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Transcript

Containment During the Cold War

by Trinity Tran and Sydney Le

Period 4

Truman Doctrine

Cuban Missile Crisis

Iran-Contra Affair

NATO

Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty

The Truman Doctrine was developed in 1947 and was carried out until 1950. Congress passed the policy, deciding it was essential in containing Soviet influence. It allowed the US to support nations resisting "attempted subjugation" (textbook, 606).

The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was ratified by the UK, US, Soviet Union, and multiple other countries in 1970. Essentially, the treaty aimed to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons/technology and to pursue a role of peace and disarmament rather than a potential nuclear holocaust. This is an example of containment due to the fact that peace is the goal of this treaty. May a communist country obtain nuclear weapons or technology, according to the treaty, the weapons must be confiscated.

The Cuban Missile took place from October 16-28 in 1962. The crisis happened between the US and the USSR. The US had failed to overthrow the Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro, during the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Afterwards, Castro allowed for the construction of Soviet missile sites to be built within Cuba to deter any sort of future invasion. In order to resolve this crisis, US President John F. Kennedy and Soviet Leader Nikita Khrushchev came to a resolution: the Soviet Union would repeal their Cuban missile sites if and only if the US abolished their missile sites in Turkey. Ultimately, both sides agreed to this proposal and both missile sites were taken down. This is an example of containment because the US got involved in order to avoid a potential nuclear holocaust caused by communist leaders.

NATO stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Made in a response to the spread of communism, the purpose of NATO is to maintain peace throughout the world through political and military means. The organization was established in 1949 and was founded by 12 countries, the main ones being France, US, Luxembourg, Denmark, Belgium and Canada.

NATO is a form of containment because the organization vows to safeguard any allied country from communism. An attack on any one NATO-involved country is an attack on them all.

The Iran-Contra Affair happened from August 1980-March 1987 during President Ronald Reagan's term. The events that took place were not approved by Congress and were done illegally by Reagan, the CIA, and other individuals. During this time, Sandinistas had overthrown Somoza, the Nicaraguan president at the time. Reagan then orders the overthrowing of Sandidistas by using the Contras. His plan was to sell weapons to Iran in return, the US would receive the release of hostages and the money from the weapons would be given to the Contras to overthrow the Sandidistas. Containment was displayed in this scandal, however, because Reagan had attempted to restrain the flow of communism. Despite being unethical, it was an attempt at containment nonetheless.

$400 million was sent to Turkey and Greece to help them resist Communism control.

1960

1950

1970

1980

1940

Coup D'etat in Chile

Chinese civil War

The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI)

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

The Korean War

After World War II, civil war resumed in China and lasted from 1945-1949. Chinese Nationalists fought against Chinese Communists.

The SDI was a program created in March 23, 1983 and developed anti-ballistic missile systems to prevent enemy missile attacks. It was a defensive mechanism against future Soviet Union aggression regarding communism (coldwar.org).

In the 1970s, socialist Salvador Allende Gossens was elected president and promised equality between the rich and the working class. Not wanting a socialist nation in Latin American, Nixon disapproved of Allende and ordered the CIA to overthrow him with a military coup (coldwar.org). Over the course of the next three years, the CIA ran propaganda against Allende.

The Korean War lasted from 1950-1953. Under the support of the Soviet Union and China, North Korea invaded South Korea, prompting the South to call for assistance from the UN.

On August 4, 1964, the USS Maddox was allegedly fired at by a North Vietnamese patrol boat at the gulf of Tonkin, despite the weather lowering the visibility rates.

The US sent military and financial support to the Nationalists in hopes of keeping communism contained in the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, the Communists won and the Nationalists fled to Taiwan, an island off the coast of China (textbook, 610).

Because of how expensive the program would cost, the US trashed the SDI. Some Americans also viewed the program as unrealistic and called the SDI "star wars" (coldwar.org).

President Truman sent troops in support of South Korea, a democratic capitalist nation, because the US wanted to prevent communism from spreading (textbook, 611).

Fortunately for Nixon, the CIA didn't have to do all the work. Chilean civilians also disagreed with their president, protesting Allende's failure to fix inflation. In 1973, the Chilean military stormed Allende's palace and killed him, successfully overthrowing the now ex-president (coldwar.org).

President Johnson saw the "attack" as an opportunity to provide military support to the South Vietnamese, who were capitalists fighting communists. On Aug. 7, the Tonkin Gulf Resolution was adopted, allowing the US to deploy soldiers in Vietnam to prevent "further aggression" and to keep communism from spreading to Vietnam (textbook 735).

Sources

Websites

  • http://www.coldwar.org/articles/70s/CoupinChile1973.asp
  • http://www.coldwar.org/articles/80s/SDI-StarWars.asp
  • https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/cuban-missile-crisis
  • https://www.iaea.org/publications/documents/treaties/npt

Textbook

  • page 606
  • page 610
  • page 611
  • page 735
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