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JF Kennedy and the Cold War
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1. What conclusions can you draw about Kennan’s assessment of the Soviet threat to American interests around the world? What can you infer about his opinion of this larger threat, based on his description of the factors motivating Soviet aggression? Kennan’s 4 points written in his assessment about the Soviets made some interesting observations about the threat to American interests. The first point was that the Soviets were “neither schematic nor adventuristic,” meaning they are illogical in their political threats. The second point was that the Americans were stronger than the Soviets. The third and fourth points deal with the power that the Soviets had via their “negative and destructive” propaganda. These assumptions concluded that Kennan
1. In what ways were President Kennedy 's foreign policy decisions shaped by Cold War ideology?
The question was whether the USA should pursue the same policy regarding communism in the Far East as in Europe, or should it concentrate on making sure that the Soviets couldn?t expand westward? Despite being a little too optimistic, MacArthur?s decisive policy addressed the global threat of communism better because it acknowledged that the U.S. shouldn?t just ignore one communist sector of the world, and because it recognized that we should eliminate an enemy that we are inevitably bound to come into conflict with.
3. Context: What does Novikov claim the United States planned during the Second World War?
Crockatt, Richard. The fifty years war : the United States and the Soviet Union in world politics, 1941-1991. London; New York; Routledge, 1995.
One of the biggest fears of the American people is that the concept of communism contrasts drastically from the concept of capitalism, which the United States was essentially founded upon. The United States, as the public believed, was not a land of perfect communal equality, but rather a land of equal opportunity. However, what made communism so dangerous can be succinctly described by Eisenhower who compared the spread of communism as the domino effect. As his secretary of state, Dulles, put it, the propagation of communism “would constitute a threat to the sovereignty and independence” of America (Doc B). In addition, the Cold War also planted the seeds of rational fear of a global nuclear war. As Russia caught up to the United States in terms of technological advancements, they successfully developed the atomic bomb as well as the hydrogen bomb, which caused Americans to believe that the USSR would use these weapons of mass destruction to forcefully extend their ideologies to the USA. In fact, Americans were so frantic about a potential nuclear disaster that it...
“When the people fear the government, there is tyranny;when the government fears the people,there is liberty” -Thomas Jefferson. The reason why I chose this quote is that the Northern Korean and South Korean civilians were afraid of the government so there was tyranny. Tyranny is cruel and oppressive government or rule.
Evans, M. Stanton. “Mccarthyism: Waging The Cold War In America.” Human Events 53.21 (1997): S1. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 24 Jan. 2014.
Therefore, establishing anti-Bolshevism in the United States was Robert F. Kelley’s mission. Kelley an Irish Catholic trained by Russian refugees ran the Eastern European Affairs division in the State Department (Leffler, The Specter of Communism, 19). Kelley’s intense dislike for the Bolsheviks demands that his aides join actively in his views. One of his service officers is George F. Kennan who joins in the close observation of Bolshevik destabilizing and expansionist activities that cause unrest in Mexico, Nicaragua, Cuba, Spain and Greece (Leffler, The Specter of Communism, 19). Was Kennan’s containment strategy thinking set off with Kelley’s training? Was Kennan’s awareness of the ongoing Russian Communist activities the basis for his ideas? History proves that George Kennan’s ideas on containment were the basis of NSC-68 and...
“Was Truman Responsible for the Cold War”, well, according to author Arnold A. Offner, his simplistic answer is an obvious “yes.” “Taking Sides” is a controversial aspect of the author’s interpretation for justifying his position and perception of “Truman’s” actions. This political approach is situated around the “Cold War” era in which the author scrutinizes, delineates, and ridicules his opponents by claiming “I have an ace in the hole and one showing” (SoRelle 313). Both authors provide the readers with intuitive perceptions for their argumentative approaches in justifying whether or not “Truman” contributed to the onset of the “Cold War.” Thus far, it would be hard-pressed to blame one single individual, President or not, for the “Cold War” initiation/s. Information presented show the implications centered on the issues leading up to the Cold War”, presents different ideologies of two Presidents involving policy making, and a national relationship strained by uncooperative governments. However, evidence that is presented may indicate otherwise as Joseph Stalin provides adequate counter claims for discrediting the “simplicity” of “yes”.
Discussions of the causes of the Cold War are often divisive, creating disparate ideological camps that focus the blame in different directions depending on the academic’s political disposition. One popular argument places the blame largely on the American people, whose emphasis of “strength over compromise” and their deployment of the atomic bomb in the Second World War’s Pacific theatre apparently functioned as two key catalysts to the conflict between US and Soviet powers. This revisionist approach minimizes Stalin’s forceful approach and history of violent leadership throughout World War 2, and focusing instead on President Harry Truman’s apparent insensitivity to “reasonable Soviet security anxieties” in his quest to impose “American interests on the world.” Revisionist historians depict President Truman as a “Cold War monger,” whose unjustified political use of the atomic bomb and ornery diplomatic style forced Russia into the Cold War to oppose the spread of a looming capitalist democratic monopoly. In reality, Truman’s responsibility for the Cold War and the atomic bomb drop should be minimized. Criticisms of Truman’s actions fail to consider that he entered a leadership position set on an ideological collision course, being forced to further an established plan for an atomic monopoly, and deal with a legacy of US-Russian tensions mobilized by Roosevelt prior to his death, all while being influenced by an alarmist and aggressive cabinet. Upon reviewing criticisms of Truman’s negotiations with Soviet diplomat Vyacheslav Molotov and his involvement in the atomic bomb drop, the influence of Roosevelt’s legacy and Truman’s cabinet will be discussed in order to minimize his blame for starting the Cold War.
QUESTION 2: The Cold War is an international conflict, a global fight between the United States and the Soviet Union that began in Europe in the wake of World War II but quickly expanded into Asia and the Third World. These international events, however, undoubtedly influenced domestic American politics between 1945 and 1965. How did the international Cold War shape, influence, or change domestic American politics in the first twenty years of the conflict?
The Soviet Union began to view the United States as a threat to communism, and the United States began to view the Soviet Union as a threat to democracy. On March 12, 1947, Truman gave a speech in which he argued that the United States should support nations trying to resist Soviet imperialism. Truman and his advisors created a foreign policy that consisted of giving reconstruction aid to Europe, and preventing Russian expansionism. These foreign policy decisions, as well as his involvement in the usage of the atomic bomb, raise the question of whether or not the Cold War can be blamed on Truman. Supporting the view that Truman was responsible for the Cold War, Arnold Offner argues that Truman’s parochialism and nationalism caused him to make contrary foreign policy decisions without regard to other nations, which caused the intense standoff between the Soviet Union and America that became the Cold War (Offner 291)....
The policy of Containment is a strategy that was recommended by Foreign affair 's expert George Kennan. The policy was adopted and executed by the US government after the WW11. In his 8000-word telegram, Kennan recommended the strategy of “containment” of Soviets Union’s exploitation of other weaker East European countries. He further analyzed that curtailing the communist ideologies of Soviet Union these countries would be the best option to preventing another world war. He advised against military confrontation but instead called for a “patient, persistent and firm" strategic efforts to contain Soviet expansionism. He cautioned President Harry Truman of the evils of Stalin’s communist ideologies; these ideas included limiting the freedom of its people. The Soviet Union wanted a world modeled on their own country’s society and values, unlike the US and western Europe countries that sought to practice capitalist ideologies and democratic governments that allowed their citizens the freedom to elect government and exercise their civil liberties. He
The truth was most of the intelligence community just did not understand the Soviet Union.12 What did make them address the possibility that the Soviets could be hostile and led to the intelligence community to polarize on the issue was George Kennan’s “long telegram.” Kennan was an American in Moscow and understood Moscow in finite detail. However, because he projected the enormous disconnect between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, he was not popular in Washington. It was only after some of the evens mentioned above happened, was the Truman administration even willing to examine the possibility that the Soviets might be a serious problem.13 Kennan's long telegram in short prophesized what had been rather obvious since the joint occupation:
Taubman, William. Stalin's American Policy: From Entente to Detente to Cold War. New York: Norton, 1982. Print.