Foreign Policy Development in the 20th Century During the Cold War from 1946 to 1990 the United States had formed a policy called the containment policy which was adopted by President Harry Truman. The containment policy was a doctrine uniting military, economic, and diplomatic strategies to turn back communism and to insure that America would hold the leading role in world affairs. Many people felt that if Franklin Roosevelt had lived he could have settled tensions between the Untied Sates and the Soviet Union because Truman lacked the diplomacy talent that F.D.R used so often. Truman stood strong against communism were as F.D.R. would have made an effort to keep peace between the two superpowers. Foreign policy advisor George Kennan stated that the future of democracy depended on two possibilities: "either the break up of communism or the gradual mellowing if the Soviet powers." Truman applied this ideology throughout his administration. The United States declared its right to save other countries from communism through the Truman Doctrine (the basic ideology of containment). In 1947 there was a civil war in Greece and Turkey. Great Britain was supplying economic and military aid to them until the war became too costly. Due to the fear of the Soviets from taking over the Untied States sent aid to the Greeks and Turks crushing the rebel movements. The Truman Doctrine inspired the Marshall Plan in June of 1947. It was a European recovery program aimed to "reduce hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos and to restore the confidence of the European people in the economic future of their own countries and as Europe as a whole." However, indirectly it wanted to relinquish any and all hope for the communist and socialist... ... middle of paper ... ...uired the secretary of state to report annually on the status of human rights in all countries receiving aid from the United States and to cut off assistance to any country with a record of "gross violations." When issues dealing with American interests (i.e. South Korea) he put aside all human rights. In 1984 Ronald Reagan (took office in 1981) reined the covert war by passing the Boland Amendment, forbidding government agencies from supporting "directly or indirectly military or paramilitary operations" in Nicaragua. The president denounced the growing movement for a nuclear freeze. He stated, "We must first find peace through strength." He wanted to restore American leadership in world affairs. At the end of the 1980's the cold war ended and communism fell. President George Bush spoke with optimism, in hopes that this peace would last for centuries to come.
... passed, was more pro-active as opposed to reactionary. Also, wasn?t it Truman who allowed the general to invade North Korea in the first place?
After the war, the United States and the Soviet Union had very different ideas on how to rebuild. The United States, led by President Truman, wanted to form democracies in Europe and create a capitalistic society to build economically strong nations that would compliment the American economy through trade. In contrast, the Soviet Union, led by Joseph Stalin, wanted to rebuild itself and spread communism through Europe and Asia. In a desperate attempt to rebuild, many countries devastated by war fell under soviet influence and resorted to communism. The Soviet Union called these nations Satellite nations and hoped that they would serve as ?buffer? nations, preventing invasion from the west .In its efforts to defend democracy, the U.S. created the policy of containment. In this new policy, the United States would try to block Soviet influence by making alliances and supporting weaker nations. Winston Churchill described this strategy as an ?iron curtain?, which became and invisible line separating the communist from the capitalist countries in Europe. To help enforce the ideas of containment, President Truman create...
The foreign policy of the United States during the Cold War fully supported the growth of democratic nations. The USSR, however, wanted countries to become communist like them. These opposing views led to tension between the two nations. As a result, in 1947, President Truman issued the Truman Doctrine which stated that the United States would supply aid to any country as long as they pledged to be democratic. The Marshall plan was enacted in 1948 and it was similar to the Truman Doctrine except it provided financial aid to these countries. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the United States used its foreign policy to help countries resist communist influence.
The Truman Doctrine was a policy under the United States of America. It was established in 1947 by President Harry Truman which is how it got the name The “Truman” Doctrine. This policy more or less meant that the United States would follow an interventialist foreign method to manage and end communism. This doctrine was a straight-forward warning made to the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics that the United States would move in to protect any nation that was being threatened or endangered by a minority with weapons. The doctrine pretty much called out and warned the USSR, however the USSR was never actually stated by name in the doctrine.
Over the course of the history of the United States, specific foreign policies have affected the methods in which the U.S. involves itself around the globe. Specifically, certain policies have affected U.S. involvement in Latin America.
Background. In 1979, a political coalition called the Sandinistas led a revolution in Nicaragua and took control of the government. After United States President Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, he claimed the Sandinistas had set up a Communist dictatorship. He directed the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to begin aiding the contras, Nicaraguan rebels who were fighting to overthrow the Sandinistas. In 1983, however, Congress voted to limit the CIA support. In October 1984, Congress voted to cut off all aid to the contras.
The origins of the Cold War came about when United States President Harry Truman issued his Truman Doctrine. This doctrine stated that the United States would support “free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” This would end up being the foundation of the U. S. involvement in the Cold War. The main idea of the doctrine was to support nations in the resistance of communism. Truman felt that if one nation fell to communism then this would lead to a “domino effect” resulting in many other nations in the region falling to communism. The greatest fear was that the Soviet Union would spread communism throughout the world thus the reason for the policy of containment. Truman felt it necessary to also provide economic aid to nations that surrounded the Soviet Union. The idea being that they would create a ring of Allies that would contain the threat of the Soviet influence of communism. Economic support would be given and if necessary military support as well. The basis for this economic aid was presented in the Marshall Plan. This plan called for $16 billion in economic aid to be used in the reconstruction of Europe.
In addition to the prevention of communism, President Truman’s decision was also influenced by the apprehensive environment during The Cold War. The Soviet Union was able to ruin the United States as the monopoly of nuclear bombs in 1949 when they successfully detonated their firs...
foreign policy. Before the doctrine the United States held the stance of withdrawal in conflicts not directly involving. The general American public typically did not favor intervening with other countries affairs, but with rise of communism propagated by the Soviet Union, President Truman saw it fit to convince congress, to take action. The Truman Doctrine called for the U.S. to pick up where Britain left off and provide both financial and military support for the nations of Greece and Turkey otherwise they may fail to prosper as free nations, and fall to totalitarian, authoritative regime. Truman claimed towards the end of his speech to congress “Should we fail to aid Greece and Turkey in this fateful hour, the effect will be far reaching to the West as well as to the East.” The Truman Doctrine’s true effect was the persuasion of the public to adopt the new foreign policy of “aiding the victims of totalitarianism” on more than just one occasion but as a habit. The other effect of it was creating an ideological enemy in the eyes of the general public, and “that the chief ideological enemy could rise up and inspire fear in many guises; and that the United States would always have to be prepared to find and defeat new foes” (Chernus). This opened Pandora’s box to U.S. foreign involvement, giving the nation the impression that if we do not take action in these issues otherwise unrelated to the United States there
Both Truman’s and Eisenhower’s governments were engaged in the Cold War, and contributed to increased tensions with Russia. Truman was the initiator of the containment policy, which was implemented throughout the duration of the Cold War. This policy was put into effect in order to prevent the spread of communism.
Influenced by the fear of communism by American society and containment beliefs of people like George Kennan, who advocated that the US should use diplomatic, economic, and military action to contain communism, Truman established the Truman Doctrine, which stated that the US would protect democracies throughout the world, pledging the US would fight it around the world. This doctrine was an extension to both the Monroe Doctrine and the Roosevelt Corollary. In dealing with foreign policy, Truman did everything to protect nations of being consumed by communism, such as the Berlin Airlift, in which Truman decided to avoid the Soviet blockade of West Berlin and flew supplies directly over to the people in need. In Asia, Truman decided to use limited warfare, meaning the lack of atomic weapons, and was highly criticized by Douglas MacArthur, commander of the army, who he later dismissed for not following US policy.
America’s Policy of Containment was introduced by George Kennan in 1947. This policy had a few good points but many more bad points.Kennan's depiction of communism as a "malignant parasite" that had to be contained by all possible measures became the basis of the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, and National Security Act in 1947. In his Inaugural Address of January 20, 1949, Truman made four points about his "program for peace and freedom": to support the UN, the European Recovery Program, the collective defence of the North Atlantic, and a “bold new program” for technical aid to poor nations. Because of his programs, "the future of mankind will be assured in a world of justice, harmony and peace." Containment was not just a policy. It was a way of life.
Although the United States and Soviet Union were allies during World War Two they were soon faced with many opposing views soon after the war ended. Joseph Stalin the leader of the Soviet Union had wanted to gain complete control of Eastern Europe most importantly Germany and make it a communist society. Here in the US Truman started to worry about the spread of communism in Eastern Europe. The anticipation of the spread of communism was concerning Truman as if it did proceed to happen it would be greatly affecting the United States economy. It would limit trade with other countries and it opposed everything the United States system of laissez-faire economics believed in. In the meantime the people in the Soviet Union were barely surviving, and it did not seem that it was Stalin’s major concern at the time; he was more interested in taking over Eastern Europe then taking care of the people in his own country. This continued fight over who was to control what parts of Eastern Europe put an even farther wedge between the Unites States and the Soviets.
In 1947 president Harry S. Truman authorized U.S. aid to anti-Communist forces in Greece and Turkey. The policy attempted to justify support for any nation that the U.S. government considered to be threatened by a Soviet expansion. This policy (containment doctrine), was aimed at holding back and restricting the spread of Communism worldwide.
With a new war on the horizon America began to disregard some of its values as well as adopt new ones. Following the end of World War II an iron curtain fell across Europe, on one side the capitalist nation of America and on the other the communist nation of Soviet Russia. As a result of the Ideological differences between these two superpowers, America embraced a new value which would drive foreign policy for decades on; containment. The value of containment which, according to George Kennan, can be described as “long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of [Soviet] expansive tendencies." was first introduced to American foreign policy through the Truman Doctrine in 1947. Containment was the value which drove U.S. foreign policy post-WWII as seen by the division of Berlin, Bay of Pigs, and Vietnam.