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Cold War Containment

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From 1945-1991, United Sates foreign relations were chiefly guided by containment and its philosophy. Where as strategic action would be taken to stop the spread of communism. Devised by George Keenan and adopted by Harry Truman, containment was created during the Cold War to stop the spread of Soviet influence, and communist rule. Examples of this doctrine are the war in Vietnam, Korea, Iran, and other countries where democracy seeking countries were looking for U.S support over communist governments. Although containment was heavily influenced within the U.S foreign relations principles, there are a few examples where U.S policy was not guided by Cold War thinking. The first example comes from negotiations between the U.S and Russia, called …show more content…
This was a time when anti war protest were popular, as many believed we were fighting wars that were out of our hands, and internal conflict within the country were more important. Nixon explains that the answer to America’s current crisis is a “complete reappraisal of America’s policies in every section of the world” (I&J, p. 169). Nixon’s philosophy was certainly taking a step away from the traditional containment policies; a step many thought was a long time coming. Nixon goes on to claim his first priority is to end the war in Vietnam, which was a war we were fighting against Communism, and it many peoples eyes loosing. The biggest punch Nixon throws at containment comes when he says, “to the leaders of the Communist world we say, after an era of confutation, the time has come for an era negotiations” (I&J, p. 169). Nixon’s progressiveness would be unnerving for many pro containment officials, but, nevertheless would prove to be a guiding principle in a new era U.S foreign …show more content…
He claims that our nation has reached it limits, and can no longer police and solve all global issues. Indirectly saying, that we should no longer exhaust our resources fighting wars on communism. Carter claims we have been fighting fire with fire, an approach that failed in Vietnam. “Without uttering the word “containment” Carter distanced himself form the policy that had guided American diplomacy during the Cold War” (Brands, p. 200). Carter rejection of Cold War policy was followed by him hiring Andrew Young as American Ambassador, while also cutting back aid to countries like Argentina, Chile, and Nicaragua. Its clear President Carter was rejecting the philosophy of containment, as he was more focused on human rights, than stopping the spread communism (Brands, p.

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