The 6 Life Changing Decisions

The 6 Life Changing Decisions
Discuss the developments of the Cold War using the Presidential policies (6 paragraphs).

(1) In 1950, President Harry Truman prevented the expansion of Chinese communists and soviets from influencing East Asia. He did this by resisting North Korea’s invasion of South Korea. Although President Harry Truman’s decision prevented the expansion of the Chinese communists and Soviets, his decision was very risky and could have gotten the United States in big trouble. The reason being that the United States at that time had nearly no weapons (since they disarmed themselves in 1945) and was in a critical position to engage China or the Soviet Union in an Asian conflict. The United States and its allies, acting under the UN (United Nations) mandate, decided to cease-fire which replenished South Korea’s Territorial Integrity and led to the Cold War in U.S.-China relations that lasted about 20 years. This happened right after the three years of war with Chinese and North Korean forces. President Nixon later visited China to open relations with the People’s Republic in 1972.

(2) The most critical moment in the Cold War was when President Kennedy decided to confront Moscow during the Cuban Missile Crises on October 1962. Nikita Khrushchev (Soviet leader) thought that he could threaten President Kennedy into making political concessions in Europe due to the fact that he became too confident after the United State’s embarrassing loss over the Bay of Pigs episode in Cuba in 1961. Here, overconfidence killed the cat. Nikita Khrushchev threats failed and he had to withdraw his missiles from Cuba. A period of détente began in U.S.-Soviet relations as soon as Nikita Khrushchev was ousted from Soviet Leadership.

(3) Courageous is a word used to describe President Johnson’s decisions. On August 1965 President Johnson sent 180,000 troops to South Vietnam in an attempt to try and stop Hanoi from causing guerilla warfare against South Vietnam in an attempt to unite a whole country under communist rule. Johnson had to make a decision between helping South Vietnam and all of Southeast Asia or letting them fall under the Asian communist menace that included the people’s republic of China and the Soviet Union. Since the United States decided to support South Vietnam and Thailand, President Johnson’s administration expected Hanoi to negotiate a political settlement allowing South Vietnam to remain a noncommunist country.

(4) President Ronald Reagan’s decision to confront Soviet leaders in 1983 was the turning point in the cold war. President Reagan introduced the U.S. Perishing II (Medium-range ballistic missiles) and cruise missiles into many European countries, which would be a big threat to the Soviet Union. In order to counter an earlier Soviet deployment of SS-20 missiles that were locked on several European Countries, the NATO’s (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) leaders (Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain, Francois Mitterrand of France, Helmut Kohl of West Germany, and President Reagan) where focused on placing medium range missiles in Europe. Even though Moscow threatened the European countries, the parliaments of Germany, Britain, and Italy accepted the U.S. missiles. The missiles were later deployed late in 1983 and 1984. As a result, Moscow stopped disarmament negotiations with Washington. Later on Reagan offered to renew those contract and Moscow accepted. A new Soviet President came along in 1985 and recognized that the USSR could not defeat a united NATO. Mikhail Gorbachev (The new Soviet president) decided to reach an agreement with President Ronald Reagan.

(5) After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, President Bush’s decision to support German reunification in 1990, helped set the stage for the transformation of the political and strategic map of Europe. Secretary of State James Baker and President Bush thought that supporting Chancellor Kohl's plan for an early unification of East and West Germany was in the national interest for both the United States and Europe. Even though the soviet leaders and other governments were against it, President Bush had the courage to go through with this. In addition, most Europeans were worried that the growth of Germany would take over the center of Europe and manipulate their political and economic future. Instead of trying to dominate European politics, the NATO assured the Europeans that Germany would only help build a new united Europe. Therefore, in October 1990, the German reunification proceeded without any conflicts and Germany became partner with other western countries (both in NATO and in the European Union (EU)).

(6) In early 1947, President Harry Truman decided to provide military and economic assistance to Turkey and Greece which became known as the “Truman Doctrine”. The reason was that he wanted to help them resist the Soviet pressure. President Harry Truman approved the massive aid program for Western Europe which became known as the “Marshall Plan”. Assisting Turkey and Greece to recover from World War II became an important factor in stopping Josef Stalin (Soviet Dictator) from extending Moscow’s influence into Western Europe. Even though historians say that the Cold War began when Moscow imposed the Berlin Blockade in 1948, it is thought that Truman’s decision to rebuild the Western European economies was the spark that caused Stalin’s moves against Berlin and Czechoslovakia the next year.