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Flexible Response To The Cold War

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Flexible Response To The Cold War
The First Presidents of the Cold War Did you know the Cold War was called the Cold War because of the “icy” relationship between the USA and the Soviet Union. Each president had to deal with the Cold War, but Truman and Eisenhower wanted Communism to be contained while Kennedy wanted flexible response. It all started out with Karl Marx. He created the idea of Communism, which is the theory of everything being publicly owned and workers get paid based off their abilities(Ayers 756). This led to the presidents having to use ideas like containment and flexible response. Containment is stopping the spread of a certain idea created by George F. Kennan(Ayers 819). Flexible response is defending without using nuclear missiles(Ayers 886). Kennedy …show more content…
Kennedy was the first president in the Cold War to use a new idea. He brought in the idea of flexible response. Kennedy didn’t want to contain Communism, wanted to get rid of it completely(Kennedy). Kennedy only helped non Communist countries and independent countries that didn’t want Communism to rule(Kennedy). Kennedy founded the Peace Corp to help other countries in any way possible(Kennedy). Kennedy also sent weapons and the ideals of democracy to countries that needed to defend their lands. Kennedy did have restrictions, but giving like this would give the US a good reputation and make countries think about converting to a democratic government(Kennedy). “Always seek peace, but never surrender”(Kennedy). This quote is Kenney’s whole idea of protecting his nation. This idea worked with the Cuban Missile Crisis, but didn’t with the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Cuban Missile Crisis was the conflict between the US and the USSR about nuclear warheads in Cuba(Kennedy). Bay of Pigs was the failed invasion of Cuba by the US(Kenney). Kennedy came up with another idea called Massive Retaliation, which is using overwhelming force by using nuclear weapons(Ayers 850). This idea brought the US and USSR to the brink of nuclear war, which is Brinkmanship(Ayers 850). Truman and Eisenhower wanted containment while Kennedy wanted flexible response, therefore, despite their differences, they all wanted to protect the USA from Communism. All the presidents had to use Economic Aid, Military Aid, and Military Use. Even the presidents after these three had to use the same ideals and are used even today. “We make war that we may live in

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