Foreign Affairs: After WWII, how did the policy of containment affect the US foreign policy?

Question

the Cuba Missile Crisis, Korean and/or Vietname Way, Bay of Pirgs, of Cold Way.

Answer 1

The containment policy dictated most of the U.S. foreign policy. The U.S. had almost became paranoid of the spread of communism during the Cold War, that it pursued the containment policy no matter what the cost. It even came to the point where the U.S. had chosen to support coups, dictatorships, and corrupt governments in many third-world countries for the pursuit of this policy.

Answer 2

Policy Of Containment

Answer 3

Yes, yes they are foreign policies. I think containment would be a valid answer, but I'm just a little* iffy on that considering containment policy covers a very broad range of decisions. The thematic question asked for two foreign policy decisions*, so I'm not sure if the graders specifically wanted one single decision or if you could state a foreign policy like containment Yeah, I think that's fine. I guess it's okay if you touched upon it, but I don't think it's wise to go too much in depth into McCarthyism as that was more of a social domestic issue.

Answer 4

The policy of "containment" evolved out of the U.S. State Department's desire to halt the spread of Soviet-Communist influence around the world, beginning roughly around the time of the Berlin crisis in 1948. At the time, the Soviets were seen as attempting to subvert the socio-economic policies of Eastern European nations - a phenomenon dubbed the "Iron Curtain" by British statesman Winston Churchill. This was the unofficial start of the "Cold War" between East and West; the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
Soon, however, Soviet influence was seen to be spreading to other areas of the world - most notably in China, which officially adopted Communism in 1949. After "losing" China to the communists, U.S. poiticians were wary of being labeled as "soft" on the communist threat, and thus virtually every major U.S. foreign policy issue between 1949 and the collapse of the USSR in 1989 was viewed in terms of "containing" communism from spreading further. This was also known as the "Domino Theory" - that if one third world nation fell to the communists, other around it would follow suit.
In this light, it is interesting to speculate if the U.S. would have bothered to become involved in otherwise minor conflicts such as the Korean War in 1950, or the Vietnam War in the early 1960s, which ultimately became even more costly. Were it not for the perceived threat of communism in these areas, the U.S. might never have entered these conflicts.
As for Cuba, when it became communist in 1959, it presented an entirely different threat, due to the fact that it was only 90 miles off the U.S. coast. With Castro openly dealing with the Soviets, it was feared that the USSR would place nuclear weapons there, which could easily reach many U.S. population centers. Following the abortive attempt to covertly support an uprising against Castro at the Bay of Pigs in 1961, this fear came to pass in 1962, when it was discovered that the Soviets had, in fact, placed nuclear weapons in Cuba. Since the U.S.'s worst fears about the spreading of communism had thus come to pass in Cuba, the policy of containment was thereafter viewed as being both valid and essential to U.S. interests.

Answer 5

We would not be dealing with North Korea or Communist China today if it weren't for containment. We would have taken care of them in 1952/53.

Answer 6

Its just a chess game with the financiers playing both sides to fatten their wallets.