While the United States was nervous of Communism consuming the entire globe. President Eisenhower believed in the “domino effect”, meaning that if you fight and succeed in stopping communism in one country others are sure to rise, stand and follow suit. China became a communist country in 1949, therefore, the United States forked out 2 billion dollars to support anti-communism. The Truman Doctrine was written and put in to effect stating that the United States would do any and everything in its power to put an end to communism spreading to any further country. Following a victory over a battle with the French, North Vietnam in 1954, set ways into communism and in turn proceeded to try and reign over the now divided Southern Vietnam.
One example of Communist aggression by North Korea, was the act of actually invading South Korea unprovoked which subsequently prompted the reaction from the United Nations and the US in particular. Another example of aggression from these two Communist nations, was the armament of North Korea, which was aided considerably by Stalin who supported North Korea as they had mutual Communist beliefs. In February of 1950, Stalin provided equipment for an additional 60,000 North Korean troops, more tanks and other forms of assistance; this was a clear case of Communist aggression. A third case of Communist aggression was after the North Koreans occupied the South, they carried out the brutal slaughtering of approximately 26,000 civilians between July and September 1950. Communist aggression was the most important reason because without the original assault by North Korea there would’ve been no war, merely suspicion on the US’ part regarding Stalin and other Communist nations’ activities.
What changed the balance of power in the Cold War in August 1949? Mao established the People's Republic of China – Communist and Soviet got their first atomic bomb 3. What was the initial US attitude towards the fall of China to Communism? After the Communist party gained control of China, the American public was outraged. Truman's policy of containment (containing communism and not letting it spread to any more countries) had failed.
Why We Fight On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked upon American naval forces and air defenses at Pearl Harbor. This event gave Franklin Roosevelt the justification he needed to enter the United States in World War II. Other than that there were additional motivations for America’s entrance into the war. In 1931 Japanese invaded Manchuria. American had good relations with China so they told Japan if they don’t leave they will stop trading oil with them.
How accurate is it to say that Eisenhower and Kennedy must share responsibility for the escalation of US involvement in south-east Asia in the years 1954-63? Throughout their history the Vietnamese people suffered foreign interference and conquest. This began with the early French interest in the 17th century and by the late 19th century France had conquered Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, which were collectively known as French Indo-China. This French capture was highly supported by the US government. Harry Truman is an important figure in relation to Vietnam as it was him who made the decision to oppose communism throughout the world.
What did Churchill mean by the term ‘iron curtain’? With the USSR in control of East Germany and they also controlled most of Eastern Europe as well, Churchill came up with the term Iron Curtain. The Iron Curtain was the borderline between West Europe and East Europe. What reasons did Truman give (Source A) for his policy? Truman believes that the communist’s are using terrorist force on Greece and Turkey and therefore to protect Greece and Turkey from the communists the Truman Doctrine was invented.
One way he did this was with the Truman Doctrine. This policy is basically saying that the states should always help nations who are threatened by communism. During the cold war Truman wasn’t the only one fighting Communism; Churchill helped raise concern for the cause by giving his famous “Iron Curtain” speech in Missouri. The fight to stop communism over sees didn’t always involve bullets flying. When the allies split up Berlin for everyone to share as spoils of war Germany decided to cut off all of
In order to check the spread the President Used Troops in a little known country in Southeast Asia named South Korea. This fit in with the general idea of facing down communism anywhere around the world (Jervis, 1980). After this flair up of hostilities Truman and both of his successors were able to use the Power of the Presidency to the full extent. Eisenhower Worked mostly behind the scenes but welded the powers and kept the office Strong. Eisenhower’s successor John Kennedy Would Use these Powers to blockade Cuba when soviet missiles were found to be assembled on the
We joined forces with other nations in that effort, an effort that was mostly successful in Europe. Containment in East/Southeast Asia had one big success in Japan, but the war in Korea, losing China, and losing Vietnam in ’75 were major failures in containing communism. The Cold War was an era of major paranoia over a nuclear war and the spread of “red” throughout the world, and the U.S. leaders over that time period did their best to keep those bad things at
In 1961, after Kennedy was elected he recognized the problem. “Now we have a problem in making our power credible, and Vietnam is the place” (Nalty 76). America did not want Russia to have the ability to aid the Communist North without a defense brought by South Vietnam. It was not as much about the U.S. stopping North Vietnam per say, but rather America stopping the spread of Communism around the World. This was called by the U.S. as “The Domino Effect.” As former American President Eisenhower said, “You have a row of dominoes set up; you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is that it will go over very quickly” (Nalty 314).