APUSH 8.1
Many scholars refer to the Americans who came of age in WWII as the
"greatest generation"
George Kennan's "Containment Policy"
- Kennan was a Soviet specialist in the US State Department who argued that communism was expansionist by nature - advocated containment of Communism to where it already existed - Containment theory became basis for foreign policy
Recognition of USSR
-US refused to recognize the existence of the Soviet Union from 1922-1933 thus delegitimizing the Bolshevik victory in the Russian Civil War
Cold War Competition
1. Arms race (especially nuclear arms race) 2. Space race 3. Athletic competition (especially at the Olympics) 4. Spy Agencies (CIA vs KGB) 5. Proxy wars (Latin America/Middle East) and/or Hot Spots (Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Afghanistan) - one side directly involved in the conflict and the other indirectly involved
Containment had not gone well in Asia. When the Soviets entered the war against Japan, they sent troops into Japanese-occupied Korea. As American troops established a presence in the Southern part of the Korean Peninsula, the Soviets began cutting roads and communications at the 38th parallel.
2 separate governments were emerging, as Korea began to resemble the divided Germany. Upon the recommendation of the UN, elections were scheduled, but the North refused to participate.
Further, the US terminated Lend-Lease aid to USSR before the war was complete. In addition, Stalin made promises during the war about the freedom of Eastern Europe on which he blatantly reneged.
After the Yalta Conference in 1945, the USSR pledged to enter the war against Japan. In return, the US awarded the Soviets territorial concessions from Japan and special rights in Chinese Manchuria.
In June 1948, tensions within Berlin touched off a crisis. The Soviets decided to seal all land routes going into West Berlin. Stalin gambled that the Western powers were not willing to risk another war to protect half of Berlin.
Allies were tired and didnt want war. Withdrawal by the United States would eliminate the democratic enclave in the Soviet zone. Truman was faced with tough choices.
WWII
Although the soviet union was on the side of the allies, mistrust persisted between US and USSR
US entry into WWII made the difference for the Allied cause. American army and navy became the most powerful in the world.
American youth would never forget the sacrifices of wartime. From rationing food to collecting scrap metal to buying bonds to fighting in battle, efforts to defeat Axis powers were a collective American effort of the homefront.
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) killed thousands of English and Irish citizens attempting to receive recognition for their cause - an independent homeland.
Americans saw the world slipping into anarchy and felt powerless to fix the problem.
Relations remained icy between US and USSR. Relying on knowledge that the US had a larger nuclear arsenal than the Soviet Union, Eisenhower and Dulles announced a policy of Massive Retaliation.
Any attack by the Soviets on the US or its allies would be met with nuclear force.
Soon after, the US dropped its opposition to Chinese entry in the UN and groundwork was laid for the eventual establishment of diplomatic relations.
As expected, this maneuver caused concern in the Soviet Union. Nixon hoped to establish a detente, or an easing of tensions, with the USSR.
The Western Alliance was threatened as President Eisenhower called upon Britain and France to show restraint. With Soviet influence growing in the oil-rich region, Ike issued the Eisenhower doctrine, which pledged American support to any governments fighting communist insurgencies in the Middle East. Making good on that promise, he sent over 5,000 marines to Lebanon to forestall an anti-western takeover.
Asia provided more challenges for containment. China was flexing its muscles in Taiwan by threatening the takeover of the Taiwanese islands of Quemoy and Matsu. US secretary of state John Foster Dulles chose to follow a strategy of Brinkmanship.
When the Soviet Union entered the war between the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the US no longer needed their aid, but Stalin was there to collect on Western promises made at the Yalta conference
At the Potsdam Conference in 1945, the Allies agreed on postwar outcome for Nazi Germany. After territorial adjustments, Germany was divided into four Occupation Zones with the US, Britain, France, and Soviet Union each administering one.
Type of leaders supported by the US during the Cold War
At times the US found itself supporting leaders that did not practice democracy as long as they pledged not to become communist
Growing credibility gap between the truth and what the government said was the truth caused many Americans to grow even more cynical about the war.
By 1972, Nixon decided to escalate the bombing of North Vietnamese cities, including Hanoi. He hoped this initiative would push North Vietnam to the peace table.
Diplomat in the State Department named George Keenan proposed the Policy of Containment. In places where communism threatened to expand, American aid might prevent a takeover.
By pursuing this policy, the United States might be able to contain Communism within its current borders. The policy became known as the Truman doctrine, as the President outlined these intentions with his request for monetary aid for Greece and Turkey.
When the Red Army marched on Germany at the end of WWII, it absorbed the nearby nations of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania into the Soviet Union. Soon communist forces dominated the governments of Romania and Bulgaria.
By the fall of 1945, it was clear that the USSR-backed Lublin Regime had complete control of Poland, violating the Yalta promise of free and unfettered elections there. It was only a matter of time before Hungary and Czechoslovakia fell into the Soviet orbit as well.
In the aftermath of WWII, the US created a weapon to assist in fighting the cold war: Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
CIA gathered information on Soviet plans and involved itself in operations designed to prevent communist dictators from rising to power.
Like his predecessors, Kennedy made containment his chief foreign policy goal. Abandoning Eisenhower's heaving reliance on nuclear deterrence, JFK expanded defense spending. The US needed a "flexible response" capability. To JFK, this meant a variety of military options depending upon specific conditions.
Conventional forces were upgraded. Included in this program was the establishment of Special Forces units similar to the Green Berets. Despite the expense, Kennedy believed communism was a menace that required maximum preparation.
This allowed Third World nations to receive much needed assistance and the US promoted goodwill around the world.
Countries that received Peace Corps volunteers might be less likely to submit to a communist revolution and American volunteers obtained experiences that shaped well-rounded, worldly citizens.
Western democracies had always been hostile to the idea of a communist state. The US had refused recognition to the USSR for 16 years after the Bolshevik takeover in 1917.
Domestic fears of Communism erupted in the first Red Scare in America in the early 1920s and American business leaders had long feared the consequences of a politically driven workers' organization.
During the Buddhist Holiday of Tet, Viet Cong troops emerged from their tunnels and attacked nearly every major metropolitan center in South Vietnam. Surprise strikes were made at the American base at Danang, and even the seemingly impenetrable American Embassy in Saigon was attacked.
During the weeks that followed, the South Vietnamese army and US ground forces recaptured all of the lost territory, inflicting twice as many casualties on the Viet Cong as suffered by Americans. The showdown was a military victory for the US but American morale suffered.
One of JFK's most popular foreign policy initiatives was the Peace Corps. Led by Sargent Shriver, this program allowed Americans to volunteer two years of service to a developing nation. Applicants would be based upon their particular skill sets.
English teachers would be placed where the learning of the language was needed, Entrepreneurs trained merchants how to maximize profits, and doctors were needed anywhere and everywhere.
Truly an Asian Phenomenon
Europe was already divided by the end of WWII (Western Europe: democratic Capitalism, Eastern Europe: Communism) *The iron Curtain - Cold War truly played out in competition for large parts of Asia (China, Korea, Vietnam, etc.)
The first instance occurred in Iran, when Iranian prime minister Mohammed Mossadegh nationalized British Petroleum.
Fearing USSR influence in the powerful oil nation, the CIA recruited a phony mob to drive off Mossadegh and return the American-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to power.
Throughout Latin America, the US was seen as a brutal defender of thuggish autocrats at the expense of popularly elected leaders.
Fidel Castro capitalized on this sentiment by overthrowing US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista from power in Cuba in 1959.
In 1962, the US learned that the USSR was about to deploy nuclear missiles in Cuba. JFK ordered a Naval "quarantine" of Cuba and ordered Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev to turn his missile-carrying boats back to the USSR. Any soviet attempt to penetrate the American blockade would be met with an immediate military response.
Finally, Khrushchev gave in to Kennedy's demands, and the world remained safe from global confrontation. The Cuban missile crisis marked the closest the US and the USSR came to direct confrontation in the entire Cold war.
In 1979, the new Islamic fundamentalist government of Iran captured 52 Americans at the US Embassy in Tehran. They demanded the return of their former leader, Shah Mohammad Pahlavi, to stand trial in exchange for the lives of the hostages.
For 444 days, Americans watched as their fellow citizens were held in confinement. A rescue effort ordered by President Carter crashed in the desert in 1980.
The North Vietnamese sensed the crumbling of American Resolve. They knew that the longer the war went on, the more antiwar sentiment would grow. They gambled that the American people would demand troop withdrawals before the military met its objectives.
For the next five years they pretended to negotiate with the US, making proposals they knew would be rejected. With each passing day, the number of "hawks" decreased. Majority of Americans supported the war on moral grounds but saw the war as an effort whose price of victory was too high.
Using Guerilla warfare, the Viet Minh battled the Japanese and held many key cities by 1945. Ho proclaimed the new nation of Vietnam - a new nation Western powers refused to recognize.
France was determined to reclaim all its territories after WWII. The US now faced an interesting dilemma. American tradition dictated sympathy for revolutionaries over colonial power, but supporting marxist Viet Minh was unthinkable.
France imperial involvement in Indochina: Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia comprised Indochina. After WWI, a nationalist movement formed in Vietnam led by Ho Chi Minh.
Ho was educated in the West, where he became a disciple of Marxist thought. Ho resented and resisted the French. When the Japanese invaded Vietnam during WWII, they displaced French rule. Ho formed a liberation movement known as the Viet Minh.
Yugoslavia already had an independent communist leader named Tito. And now Stalin was ordering the creation of a Communist puppet regime in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany.
How many dominoes would fall? US diplomats saw a continent ravaged by war looking for strong leadership and aid of any sort, providing a climate ripe for revolution.
President Nixon had a plan to end American involvement in Vietnam. By the time he entered the White House in 1969, he knew the war effort was failing.
Immediate American withdrawal would amount to a defeat of the noncommunist South Vietnamese allies so Nixon announced a plan known as Vietnamization.
The USA was backing an unpopular leader in the South named Ngo Dinh Diem. Diem was corrupt and showed little commitment to democratic principles, and favored Catholics to the dismay of the Buddhist majority.
In 1963, Diem was murdered in a coup with apparent Cia involvement. Few of Ngo's successors fared any better in the South, while Ho Chi Minh was seen as the Vietnamese equivalent of George Washington and won the hearts of the majority (both north and south)
Since Mao Zedong's takeover in 1949, the US had refused recognition to the communist govt. Instead, Americans pledged support to the Chinese Nationalist government in Taiwan. China was blocked from admission to the United Nations by the American Veto, and Taiwan held China's seat on the Security Council.
In 1971 Kissinger traveled secretly to China to make preparations for a presidential visit. After Kissinger's return, Nixon surprised everyone by announcing he would travel to China and meet with Mao Zedong.
Would the Soviets get all of Germany? Or Italy and France? President Truman was determined to reverse this trend. Greece and Turkey were the first nations spiraling into crisis that had not been directly occupied by the Soviet Army. Both countries were on the verge of being taken over by Soviet-backed guerilla movements.
In March 1947, Truman asked Congress to appropriate $400 million to send to these two nations in the form of military and economic assistance. Within two years the communist threat had passed, and both nations were comfortably in the western sphere of influence.
As the American public cheered "Operation Vittles", Stalin began to look bad in the eyes of the world. Willing to use innocent civilians as pawns to quench his expansionist thirst.
In May 1949 the Soviets ended the blockade. The US and Britain had flown over 250,000 supply missions during what became known as the Berlin Airlift.
The General Assembly has standing committees to address ongoing issues such as economics and finance, social, cultural, and humanitarian concerns, and legal problems. The General Assembly passes resolutions and has the power to make recommendations to the Security Council, but has no power to require any action.
In addition to the General Assembly, Economic and Social Council has committees designed to address a wide array of topics from the status of women to the environment.
In 1961, citizens of West Berlin felt completely isolated when USSR built the Berlin Wall around the city. JFK visited West Berlin in 1963 to allay their fears.
In an attempt to show solidarity between West Berlin and the US, JFK ended his speech with "Ich Bin Ein Berliner" which means "I am a citizen of West Berlin". This visit and speech endeared JFK to the people of West Berlin and all of Western Europe.
The US would gradually withdraw troops as American military personnel turned more and more of the fighting over to the Army of the Republic of Vietnam.
In theory, as the South Vietnamese became more able to defend themselves, the US soldiers could go home without a communist takeover of Saigon.
Declining public support brought declining troop morale. Many soldiers questioned the wisdom of American involvement. Soldiers indulged in alcohol, marijuana, and heroin to escape daily horrors.
Incidents of "fragging" or the murder of officers by their own troops increased in the years that followed the Tet Offensive.
Satellite Nations or Satellite states of the Soviet Union
Independent (technically) Communist nations that pledged their support and allied with the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Old league of nations had proven too weak in structure. Stronger international body as envisioned by Woodrow Wilson was necessary to keep world powers from tearing each other apart.
It was in this spirit that Franklin Roosevelt championed the creation of the United Nations.
The following year the American Public learned about the My Lai Massacre. In 1968, American soldiers opened fire on several hundred women and children in the tiny hamlet of My Lai.
It was not unusual for Viet Cong guerilla activity to be initiated from small villages. At first Lieutenant who gave the order, William L. Calley Jr. was declared guilty of murder, but the ruling was later overturned. Moral outrage swept through the antiwar movement. They cited My Lai as an example of how American soldiers were killing innocent peasants.
Relations with Latin America had gone sour since FDR's Good Neighbor Policy. Latin American nations complained about US support for dictatorial military regimes. They pointed out that no large Marshall Plan was designed for Latin America.
JFK proposed the Alliance For Progress program. Development funds were granted to nations of the Western Hemisphere who were dedicated to fighting communism. After JFK's death, funds for the Alliance for Progress were largely diverted to Vietnam, however.
The Soviet crackdown on the Hungarian Uprising of 1956 further strained relations. In an effort to reduce tensions, Eisenhower offered an "open skies" proposal to the Soviet Leader Nikita Khrushchev. Planes from each nation would be permitted to fly over the other to inspect nuclear sites.
Khrushchev declined the offer. A summit conference between Eisenhower and Khrushchev was canceled in 1960 when the Soviets shot down an American U-2 Spy Plane piloted by Gary Powers.
Hot Spots
Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan
Cold war lasted 45 years and there were no direct military campaigns between the US and Soviet Union. The US became the leader of free-market capitalist world. America and its allies struggled to keep the communist Soviet Union from expanding into Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, Grenada, Afghanistan, Angola, became battlegrounds between the two ideologies. The US would not retreat into its former isolationist stance as long as there was a Cold War to wage.
The commander of the UN forces was none other than Douglas MacArthur. He had an uphill battle to fight, as the North had overrun the entire peninsula with the exception of the small Pusan Perimeter in the South.
MacArthur ordered an amphibious assault at Inchon on the west side of the peninsula on September 15. Caught by surprise, the communist-backed northern forces reeled in retreat. American-led forces from Inchon and the Pusan perimeter quickly pushed the northern troops to the 38th parallel and kept going.
MacArthur wanted to bomb the Chinese mainland and blockade their coast. Truman disagreed. He feared the escalation of the conflict could lead to WWIII, especially if the now nuclear armed USSR lent assistance to China.
MacArthur took his case directly to the American people by openly criticizing Truman's approach. Truman promptly fired him for insubordination.
Although Soviet Union and the US were allied during the war, Americans distrusted Stalin's communist government and abhorred his takeover of Eastern European counties immediately after the war.
More soviet citizens were killed in WWII than any other nation, and Stalin was determined to receive compensation for damages and guarantees that such a slaughter could never again plague the Soviet people.
When Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser sought to strengthen ties with the Soviet bloc, the United States withdrew its pledge to help Nasser construct the all-important Aswan Dam.
Nasser responded by nationalizing the Suez Canal, an action that compelled British, French, and Israeli armies to invade Egypt.
The Big 3 Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin devoted hours of dialogue to the nature of a United Nations. After agreeing on the general principles at the Dumbarton Oaks and Yalta Conferences, delegates from around the world met in San Fran to write a charter
Nation mourning the death of FDR, Eleanor Roosevelt addressed the delegates. A charter was ultimately approved by unanimous consent. Despite the ideological animosity spawned by the Cold war, a new spirit of globalism was born after WWII.
In 1972, Nixon made an equally significant trip to Moscow to support a nuclear arms agreement. This lead to the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I). The US and USSR pledged to limit the number of intercontinental ballistic missiles each side would build and prevent the development of anti-ballistic missile systems.
Nixon and his Soviet counterpart, Leonid Brezhnev, also agreed to a trade deal involving American wheat being shipped to the USSR. The 2 nations also entered into a joint venture in space exploration known as Apollo-Soyuz.
Unlike his predecessor, Nixon longed to be known for his expertise in Foreign policy. Although occupied with the Vietnam War, Nixon also initiated several new trends in American diplomatic relations.
Nixon contended that the communist world consisted of 2 rival powers - USSR and China. Given the long history of animosity between these 2 nations, Nixon and his adviser Henry Kissinger decided to exploit that rivalry to win advantages for the US. That policy became known as triangular diplomacy.
In the Spring of 1970, Nixon announced a temporary invasion of neighboring Cambodia. Although Cambodia was technically neutral, the Ho Chi Minh Trail stretched through its territory.
Nixon ordered the Viet Cong bases located along the trail to be bombed. Peace advocates were pissed. They claimed that Nixon was expanding the war, not reducing it as promised. Protests were mounted across America.
Massive American bombing campaigns hit their targets, but failed to make the North Vietnamese concede. Draft injustices like college deferments surfaced, hearkening back to the similar controversies of the Civil War. Average age of the American soldier was 19. Public became impatient as war dragged on in the late 60s and early 70s.
Nixon signed a ceasefire in 1973. In 1975, communist forces from the north overran the south and unified the nation. Neighboring Cambodia and Laos also became communist dictatorships. At home, returning Vietnamese veterans found readjustment and even acceptance difficult.
The war evolved into a stalemate. Ceasefire negotiations dragged on for 2 more years, beyond Truman's presidency. Finally in 1953, an armistice was signed at Panmunjom.
North Korea remained a communist dictatorship, and South Korea remained under the control of Syngman Rhee, a military strong man.
The South elected Syngman Rhee as President, but the Soviet-backed North was ruled by Kim Il Sung. When the US withdrew its forces from the Peninsula, trouble began.
Northern Korean armed forces crossed the 38th parallel on June 25, 1950. Took only 2 days for President Truman to commit the US military to the defense of Southern Korea.
When the USSR put Sputnik into orbit in 1957, panic struck America. Thousands rushed to Sears and Roebuck to purchase bomb shelter kits, and Congress responded by creating the National Aeronautical and Space Administration and by appropriating funds for science education.
Not even space was safe from cold war confrontation
The US saw an opportunity to create a complete indivisible democratic Korea and pushed the northern Army up to the Yalu River, which borders China.
On November 27, Chinese soldiers flooded across the Yalu River and helped push American troops back below the 38th Parallel.
Berlin - Germany's wartime capital. The city was divided into four zones of occupation like the rest of Germany. However, the entire city lay within the Soviet zone of occupation.
Once the nation of East Germany was established, the Allied sections of the capital known as West Berlin became an island of democracy and capitalism behind the Iron Curtain.
After Tet, General Westmoreland requested an additional 200,000 troops to put added pressure on the Vietcong. His request was denied.
President LBJ knew that activating that many reserves, bringing the total American commitment to nearly 3/4 of a million soldiers was not politically tenable.
The 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow were boycotted by the US. America's claim to dominant status in the world had been challenged by the end of the 1970s.
Problems in Latin America, the Middle East, and Europe weakened the US position in the world. Americans desperately were looking for someone or something to bring back the confidence that would be necessary to turn back the negative tide and ultimately succeed in winning the Cold war.
During the administrations of Eisenhower and Kennedy, the United States continued to supply funds, weapons, and military advisers to South Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh turned North vietnam into a communist dictatorship and created a new band of Guerillas in the South called the Viet Cong.
Purpose of Viet Cong was to overthrow the military regime in the South and reunite the nation under Ho Chi Minh.
At Kent State University in Ohio, students rioted in protest. They burned down the ROTC building located on campus, and destroyed local property. The governor of Ohio sent the National Guard.
Several soldiers panicked and fired rifles into a crowd, leading to deaths of four students and the wounding of several others. This became known as the Kent State massacre.
A Marxist revolution in Nicaragua brought greater fears of communism spreading to the western hemisphere. Finally, in 1979 the USSR invaded Afghanistan with combat troops from the Red Army.
Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev promised that Afghani leaders had requested military assistance, but American diplomats were dubious. Fearing Soviet expansion into the Middle east, the Carter administration strongly condemned the action and levied a wheat boycott on the Soviet Union.
Mistrust between the US and Soviet Union during WWII provided some of the most important short term causes of the cold war. 20 million Russian citizens died during the war.
Stalin was enraged that the Americans and British had waited so long to open a western front in France, which would help relieve pressure on USSR from the attacking Germans in the east.
The US was unwilling to sit idle while another form of totalitarianism spread westward from Moscow. WWII was immediately followed by another war
THE COLD WAR
When Operation Rolling Thunder began in 1965, only 15% of the American public opposed the war. By April of 1968 however, six weeks after the Tet Offensive, "Doves" outnumbered "Hawks" 42 to 41 percent.
Tet offensive convinced many Americans that government statements about the war being nearly over were false. After 3 years of intense bombing, billions of dollars and 500,000 troops, the Viet Cong proved themselves capable of attacking anywhere they chose. The message was simple: the end of the war was nowhere in sight.
In 1971, the NY times published excerpts from the Pentagon Papers, a top-secret overview of the history of government involvement in Vietnam. A participant in the study named Daniel Ellsberg believed the American public needed to know some of the secrets, so he leaked the information to the Press.
The Pentagon Papers revealed a deception of the American Public by the Johnson Administration. Many statements released about the Military situation in Vietnam were simply untrue, including the possibility that the bombing of American boats in the Gulf of Tonkin might never have happened.
Truman hoped to build a coalition against the aggressors from the North by enlisting support from the UN. Of course, the USSR could veto any proposed action by the Security Council, but this time, the Americans were in luck.
The Soviets were boycotting the Security Council for refusing to admit Red China into the UN. As a result, the Council voted unanimously to repel the armed attack of North Korea. Many nations sent troops to defend the South, but forces beyond those of the US and South Korea were nominal.
As the British and French empires yielded to independence movements, a new Third World emerged. This became the major battleground of the Cold War as the US and USSR struggled to bring new nations into their respective orbits.
The US recognition of Israel in 1948 created a strong new ally, but created many new enemies. Arab nations, enraged by American support for the jewish state, found supportive ears in the USSR.
Arguably, Nixon may have been the only president who could have accomplished this arrangement. Anticommunism was raging in the US and Americans would view with suspicion any attempts to make peace with USSR/China. However, Nixon's overtures were chiefly accepted by the American public. Helped temporarily reduce tension.
The US seemed to have lost its power in the 1970s. Decade began with America's longest war, Vietnam, ending with its first decisive military defeat.
NATO was the sort of permanent alliance that George Washington had warned against in his Farewell Address, and represented the first such agreement since the Franco-American Alliance that helped secure victory in the American Revolution.
The US shed its isolationist past and thrust itself forward as a determined superpower fighting its new rival.
Korea (1950-53)
The USA fought directly and the Soviet Union served as a "Proxy" during the Korean Civil War
The US-USSR detente arranged by Nixon and Kissinger was crumbling by the end of the decade. A second arms limitation treaty between the super powers known as SALT II was delivered to the senate but was rejected.
The USSR now surpassed the US in Nuclear warheads. The cold war became frostier.
Russian Civil War (1917-1922)
The United States supported the opposition (whites) against the Bolshevik Communists (reds)
The antiwar movement in 1965 was small, and news of its activities was buried in the inner pages of newspapers, if there was any mention at all. Only later in the war did public opinion sour.
The Vietnamese enemy was hard to identify and the war was not fought between conventional army forces. The Viet Cong blended in with the native population and struck by ambush, often at night.
One exception to the negative trends was the Camp David Agreement, brokered by Carter in 1978. These accords resulted in the mutual recognition of Israel and Egypt, a giant first step toward a lasting peace between Israel and other Middle Eastern Nations.
The agreement is seen by many as to be one of the few concrete achievements of the Carter administration.
The Marshall plan created an economic miracle in Western Europe. By the target date of the program 4 years later, Western European industries were producing twice as much as they had been the year before the war broke out.
The aid also produced record levels of trade with American firms, fueling a postwar economic boom in the United States. Lastly and much to Truman's delight, none of these nations of Western Europe faced a serious threat of communist takeover.
JFK's greatest foreign policy failure and success both involved the nation of Cuba. In 1961, CIA-trained Cuban exiles landed in Cuba at the Bay of Pigs, hoping to ignite a popular uprising that would oust Fidel Castro from power. When the revolution failed to occur, Castro's troops moved in.
The exiles believed air support would come from the United States, but JFK refused. Many of the rebels were shot, and the rest were arrested. The incident was an embarrassment to the US and a victory to Castro.
Each of the "Great Powers" (US, GB, France, China, and USSR) holds a permanent seat on the Security Council. The remaining 10 seats are elected to 2-year terms by General Assembly. Each permanent member holds the power of veto. No action can go forth if any of the 5 objects.
The main body of the UN is called the General Assembly. Every member nation holds a seat in the General Assembly.
One factor that influenced the failure of the United States in Vietnam was the lack of public support. However, the notion that the war initially was prosecuted by the government against the wishes of the American people is false.
The notion that the vast majority of American youths took to the streets to end the Vietnam War is also false. Early initiatives by the US under Truman, Eisenhower, and JFK received broad support from the people.
To cement the cooperation that the western allies had shown during the war and immediate postwar years, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was created in April 1949.
The original pact operated on the basis of collective security - if any of the member states were attacked, all would retaliate together. Original NATO members included Britain, France, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Iceland, Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, and the US.
Between 1945 and 1954 a fierce war developed between France and Vietnam. The Viet Minh slowly wore down the French will to fight. On May 8, 1954, a large regiment of French troops was captured by the Vietnamese led by communist general Vo Nguyen Giap at Dien Bien Phu.
The rest of the French troops withdrew, leaving a buffer zone separating the North and South. Negotiations to end the conflict took place in Geneva. A multinational agreement divided Vietnam at the 17th parallel.
Territory north of 17th parallel would be led by Ho Chi Minh with Hanoi as its capital. The southern sector named Saigon its capital and Ngo Dinh Diem its leader.
This division was meant to be temporary, with nationwide elections scheduled for 1956. Knowing the Ho Chi Minh would be a sure victor, the South made sure these elections were never held.
Germany was to be de-Nazified and then democratized. A date would be agreed upon for the election of a new German government and withdrawal of all Allied Troops.
This process was executed in the Zones held by western Allies but in the eastern Soviet occupation zone, a puppet Communist regime was elected. There was no promise of repatriation with the west.
In the aftermath of WWII, Western Europe was devastated. The war ruined crop fields and destroyed infrastructure, leaving most of Europe in need. In 1947, Secretary of State George Marshall announced the European Recovery Program.
To avoid antagonizing the Soviet Union, Marshall announced that the purpose of sending aid to Western Europe was completely humanitarian, and even offered aid to the Communist states in the east. $17 billion over four years sent to Great Britain, France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium.
Dulles told China that any aggressive actions toward the islands would be met by force from the United States. Dulles hoped to avoid war by threatening war. The Chinese shelled the islands to save face, but no takeover occurred.
To the South, Communist revolutionary Ho Chi Minh successfully defeated the French colonial army to create the new nation of Vietnam. American commitment to the containment of Communism led to a protracted involvement that would become the Vietnam War.
Relinquishing Berlin to the Soviets would undermine the new doctrine of containment. If Berlin were compromised, the whole of West Germany might question the American commitment to German democracy. Truman decided they were going to stay.
Together with Britain, the US began moving massive amounts of food and supplies into West Berlin by the only path still open - the air. The USSR now had to choose between war and peace. Stalin refused to give the order to shoot down American planes.
American diplomats subscribed to the Domino Theory. Communist victory in Vietnam might lead to communist victories in Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
Truman decided to support France in its efforts to reclaim Indochina by providing money and military advisers.
New spirit of globalism was based in part on the widespread recognition of the failures of isolationism. The incarnation of this global sprit came to life with the establishment of the United Nations in 1945 with its headquarters located in NYC.
UN charter called for establishment of a Security Council, or "upper house". The Security council serves as the executive branch of the United Nations. It must authorize any actions, such as economic sanctions, use of force, or deployment of peacekeeping troops.
1st Red Scare (early 1920s)
US feared that Communism had infiltrated labor unions, society, etc. -suspected Communists were rounded up, arrested, deported, and prevented from immigrating to the US
In 1973, a ceasefire was reached. Nixon called the agreement "Peace with Honor" but he knew the South Vietnamese Army would have trouble maintaining control. North soon attacked South and in 1975 they captured Saigon.
Vietnam was united into one communist nation and Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City. Cambodia and Laos soon followed with communist regimes of their own.
Soon such governments, aided by the Soviet Red Army, came to power all across Eastern Europe. Stalin was determined to create a Buffer zone to prevent any future invasion of the Russian heartland.
Winston Churchill remarked in 1946 that an "iron curtain had descended across the continent"
When Jacobo Arbenz came to power in Guatemala, he promised to relieve the nation's impoverished farmers by seizing land held by the American-owned United Fruit Company and redistributing it to the peasants.
With the support of the American air power, a CIA-backed band of mercenaries overthrew Arbenz and established a military dictatorship.
Diplomacy seemed powerless to stop the economic dependence of the United States on the volatile Middle East for a steady supply of oil. Terrorists from this region and others threatened heads of state and ordinary citizens as terrorism was on the rise around the globe.
World watched in horror as Arab gunmen cut down eleven Israeli weightlifters at the 1972 Olympics in Munich.
Cold War
ideological struggle between US (democratic capitalism) and USSR (communism) for the hearts and minds of the 3rd world - never directly engaged in battle