Us Policy Of Containment Dbq Essay

The Cold war began because two sides had different views on communism. The Soviet Union wanted it to spread to other countries, while America wanted it to stop and have it disappear. Three main reasons why the war started was one, two sides of communism were being fought over, two, fear of one another, whether it is from being hurt or beaten, and finally, competition. Without any of these happening or being a part of the war, the Cold War would not have been the same. Without the Cold War, mistakes would not have been learned until much later, for the Cold War is a highly important event that happened.

Reflection of this conflict was apparent in the American ethos, in which Americans feared that if “world communism captur[ed] any American state…a new and perilous front…will increase the danger to the entire free world and require even greater sacrifices from the American people” (Document B). As illustrated by Eisenhower, “the hysteria” of communism propagating into American society and threatening the American way of life was a very prevalent fear at the forefront of the Cold War (Document A). McCarthyism, a system established by Senator Joseph McCarthy in which he made unsubstantiated accusations of subversion or treason to America, acted as the culmination of this hysteria, directly reflecting the sentiments driving the American people. Eisenhower did not engage in any domestic policies to quell these “multiplicity of fears” (Document A). Instead he compounded them with legislation such as the “National System of Interstate and Defense Highways…connect[ing] 209 of the 247 cities having a population of 50,00 more and [serving as] the country’s principal…defense” (Document D).

President Truman’s number one goal in the Korean War was to prevent a wide scale war. He did not want to involve other countries into this war and wanted to resolve the communist conflict in Korea. He was afraid that any more involvement of the countries would result in a third world war. It was simply a problem of containment in Korea and the intervention of the Soviet Union or other European countries would be fatal. If America was successful in taken down the power of the communist forces in Korea, the countries would naturally find peace again.

After Kennedy’s assassination Lyndon Johnson inherited the White House and took the approach that dictatorships should not be appeased. Johnson was reluctant to become involved in Vietnam due to his political interpretation and policy direction are known as “Containment” and his belief that there was a threat of world domination by Communism which had become a very common Cold-War view among American politicians during this time period. But he continued on to help provide economic and military aid and even authorizes covert actions to prove to enemies that America will take a tough stance in Vietnam. As president, he felt he had to take all necessary measures to protect the U.S. from any attack a and to prevent any further

It warranted the establishment of special department for control over subversive activities, and for identifying persons who might be the members of communist or fascist organizations aiming to install total dictatorship in the US. They were deprived of their basic civil rights. The legislation was very controversial to the American tradition, hence Truman vetoed it. However, the Congress re-voted and adopted the act. In this way, in 1952, the Congress passed another anti-communist legislation – McCarran-Walter Act about the restrictions of political immigration.

This was because of the domino theory, where there was a fear of one part of Asia being taken over would result in all of Asia being taken over by communist rule. This occured in what is called the “Cold War”. It wasn’t a large fighting war, or hot war, but was more of a containment war. The rise of nuclear weapons resulted in M.A.D. or Mutually Assured Destruction which was an agreement that if one country shot a missile off, the other one did.

The Cuban Missile Crisis largely was between the Soviet Union and the United States. Their leaders, Nikita Khrushchev and John F. Kennedy, most likely felt forced to do what was best for their country. In Kennedy’s situation, the Americans wanted to get rid of the missiles, get rid of Fidel Castro and eliminate Communism from Cuba. Khrushchev and the Soviets wanted to test the USA and prove that the USSR was stronger, but he also wished other countries to feel attracted to

The Cold War did occur after WWII between the United States and The Soviet Union at the time of President Ronald Reagan administration. The Soviet union and its government had the ideology of spreading communism around the world. The United States was against communism and this why the country went to war with Vietnam. "Containment" was the ultimate goal by the U.S. to preventing communism from happen worldwide. My perception of the Cold War and the War on Terror is due to the lack of the United States government to understanding other countries language, culture and way of life.

Position of Truman During the Korean War, Harry Truman had a very delicate situation to balance. First and foremost, Harry Truman’s initial attitude , which was reflected through American policy at the time, revealed a struggle to balance the need to address the issue of communistic influence with a hesitancy due to the possible implications that taking aggressive militarial action could have for the US. In his statements, one being the Truman Doctrine, “Truman made it clear that his actions fell within the measures recommended by the United Nations, and reminded ‘all members of the United Nations’ to ‘consider carefully the consequences of this latest aggression in Korea’ and that America ‘will continue to uphold the rule of law.’ “ From Truman’s perspective, the most crucial strategic element for resolution was balance. Such balance, as would be proven later on, would be something that General Douglas MacArthur was incapable of achieving. Indeed, the consequences for over-invasive and intense actions were extremely valid.

Now, for the Allies, the Korean War was an offensive one: It was a war to “liberate” the South from the communists. Initially, the new strategy was a success. An attack at Inchon pushed the North Koreans out of Seoul and back to their side of the 38th parallel. But as American troops crossed the boundary and headed north toward the Yalu River, the border between North Korea and Communist China, the Chinese started to worry about protecting themselves. China sent troops to North Korea and warned the U.S. to keep away from the Yalu boundary unless it wanted full-scale war.