Truman made some decisions that ultimately had a huge effect in the build up to the cold war. When plans were made for the division of power after WWII, Truman originally opposed America ganging up against Russia and said he would keep the agreements that were made with them. But Truman wanted to appear decisive and tough and he was not prepared to accept any deal if he could not get the majority of it his way. When Truman went to the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, he went there only to advance American Interest and he believed that the atomic bomb was the way to do this. Though this treat he was able to have his way at the Yalta conference.
Instead of the Détente, Reagan wished for a peace built by America’s economic and military power. Ronald Reagan’s policies were based on the ideologies of spreading freedom and democracy around the world to block the advancement on Soviet Communism. He promoted democracy and all its qualities to countries throughout the world including the Soviet Union. His peaceful policies significantly contributed to the end of the cold war. Reagan detested the oppression of Marxism-Leninism and in 1982 he gave a speech at the British parliament during which he expressed the hope that it would end up “on the ash heap of history”.
the Reagan Doctrine, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Mujahidin 4. Reagan used a policy of ‘militarised counter-revolution’ what does this mean? Policies implemented to undermine the forces of Communism. It was a much more aggressive strategy and included extensive re-arming. Strategy | Details of this strategy | Advantages of this strategy | Disadvantages of this strategy | Increasing nuclear arms | Increase military spending.
This would further enhance the policy of containment and would help to prevent the spread of communism into the west. The fact that Stalin was expanding communism into Eastern Europe forced the USA to increase its military spending in order to protect not only itself, but the rest of its western allies from communist threats. By expanding their military across Western Europe, the USA was gaining more and more power on a global scale. Again, the USSR would see this increase in military spending as an attack on communism and so in order to protect itself from yet another invasion, bearing in mind the fact that it had already been invaded twice in the last two years, they put forward ‘defensive’ measures towards the USA, for example the Berlin Blockade, which lead to the start of the Cold War. Moreover, by involving themselves in the Korean War, the USA was following through with its policy of containment by protecting South Korea from communist forces in the North.
However, the fact that in source B, when he says that the death of American soldiers is unacceptable, also fits with the economic and military adviser aid as he was not willing to use military force to uphold their independence even though in source A, he is very devout to protect their independence at all costs, which may have included military force. In addition, another main difference in the two sources is that source B states that Kennedy would have been willing to abandon Eisenhower’s Domino Theory and also his continuing aid to South Vietnam. Whereas source A shows that Kennedy was planning to continue his commitment and not let the Domino Theory occur. The similarities between the sources include the main idea of the Domino Theory as it suggests that their main reason for an increasing commitment to the country is the fear that the theory will come true and cause the widespread of Communism. This is shown in source A as he focuses directly on peace and maintaining independence instead of any other interests.
In his work, Fleming explained that if the Soviets wanted to attack the united states of America they had done it because they had all the necessary equipment but at that period the nation was more interested in its inner politics than conquering the world. Seeing the Soviet Union as its biggest threat and being afraid of the “Domino” effect, the American government decided to take actions by supporting the rebels in Latin America and countries that were gaining their independence in a hope that these societies will adopt the capitalist ideology. The decisions that the USA made where not always elaborated and in some cases they did more harm than good. Isolating the U.S.S.R from the world politics was
As President, Wilson had campaigned against corruption in politics and business. He concentrated on keeping the USA out of the war. Once the USA had joined the war, he drew up his Fourteen Point Plan as the basis for ending the war fairly, so that future wars could be avoided. Wilson wanted a 'fair and lasting peace', and he wanted the armed forces of all nations reduced, not just the losers, and a League of Nations created to ensure peace. His plan affected the Treaty of Versailles as some of the terms in that treaty came from Wilson’s Fourteen Points, including German troops leaving Russia and free trade between all countries.
Stalin’s view is supported by Admiral D Leahy, who in his memoirs writes ‘we had adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages’ This quote holds a substantial amount of weight to my argument due to Admiral D Leahy’s position as Roosevelt and Truman’s chief of staff, it would be expected for a man of such status to hold a view in support of America’s actions. Nevertheless, it is apparent that while Leahy may have condoned the dropping of the bomb to shorten the war, he would make no attempt to justify his country’s and his President’s actions. The moral implications were made apparent on the British mission to Hiroshima. Not only did the bombs claim the lives of over 200,000 civilians, the
He states that “For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed” then he tells the audience that the U.S. will “never fear to negotiate.” He states this in order to let the audience know that they want peace but are not afraid to negotiate with their enemies. The confident attitude of the President gives a serious tone to let the audience know that they plan to follow through with their statements. Kennedy ends his speech emphasizing the American people being united as one country. He suggests that America should be united together to make them stronger by asking the people to “join in the historic effort?” and also by saying to “ask what you can do for your
inland policy created on March 12, 1947 by President Harry S Truman. In his speech to Congress, Truman declared that the United States, as "leader of the free world", must support democracy worldwide and fight against communism. The approach was conceived with the help of George Marshall and Dean Acheson, two influential associates of Truman, which generalized his hopes for Greece and Turkey into a doctrine applicable throughout the world. The Soviet Union was clearly at the heart of Truman's thoughts, but it was never directly mentioned in his speech, Truman was attempting to solve Eastern Europe's instability while making sure that communism would not spread to nations like Greece and Turkey. “It is important to note that the Greek Government has asked for our aid in utilizing effectively the financial and other assistance we may give to Greece, and in improving its public administration.