American Policy War
In defining the doctrine of containment and its consequences on American foreign policy in the post-World War II period. Starts with president Truman in March 12, 1947 the Soviet Unions expansion attempts, and communism. Then it ends with the Vietnam War ending April 30, 1975. The Truman doctrine was objectively aimed at the problem of communism and any attempts to spread communism. And it stated the U.S. would lend support to the nation states of Greece and Turkey economically and militarily to prevent their falling under Soviet control. President Truman also called upon the United States to fully support free peoples of the world, who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures, so conflicts like the Korean War, Vietnam War and the Cuban missiles crisis are direct results of the doctrine that Truman created. Other consequences are the red scare, and the Bay of Pigs in 1961 in April 17. And by the end containment had indirectly caused the lost of 58,000 American life’s. America spent more money on guns then poverty, and became the world’s only hegemonic power with the collapse of the Soviet Union.Get help with your essay from our expert essay writers...
Get your grade
or your money back
using our Essay Writing Service!
The United States doctrine of containment was to solely deal with the Spread of Communism and the Soviet Union. It started with the Second World War and went all the way thru till the Vietnam and completely after the fall of the Soviet Union. And after the United States decided to support Greece and turkey to prevent their fall into Soviet control. America had accepted that communism existed but will not allow it to spread to other parts of the world. The conflict now was over democracy and freedom and what the U.S wanted to project to the world. The United States was positioning itself to be a world super power, and they needed to have access and control key places in the world. Our plan was to help strengthen Europe as a counter to the Soviet Union.
Domestically, the United States had to deal with the “Red Scare” in the 50’s and anti communism was on everyone’s mind. During this period American politics was driven by the fear of communism spreading across the world. McCarthy was running around using scare methods to oppose his political opponents. People were put in jail for being suspicious of being a communist. This was a paranoid period in American history that directly and indirectly leads to many wars including the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Bay of Pigs. Various home effects resulted from the approach of containment. First off the U.S government extended extra bureaucracies to deal with a larger insight of the world. And new organizations were created such as the National Security Agency. This improvement saw the movement away from professional diplomats toward more political arrangements. Another effect was the anti-communist panic. The fifties saw the rise of Senator Joseph McCarthy, who led the nation in bashing leftists, and blacklisting innocent people. And he called for a tougher foreign policy. A final effect was inside the universities. The social sciences received grants to develop new strategies, such as game theory, and new strategic study think tanks such as the RAND Corporation.
Consequences of the period were of course war, but poverty levels grew and the country was spending more money on guns than feeding its own people. This just goes to show that the security of the country out ways hungry people. And after the Vietnam War the U.S policy of containment was very much discredited. The important wars of the period that were directly and indirectly from the containment doctrine were the Korean Wars, Vietnam War and the Cuban missiles crisis are direct results of the doctrine that Truman created. Other consequences are the Red Scare and the Bay of Pigs in 1961 in April 17. The Korean War was the North Koreans and communism versus the South Koreans who wanted freedom. And the United States intervened on the side of South Korea. The United States policy of protecting and coming to the aid of free people brought them into the war. The Vietnam War followed along the same lines but they wanted to keep Vietnam out of the hands of communism so they backed the puppet French government. The Bay of Pigs was a major consequence and ended with the communist remaining in power and many Cuban exiles being slaughtered on the beach like pigs, thus the name Bay of Pigs. But it was because of the policy the United States pursued that these conflicts happened. And the last major event was the Cuban missile crisis and when the Soviets were trying to put nuclear weapons in cube close to the United States as a counter to us placement of missiles in Turkey.
Always on Time
Marked to Standard
So to conclude, the U.S approach can be deemed a triumph over a period of time, since the Soviet Union’s forays into a world power that drained away its power; that contending with the U.S wore it out entirely at the end. So one would more likely determine that containment was in fact a very dangerous policy. This positioned the planet on the edge of nuclear holocaust over non-essential interests. It also spawned an unrealistic American policy to the rest of the world, making it support atrocious dictatorships simply because they were anti-communist. The risks and expenses of the implemented policy of containment were far too high compared to the comparative gains. The reaction to Communism and the American containment policy caused many lives were lost during this period and the Korean, and Vietnam wars were both a result of the policy along with the bay of pigs and the Cuban missile crisis.
The Interstate Highway act of 1956 was the start of the super highways to link states and help traffic move smoothly and efficiently. And was very important because before this act was passed super highways didn’t exist and the highways were congested in America and had a need for this since it was first lobbied for in 1921 by automobile makers and President D. Eisenhower.
This period in history was a booming period and America was becoming a world power and a highly industrialized country were travel was essential and the wave of the future as cars got better. It was needed to link states nation wide and allow goods to flow and make it very easy to get thru states by skipping the main highways that are in the cities.
The impact of the act was that it really opened up transportation. And to this day will still benefit from the creation of super highways, because traffic is not as bad as it would be if the major interstates were not in place. Other uses of the interstate highways were that it also improved the mobility of military troops to and from airports, seaports, rail terminals and other military bases. Another key impact is the system being able to be used to facilitate major evacuations in the face of hurricanes and other natural disasters. It’s key to remember that what makes a highway a interstate highway is because it’s funded federally with the money that is shared among states.
In the end the interstates are a sign of the times and show how technology causes you to adapt and improve were improvement is needed. From a period of small highways that didn’t cross state lines to intestate highways across the United States. And the many uses that it created have saved many lives and made many more a lot easier, or at least while you’re riding on an interstate highway.
Senator Joe McCarthy republican from Wisconsin beginning in 1950 was the public face of intense anti-communist suspicion inspired by the Cold War. Senator McCarthy was born on November 14 1908 and lived until his untimely death may 2, 1957. He was noted for making claims that there were large numbers of Communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers inside of the United States federal government.
The significance of this period was that at this time many Americans went thru the “Red Scare” and the anti communist. It was a period after the Second World War and many people were afraid of communism and what it meant. McCarthy really put himself out there as a staunch anticommunist American who wanted the people to know that the federal government had been infiltrated by communists.
McCarthy was used scare methods to oppose his political opponents, and kept this up until his death. McCarthy and Truman clashed many a times and more times than not Truman ended up on the wrong side of McCarthy. He was a no games straight to the point loose mouth politician from the Midwest who changed history and had a major impact on this period.
McCarthy had major Impacts like the coined term “McCarthyism” which is the act of publicly making accusations of political disloyalty with insufficient regard to the evidence. And he is remembered for his four year run in where he demagogically crusaded to get rid of alleged communists and spies in American public life. But McCarthy was consequently censured by his social group in the Senate and ended up late in his life as a broken and discredited figure in America. And it’s worth mentioning in my conclusion that during the wartime Alien Registration Act of 1940 was the foundation for McCarthyism. This act required that all aliens over the age of 14 residing in the United States register with the American government.
This Essay is
a Student's Work
This essay has been submitted by a student. This is not an example of the work written by our professional essay writers.Examples of our work
Betty Friedan was born on February 4, 1921 in Peoria, Illinois. And she was given the name at birth of Betty Naomi Goldstein. She graduated summa cum laude from Smith College in 1942. While she was young she was involved in some radical Jewish and Marxist circles. She was an American feminist, activist and writer, and really ushered in the second wave of feminism.
During the period of her life woman had rights and more liberty’s but were not as free as today by far. And it’s the women like Betty Friedan who stood up for women during this period. Remember that this was a time in which women were expected to act a certain way dress a certain way and were second to men.
Her major impact was the publication of the, The Feminine Mystique. Published in 1963, it depicted the roles of women in industrial societies, especially the full-time homemaker role, which Friedan deemed basically unacceptable. Friedan also speaks of her personal terror of being alone. She observes in her life never once seeing a positive female role model who worked, as well as kept a family. She provided a numerous account of housewives who felt trapped. And it’s important to note that with her psychology background, Friedan also critiqued Freud's penis envy theory. Noting that there were a lot of paradoxes in his work, and she attempts to offer some solutions to women who wished to pursue an education. Her being a women a challenging a highly respected theorist in Freud was monumental not for the fact that she did it but the thought and counters she brought forward. And over her life she published many more books that really showed that she cared for women and what they encounter on a daily basis.