The US felt they had no other choice but to act on their policy of containment and fear of the Domino Theory. The Vietnam War also brought about worries of the Domino Theory, as communism was already present in the North, and so they wished to prevent it from spreading to neighboring countries e.g. Laos and Cambodia and evidently also the South. This is the main reason as to why the Americans began to become involved in the Vietnam War. Therefore, the Vietnam War can be said to be part of the Cold War due to the Americans acting upon their policy of containment and fear of the Domino Theory.
JFK did what he could to ease the tension between the two nations. America removed missiles from Turkey, therefore the soviets removed their missiles from Cuba. What are the implications to the more recent interpretation of international politics? What makes a leader a strong leader? A leader that’s strong doesn’t necessary have to and or want to go to war all the time.
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.
Meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Security Council.” National Security Council Executive Committee (EXCOMM) Meeting, 10:10AM, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, White House Photographs. archive1.jfklibrary.org/JFKWHP/1962/Month%2010/Day%2029/JFKWHP-1962-10-29-A/JFKWHP-ST-A26-1-62_lres.jpg. President Kennedy is conducting a meeting about Cuban crisis with the Executive Committee of the National Security Council in this picture. Video Caro, Robert. “JFK and Crisis: The Cuban Missile Crisis.” PBS.
Stalin's foreign policies contributed an enormous amount to the tensions of the Cold War. His aim, to take advantage of the military situation in post-war Europe to strengthen Russian influence, was perceived to be a threat to the Americans. Stalin was highly effective in his goal to gain territory, with victories in Poland, Romania, and Finland. To the western world, this success looked as if it were the beginning of serious Russian aggressions. The western view of the time saw Stalin as doing one of two things: either continuing the expansionist policies of the tsars, or worse, spreading communism across the world now that his one-state notion had been fulfilled.
This was also problematic because in 1981, Sandinista-supported Marxist guerrillas launched an offensive against the government of El Salvador, which was pro-American (Russell, 2010). The President Reagan did not want to see the Soviet Union’s communist influence grow more than it already had, which propelled him into action. What came from this fear of the spread of communism is what we now know as the “Reagan Doctrine”. According to the Historian’s Office at the U.S. Department of State, The “Reagan Doctrine” was the policy of supporting anti-Communist insurgents wherever
The real lesson that the Vietnam experience teaches is that skilled decision makers with good intentions, bright strategic minds, and effective politicians can sometimes be wrong. The sooner the people will understand this the better possibility they have, in order not to repeat the same mistakes. The two United States Presidents that placed the country deeply in the "morass" of Vietnam were John F. Kennedy and Lyndon A. Johnson. They were the leaders of the United States during the most crucial years of the Vietnam war (1961-68). Many of the people who have studied this period come to the conclusion that Johnson's Vietnam policy resembled, more or less, that of Kennedy.
Cuban Missile Crisis compared to the Cold War- History John F. Kennedy, president of the United States from January 20, 1961 to November 22, 1963 is confronted to a major issue in 1962 involving Cuba, The USSR and the USA. This text will evaluate this issue which they call : The 'gravest issues’ and compare it to the Cold War. For some time, the Soviets had been sending weaponry and war aircrafts to Cuba that was at the time leaded by Fidel Castro in a communist government. Therefore, because the United States were very busy with their November Congregassion Elections, Kennedy did not take action on the situation but sent warning to the Soviets asking them to stop sending missilery. On October 16, 1962, the US received photos of Cuba taken from planes that showed soviets working with nuclear missiles in Cuba.
Retrieved 09062011 from: http://www.civildefensemuseum.com/ Cold War. (2011). The History Channel website. Retrieved September 09022011, from http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war. Cold War 1945-1960 (n.d.).Retrieved 09032011 from: http://www.funfront.net/hist/europe/coldwar.htm Cold War: The Iron Curtain and Containment.(2007).
v. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, et al. (2004). Retrieved October 10, 2014 from http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=000&invol=03-6696 Howe, Z. (2014). DETAINMENT POWER: THE LIMITS OF THE PRESIDENT'S POWER TO SUSPEND HABEAS CORPUS DURING MILITARY CONFLICTS.