The Policy of Containment
What is the policy of containment, and how did the United States (US) enact this policy? According to Office of the Historian, American diplomat George Kennan’s long telegram laid the foundation for the policy of containment, which the United States devoted itself to prevent the further expansion of communism by the Soviet Union. As a result, the United States enacted this policy through numerous strategies including the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, and the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
One of the strategies used by the United States for preventing the Soviet power was the Truman Doctrine. It was declared to Congress by President Harry S. Truman on March 12, 1947 for controlling the …show more content…
The Truman Doctrine had emphasized the need for an effective foreign policy to support poor nations from the Soviet power. The Truman Doctrine states, “The seeds of totalitarian regimes are nurtured by misery and want. They spread and grow in the evil soil of poverty and strife. They reach their full growth when the hope of a people for a better life has died” (Truman 5). This emphasizes the idea that political and economic instability can be breeding grounds for communism. During that time, many of the European nations were undergoing serious food shortages and inflations. In addition, the severe winter of 1946 and 1947 had strengthened the communist parties in France and Italy. Many nations around the world feared that these nations might fall into communism. Therefore, the Secretary of State George C. Marshall asked the United States to donate billions of dollars to finance the economic recovery for Europe. His speech at Harvard University mentions the importance of economic recovery for the better future of Europe, “the remedy lies in breaking the vicious circle and restoring the confidence of the European people in the economic future of their own countries and of Europe as a whole” (Inside American History). Since the Marshall Plan was like a New Deal for Europe, it was one of the most successful foreign aid programs in the history of US. Later, the …show more content…
NATO: A Guide to the Issue, a book written by Bryan J. Collins, mentions that the allies of NATO were “determined to safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilization of their peoples, founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law” (Collins 5). This statement suggests that freedom means anticommunism to a democratic society at the time of the cold war. This idea of freedom was used as the main reason for the involvement of the United States in the Cold War, Korean War, and Vietnam War. The goal of the US was to prevent communism from replacing democracy. In response to NATO, the Soviets formed their own eastern European alliance called the Warsaw Pact in 1955. The book states that “the creation of NATO in turn led the Soviet Union to feel insecure, and that it then created the Warsaw Pact in order to balance NATO and return to its prior perceived level of security” (3). However, NATO was the first long-term military alliance of twenty eight countries from North America and Europe that was formed to enact the containment
What is the policy of containment, and how did the United States (US) enact this policy? According to Office of the Historian, American diplomat George Kennan’s long telegram laid the foundation for the policy of containment, which the United States devoted itself to prevent the further expansion of communism by the Soviet Union. As a result, the United States enacted this policy through numerous strategies including the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, and the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
One of the strategies used by the United States for preventing the Soviet power was the Truman Doctrine. It was declared to Congress by President Harry S. Truman on March 12, 1947 for controlling the …show more content…
The Truman Doctrine had emphasized the need for an effective foreign policy to support poor nations from the Soviet power. The Truman Doctrine states, “The seeds of totalitarian regimes are nurtured by misery and want. They spread and grow in the evil soil of poverty and strife. They reach their full growth when the hope of a people for a better life has died” (Truman 5). This emphasizes the idea that political and economic instability can be breeding grounds for communism. During that time, many of the European nations were undergoing serious food shortages and inflations. In addition, the severe winter of 1946 and 1947 had strengthened the communist parties in France and Italy. Many nations around the world feared that these nations might fall into communism. Therefore, the Secretary of State George C. Marshall asked the United States to donate billions of dollars to finance the economic recovery for Europe. His speech at Harvard University mentions the importance of economic recovery for the better future of Europe, “the remedy lies in breaking the vicious circle and restoring the confidence of the European people in the economic future of their own countries and of Europe as a whole” (Inside American History). Since the Marshall Plan was like a New Deal for Europe, it was one of the most successful foreign aid programs in the history of US. Later, the …show more content…
NATO: A Guide to the Issue, a book written by Bryan J. Collins, mentions that the allies of NATO were “determined to safeguard the freedom, common heritage and civilization of their peoples, founded on the principles of democracy, individual liberty and the rule of law” (Collins 5). This statement suggests that freedom means anticommunism to a democratic society at the time of the cold war. This idea of freedom was used as the main reason for the involvement of the United States in the Cold War, Korean War, and Vietnam War. The goal of the US was to prevent communism from replacing democracy. In response to NATO, the Soviets formed their own eastern European alliance called the Warsaw Pact in 1955. The book states that “the creation of NATO in turn led the Soviet Union to feel insecure, and that it then created the Warsaw Pact in order to balance NATO and return to its prior perceived level of security” (3). However, NATO was the first long-term military alliance of twenty eight countries from North America and Europe that was formed to enact the containment