Though he refused to get actively involved in the Vietnam War, he did provide financial assistance to the French to fight there (“Dwight D. Eisenhower: …show more content…
Presidents Truman and Eisenhower believed that communist expansion could be handled mainly with containment, whereas Kennedy believed in both containment and military force. By providing financial assistance to vulnerable countries, Truman was able to prevent the “domino effect” of communism during his term. In addition to similar practices during Eisenhower’s presidency, Eisenhower involved the US more actively by meeting with foreign leaders, improving relationships with these countries, and adopting the Massive Retaliation policy. Kennedy played a much more hands-on role in preventing communism. Though he attempted to meet with leaders to strengthen relationships, he also resorted to military actions in both Cuba and Vietnam. The actions of these Presidents helped to prevent the spread of communism by all reasonable means, ensuring the freedoms we enjoy