-USA gave money to any country under a communist threat, the help stop its spread
Containment Policy:
- Containment toward the Soviet Union's communism
-We thought that if the Soviet Union stopped expanding, so would their policies and social system
-Marshall Plan - financial aid to European countries after WWII damage
-NATO - proposed "collective security" where a 'if you mess with me, you mess with my family' mindset was in place
U.S. Foreign Policy (Korea & Vietnam)
- Korea: USA afraid of communism spreading - helped out in South Korea when the communist North Korea invaded (3 year war to restore old border) - USA lost 54,000 soldiers with "LIMITED warfare"
-Vietnam: USA gets involved because of communist leader Ho Chi Minh, a friend of Stalin's, after making Vietnam independent of France in 1945 - USA gives $ to France, they fight Minh and lost in 1954, so we send in troops - resulted in Geneva Agreement (Communist North, Free South Vietnam - where we put a president in place)
Intervention
-USA got involved in foreign affairs, trying to halt the spread of communism as much as possible, "helping" countries being affected and putting new government leaders in place where necessary
Cold War Development
-1949: Soviet Union successful atomic bomb test led US gov.'t to believe there were spies in the USA (Rosenburg's)
-1960: Soviet Union gives Cuba $100 million for "sugar" - USA didn't buy it
-Bay of Pigs Invasion - Goal = No Communism in Western Hemisphere, USA trained anti-communist Cubans in Florida and sent them back to fight, defeated in 3 days
1962: Cuban Missile Crisis: USA caught Cuba with aimed ballistic missiles (there goes that sugar investment...) with surveillance planes
-Negotiation: Kennedy and Kruschev agreed 13 minutes before USA took out Cuban missile bases - Soviet Union would remove missiles from Cuba if USA removes their missiles from Turkey
-Tension then eased: Nuclear Weapons Ban 1963 (but USA didn't stop testing nukes!)
WWII Foreign Policy vs Post WWII Foreign Policy
- Pre WWII: Isolationism
-Post WWII: Intervention
Limited War
-Not using all available resources and means to defeat an enemy (Korean War)
Examples of Containment in Europe
- Berlin Wall: separated East and West Germany, separated communism and free sides of Germany. The USA would do a LOT to stop communism from spreading into other countries.
Main Points of Division of Germany
- East Germany: communist Soviet rule
-West Germany democracy ruled by France, Great Britain, USA
Douglas MacArthur Dismissal
- MacArthur failed to comply with all of Truman's orders, and went too far in the Korean war, pushing back the border and entering Chinese territory. Truman worried he had too much power.
Korean War Similarities with Persian Gulf War
-Assisted by USA to prevent a government from gaining power
-Started with an invasion of a country
-Featured a military end run which resulted in a quick victory and ejected the invaders
-Re-established original borders
Nuclear Test Ban
- 1963: including Soviet Union, USA, and Great Britain signed - no more testing nukes
-Most did not stop testing, especially the USA...
Long Term Effects of Vietnam
- Country divided into pro/anti war groups
-Economic costs
-Veterans coming home with psychological scarring, and coming home to an angry America
-Made USA hesitant of sending troops for extended military action abroad
Peace Corps
-Set up by President Kennedy
-Humanitarian aid for developing nations
-To educate people on how "giving and caring the USA really is"
End of Cold War
-Fall of the Berlin Wall, symbolic end of Cold War
Domino Theory
-The idea that if one country becomes communist, surrounding countries will adopt communism and it will spread like falling dominos
Nixon's Détente
-attempt to ease tension between Soviet Union and the USA
