Imagine if you lived in a place where you had no freedom, and you were ruled by a man like Joseph Stalin. That is what it would be like in many countries if it weren’t for the United States’ policy of containment. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union wanted to take over other countries and make them have the government system of Communism. The United States didn’t like that, because they thought their governmental system of Democracy was better. As a result, the U.S. adopted a policy of “Containment”. Stopping the spread of Communism through military and nonmilitary ways. The Soviets had expansive tendencies. The Soviets wanted to isolate West Berlin from the West and take them over. From Document A, In these circumstances it is clear that the main element of any United States policy …show more content…
The attack comes without warning and President Harry Truman, with the help of the United Nations, vows to defend democratic South Korea. The Containment Policy stated that the US would support any nation that are being oppressed by communism and cannot protect themselves from it. This became America’s major reason to intervene in the Korean War. However, the policy of containment came under attack due casualties and economic issues that the policy created. One of the major effects that over extended the powers of American foreign policy is that it gave the US a reason to interfere with any war they wanted as long as it involved communism. Therefore, this policy can be easily abused as it can serve for a way to allow the US obtain its national interest, rather than just fighting for democracy. This was a major factor in the Korean War since the South Korean government that stated they were democratic, were actually controlled by a dictator. American policy became highly criticized because it implied that the US only used the policy of containment to satisfy its own
The Korean War was a proxy war fought between the United States and the USSR, for the purpose of gaining power and political influence in other parts of the world. Since the end of WWII, the USSR and the United States became very hostile against one another, creating what came to be called “The Cold War“ coined by Bernard Baruch in 1947 from the lack of there ever being direct battles against one another. From the result of the bitter and cold rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union came a large chain of indirect battling over political influence in developing or war-torn countries. As this feud occurred the people of the United States mainly wanted there to be a change in Korea out of this war [Doc E], but what was occurring
Moreover, the goal was to stop any attempts the Soviet Union made to spread communism, which was confirmed in an explanation given about the program, “In the two years after the war, the Soviet Union’s control of Eastern Europe and the vulnerability of Western European countries to Soviet expansionism heightened the sense of crisis” (U.S. National Archives & Records Administration, n.d.). “… the Marshall Plan is credited rebuilding Western Europe after WWII, it has also been criticized for contributing to the beginning of the Cold War” (Weissman, 2013, p. 114). The Soviets opposed the plan and Stalin believed it was a way to encourage democracy and a free-market economy (Weissman,
Showing that with this military operation to stop communism have cost them so much money and they are not gaining any grown over the North Korean military. In the end, the outcome of this war was not of any good, sated by (Campbell) " After three years of grinding destruction, both sides were forced to settle for essentially the status quo ante bellum". Meaning it was the same as it was when the war has not even started in several years ago. Making the Unites states think about reducing its military spending due to the fact that they have contributed so much money to something and it turned out the same as when it has started.
Next, the policy of containment would lead to the U.S.S.R. being threatened because it would lead to Allies. For example, under the TRUMAN DOCTRINE, the U.S. vowed to support countries threatened by the Soviets. Allies of the U.S. helped with containment, as shown in Document A, which has a point of view from the 1947 Secretary of War, Henry L. Stimson. This can be seen when Stimson describes that millions of soldiers from Ally countries would need to come fight if Japan resisted. Because this shows that Allies forces could be as large as millions of people, there is no doubt that the U.S.S.R. felt intimidated as a result.
Containment was used by the United States so they could prevent communism spreading and was used towards the Guatemalans, Greece, Turkey, and Cuba during the cold war. In which was successful in stopping communism from spreading but did require people being killed or be put in jail which is bad because they got punished for something they believed on. This happened around 1954 because at that time they were fighting the cold war so they had to come with a quick and effective way to stop communism from spreading and containment was the solution. Containment was a big step for the Unites states, they were to intimidate the Soviet Union.
President John F. Kennedy’s foreign policy consisted of showing our ruthlessness and our determination to win or beat anything that is thrown at us. On the other hand, President Lyndon B. Johnson’s foreign policy was destroyed with the Vietnam war. This war was inevitable, as it had be planned for the last the presidencies. For President Truman, and President Eisenhower had sent military advisers to help South Korea, and President Kennedy had sent more than 20,000 troops to South Korea. It would only be right for President Johnson to continue to long lived battle and bring it to an
The United states helped aid allies and former enemies because of this. The Marshall plan was about being against or for any country. It was about being against poverty . It reveals that the United States weren’t just interested in being anti communist, but it reveal that freedom is more than just defeating communist. It was also about economic security
American engaged war to provide aid to South Korea and help them fight off an attack by North Koreans. In contrast, North Korea opted to ignore the UN demand for withdrawal, the Security Council decided to help South Korea repel the invasion. (Stewart pg. 224) Nevertheless, General Douglas-Mac Arthur, the overseer of the post-WWW II, ordered the U.S. armed force to back off the North Koreans at Pusan.
After North Korea attacked South Korea Truman urged the American public to utilize U.S forces to go after, and dispose of, the threat of a communist South Korea, not only for containment but to appease his reputation. Truman’s containment led to the U.S involvement in the Korean War, making Truman’s reputation better, but this extension of containment could lead another war with North Korea in the
It was a logical, if not inevitable, outgrowth of a world view and a policy—the policy of containment” (Hopkins 4). This article contradicts Kissinger’s because it says that America entering the war was a well- thought out action rather than a “careless assessment of outcomes”. This error of judgement in escalating the conflict, although a factor, was not the main factor that caused America to fail. The main factor was that they used an overused policy of America, containment, to make their decisions. This policy was flawed from the beginning, as it views communism like a chain of dominos.
policy of containment had its first recognized use in the Korean War, where it was used by President Harry S. Truman to prevent a possible all-out war with China, Russia, and maybe even the world. You see, China had promised men and supplies to North Korea if they needed it. This meant that China would be fighting American forces which could lead to war not only with China, but also their ally, Russia, possibly sparking WWIII. When Truman asked MacArthur about this possibility, MacArthur shrugged it off. His predictions proved to be incorrect.
Grace Fullenkamp Ms. Yane AP Lang March 14, 2018 The Korean War The Korean War was not a conflict in which the United States needed to be involved as to its horrific outcome is testament. Yet, in the 1950s, the U.S. thought it was believed that the only way to stop the spread of communism was to fight back against the potential formation of communist governments. When war broke out in Korea, it became a place for the United States to make a statement against communism on a global front joining with South Korea to combat the communist North.
Without the United States intervention in Korea, there would have been a spread and expansion of communism in Korea, and all over the
Truman realized that fighting besides South Korea would enable the U.S to fight communism without being involved directly in a war with the
The Korean War erupted in 25th of Jun 1950 by North Korea invade illegally in the early morning, in part, as a result of arbitrary political divisions that were put in place in the aftermath of World War II. The once-united country was split into political entities, entities that then split ideologically largely due to the influence of the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. While the blame that is to be placed for the situation that we have today in Korea rests in part with the outside world, Korean leaders themselves are responsible for most of the continuing problems. Despite where blame is fairly placed, however, the US remains an active player in the Korean situation. The thesis can be presented that, in part, continued US involvement with Korea is because a monster has been created and that monster is well outside the control of other world entities.