Why did America only help out some country's that were under communist control?

Question

My grandpa came over from Hungary during the start of the first unsuccessful Hungarian revolution. Recently my dad was telling me about the Russians control over Hungary and other countrys and how cruel the Soviets treated them and the concentration camps. My great grandpa also died in a concentration camp. I was just wondering is there a reason why America helped out the jews and helped get rid of Hitler but they couldn't bother to help the other countries like Hungary. Especially after Hungary asked for Americas help? Please help me understand!

Hungary was under Soviet Control from 1945 till 1990 not just during WWII

Answer 1

At the end of world war two the American people were growing war weary. Many German officers would ask their American and British captors to join them in war against the Russians. Many people conveniently ignore the raping and murdering which occured after Soviet troops took a German city. There is a woman who emigrated to my town to avoid the oncoming Russians, her last memory of home was being given a suitcase and being told to flee until she found the Americans. True story.

My point is, politics played a major role in the way world war two, and thereby the cold war, played out. American forces stalled in order to give the Soviets the chance of reaching Berlin first. Eisenhower tried playing politician at times and was simply manipulated, along with Truman, by the shrewed and brilliant, in his own demented way, Joseph Stalin. A war with Russia wouldn't have sold bac home, and EIsenhower and Truman wanted to remain popular with the masses of American voters.

Germany even offered to surrender to America, Britan and France if they could retain the right to continue war with Russia; this was after the death of Adolf Hitler. Part of the reason for the Battle of the Bulge was to force a truce in the west in order throw the entire German army at the Soviet troops. The Soviets were no better than the S.S. in many case, and worse in others.

Politics, and fear of a massive war were some of the leading reasons why the USA did nothing to help Hungary, or Poland, or Estonia, or Czechoslovakia. It would have cost Truman and Eisenhower to much support to begin fighting with the Germans against the Soviets. Patton wanted to do this, but was more or less shunned when it came to his idea about pushing the Soviets back to their borders. America could have done it, remember, immediately after WW2 we were the only nuclear power in the world, and we had better aircraft and the new Pershing tank, superior to anything the Soviets had in nearly all respects.

Even into the 50's it would have been possible to fight for Hungary and win a possibly nuclear war with the Soviets, no ballistic missiles yet, just bombers which the Soviets knew would be shot down over Canada. The reason this never happened, even when the Hungarians initially freed themselves in some places, was simply because the war would have been devastating in terms of money lives, and voter support. Politics and a cautious mentality prevented this from ever happening. Once ballistic missiles came around it would have led to nuclear holocaust if the US and NATO had attempted to free Hungary from the Soviets and its puppet leadership.

Freeing Hungary from the Soviets would initially have been a tough sell, afterall backing are enemy and fighting with him against someone we armed and supplied earlier. American GI's sent to train for the invasion of Japan were confused enough why they had to continue fighting when Germany had surrendered. Imagine trying to sell the idea that Germans are now are friends and allies aginst the Soviets who are no longer friends.

Next comes a full scale war to free Hungary if an attack was launched in the late 40's. If a war was launched in the 50's it would have meant a Total War between the world's most power nations and their allies. If a war was launched after the introduction of ballistic missiles it would have risked armageddon.

Answer 2

Familiar with the concept of Mutually Assured Destruction?

Also, hungary was the FIRST modern country to pass anti-semetic laws. It's hardly as though germany overtook the country and forced that much on it, the "numerous clauses" were in place in the 1920s restricting jews rights.

(the soviets also had nuclear missiles until 1990 (or really the present).) it's not really like the big bad germans took it and turned it into the place it was.

Also hungary was a communist satillite state and not actually part of the soviet union. Not to mention that brief 2 year period in the 1940's where they WERE a democracy...Then their own "revolution" like 10 years later.

in the 1980s they started moving back towards democracy...so hungary was a democracy like half the time in between and it's landlocked by a huge powerhouse of communism...

It's fully landlocked by Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. Do you really think any of those countries would like it to be a democracy...do you think any would have let US troops try to turn it into one?...

Answer 3

If you want to see how cruel the Soviets really were, you need to study Russian history, not Hungarian one. Hungarians actually got off easy compared to what happened in Russia in 1933, then in 1937, and then again in 1948...

But back to your question... First of all, when it comes to foreign policy, there is no such thing as "America". There is a very small group of decision makers: the president, the relevant cabinet members, senior civil servants from relevant departments and possibly influential congressmen sitting on relevant committees. "America" doesn't decide anything; the president does, usually based on recommendations from other above-mentioned individuals, which he is nevertheless free to ignore. So why did Hungary receive no help when it asked? For the same reason Czechoslovakia received none in 1938 in the wake of its occupation by Nazi Germany; the decision makers decided that the cost of war would outweigh its benefits.

Further, the U.S. did not "help out the Jews" as you claim; in fact, it resisted Jewish immigration for decades. The Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1922, which, with some modifications, is still on the books today, was passed largely to curb the Jewish (and Italian) immigration. In 1930s, the U.S. repeatedly refused asylum to German, Austrian, and Polish Jews who claimed they were being persecuted by German authorities (death camps, according to the U.S. government at the time, were exaggerated rumors). Influential Nazi sympatizers in the U.S. included Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh. The Bush family was selling Hitler's bonds to U.S. investors...

Answer 4

I'm not sure you have a complete and accurate understanding of what happened during WWII. At first, America (The United States of America, that is) was only aiding in the war indirectly. We sold them guns and tanks and sent them soldiers now and then, but we didn't fight.

When we finally did join the fight openly, thanks to the Pearl Harbor attack, we were fighting a war on 2 fronts. We were super busy with the wars we were fighting. Fighting Russia, until they dropped out of the war, was part of that fight.

So, in essence, we were helping Hungary as much as we were anyone else.

Answer 5

That would have meant a full-scale war with the Soviet Union. The countries of Eastern Europe were under direct Soviet protection/control, so any US intervention in Budapest would have been akin to intervention in Moscow. And given the political climate of the time, it is quite likely that any such conflict would have led to the use of nuclear warheads. That would have made the situation much, much worse for the entire world.

The US fought communism everywhere it arose that wasn't under direct Soviet protection (except China), namely Vietnam and Korea.

Answer 6

First, America did not initially assist the Jews during WWII...in fact we blocked a great many from emigrating.

It was the politics of the time period.....we were more Isolationists.

Answer 7

don know
cause GI joe was readin guns n ammo in the potty