Preview

Evaluate the ways in which the U.S. tried to contain communism.

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1484 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Evaluate the ways in which the U.S. tried to contain communism.
Communism had always posed a threat to the interest of the U.S. and their attitudes towards the U.S.S.R. had proved they had not entertained the idea of communism much. But it was not until February 1946 did it all come out and the U.S.A began to act towards containing communism. The policy of containment meant the U.S. actively prevented the psreading of communism.There were several ways with which the U.S. tried to contain communism some of which were futile and others effective. However, for every move the U.S. made the U.S.S.R. had a retaliation.

One way with which the U.S. tried to contain communism was with the use of the atomic bomb. The dropping of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima was a method that was used to bring the war between the Japanese to a quick end with few loss of American lives. Described by Truman as " the greatest thing in history" the bomb had a very devastating effect taking up to 70 000 lives. After that another bomb was dropped in Nagasaki, this was particularly to impress Stalin and scare him if possible. However this was to blow up in Truman's face. Stalin feeling that it was an insult that he was never informed of such a weapon by his allies was not impressed and also became more suspicious of the U.S. And the fact that he was also denied the islands in the far east since he had nothing to do with the defeating of Japan also irritated him more. Truman's attempts did not work instead Stalin sought a production of his very own atomic bomb, and alhough it was initially predicted the Soviet Union would get the bomb within 10 years, mysteriously the bomb was in the hands of the Soviets a lot sooner than that, they had it within 4 years. So Truman had nothing against Stalin now. This was one of the unsuccessful means of containing communism because it rather increased the already existing tensions between both countries during the cold war. And because it was a suspicious thing that the U.S.S.R. got the bomb so soon and the U.S. neglected to

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Chapter 25 Summary

    • 471 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the chapter 25, since America ended the World War II after they dropped the atomic bomb in Japanese continent, America confronted the communist, especially Soviet from 1946 to 1952. Through this confrontation between America and Soviet, the cold war begun around the world. Since the Soviets tried to reinforce opposing goals that were against American vision in Eastern Europe, the Soviets forced pressured Eastern Europe to make communism. However, fortunately, the Truman Doctrine helped those nations to stop being communism, and the Marshall Plan made the Truman Doctrine extended to all of Europe. In 1948, the cold war tension was accelerated by the Berlin Blockade. The soviet wanted West Germany to abandon the western part, but since the Berlin Airlift was succeeded, it brought huge victory for the U.S. In 1949, NATO was built to protect Western Europe from communism. In 1947, the United States legislated the National Security Act to prevent the communism all over the world. On the one hand, the U.S also tried to expand some interests in Latin America. Through the Rio Pact in 1947, Latin Americans got collective security from America. Since America didn’t have much oil for…

    • 471 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Union. All they could muster were relatively hollow threats on an ad hoc basis. It was an approach US Secretary of Defense James Forrestal complained was ‘a patchwork job’. Having formally adopted the concept of the ‘containment’ of Soviet Communism in late November 1948, most policymakers within the Truman administration simply assumed, or perhaps hoped is a better word, that the American atomic monopoly would somehow intimidate the Soviets from breaches of the peace for fear of precipitating an all-out war.…

    • 335 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This was set off by the Truman Doctrine - the first formal policy of containment. As the Soviet Union continued their geopolitical expansion, the Truman Doctrine acted as the foundation for the decisions made by the U.S in the following years. As Foner notes, “it set a precedent for American assistance to anti communist regimes throughout the world, no matter how undemocratic, and for the creation of a set of global military alliances directed against the Soviet Union” (Foner 711). With this, Harry Truman showed that the United States was ready to use their policy of containment, to push back communist…

    • 860 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The brilliance and precision of George Kennan's containment policy lies within the America's accomplishments during and after the Cold War. His policy of containment was guided America's foreign policy for four decades, and influenced the policymakers for his unconventional but convincing approach. His fundamental rationale was that a powerful Soviet Union would strengthen communism, and weaken democracy and capitalism, therefore, he proposed spreading the American socioeconomic and political principles to the rest of the world to overpower Soviet influence and preserve the western ideals. The Soviet Union fell in 1991. However, two decades later, his take on how to tackle threats of democracy and capitalism remains the principle strategy of…

    • 114 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    11. What is containment?: Taking measures to prevent extension of communist rule to other countries.…

    • 1854 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    President Harry Truman declared that, “It must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures” (McClenaghan 486). Truman requested $400 million from Congress to protect both Greece and Turkey from communism (“Truman Doctrine Is”). I think the Truman Doctrine was an intelligent decision the Soviet Union was the center of all communist activity and nations needed to be protected from communist aggression. Two major confrontations between the United States and the Soviet Union were the Berlin blockade and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Berlin blockade was an attempt in 1948 made by the Soviets to limit the ability of France, Great Britain, and the United States to access their sectors of Berlin.…

    • 1896 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the year 1947 is what is known as the beginning of the Cold War. During World War II the countries of United States and Soviet Union combined forces to defeat the Germans. When the war was over the tension of different ideologies began once again. Joseph Stalin the leader of the Soviet Union wanted to expand communism, he believed that communism was the superior ideology. The United States being capitalist contain communism by using the Berlin blockade and airlift to their advantage, the Korean war, and The Cuban missile crises.…

    • 504 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Red Scare Research Paper

    • 1477 Words
    • 6 Pages

    When news broke out that communism was in America, the public was astonished and feared what communism in the U.S. government would do. Many politicians baffled on why they were even trying to run for office. What they did not see coming was the popularity that would follow communism in the future. The fear did not come from the Communist Party itself, but the obsession of a small group of people with power to stop the Red Scare that spread rapidly in the America in both the early 1900’s and 1940’s.…

    • 1477 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    The United States’ alliance with the Soviet Union began to crumble throughout World War II. Fueled by ideological differences, this climate of mutual mistrust between the two nations became known as the Cold War. Conflicts over Poland, a symbol of WWII, continued to divide these two nations apart as Stalin wanted a buffer in Eastern Europe to prevent another invasion. This is best represented by the concept of the “Iron Curtain” dividing Eastern and Western Europe. As a result of being unable to remove the Soviets from areas already under their control, the US implemented the philosophy of containment, as developed by George F. Kennan, to prevent the spread of communism.…

    • 2434 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Communism Dbq

    • 777 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Even after the end of World War II, the United States and Europe were far from living in peace and harmony. Communism was spreading across Eastern Europe via the Soviet Union, much to the disapproval of the United States and Great Britain, who were originally allies with the Soviets during WWII in the fight against Germany. This spread of communism caused for the USSR’s power to rapidly increase, while also bringing forth the same paranoia and anti-communist sentiments to American citizens that had…

    • 777 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Containment Policy Dbq

    • 973 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The struggle for world power between capitalism and communism had the potential to start World War III according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff as of November 9th, 1950 in document 16 where they state, “In the event of the commitment of the [Soviet Union]… it would then be evident that World War III is imminent.” The Containment Policy was a way to keep communism from spreading without having to fight the most powerful communist countries outright. Wars that occurred during the Containment Policy never had direct fighting between the United States and the major communist influence, the Soviet Union. The Containment Policy was effective at stopping the spread of communism, and was the right choice to prevent World War III.…

    • 973 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    While the end of World War II brought peace and prosperity to most Americans, it also created a heightened state of tension between the Soviet Union and the United States. Fearing that the Soviet Union intended to "export" communism to other nations, America centered its foreign policy on the "containment" of communism, both at home and abroad. Although formulation of the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, and the Berlin Airlift suggested that the United States had a particular concern with the spread of communism in Europe, America's policy of containment extended to Asia as well. Indeed, Asia proved to be the site of the first major battle waged in the name of containment: the Korean War.…

    • 1441 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Even before the Great War, URSS had strong intentions to expand the communism, and US were the most powerful economic country, an example for the world, however the great depression outlined that there is no perfect system and for the eyes of the world communism was a valid option.…

    • 2197 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    cold war

    • 1675 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The growing fear of the spread of communism throughout the World during the Cold War era resulted in the United States making brash and misguided decisions stemming from the values of the containment policy. This era was marked by concern that other nations, especially those in the Western Hemisphere, would fall to Soviet influence, and additionally, that there were communist supporters within the United States, potentially in government offices. Americans became increasingly suspicious of anyone with communist ties or interests, past or present, and the government began to take further involvement in the affairs in other nations that seemed at risk to leftist revolts. This compromised the rights and privacy of many innocent Americans, and crossed into the sovereignty of other nations. During the Cold War, America compromised it’s fundamental values and at the expense of it’s own citizens and in the affairs of other nations to increase tension in this era.…

    • 1675 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    History: Cold War (Review)

    • 2547 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Containment: The American foreign policy created in 1947 that through economic and technical assistance stopped the spread of communism in threatened countries. It later involved military force as well.…

    • 2547 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics