The United States since Reconstruction
After the world had witnessed two massive wars, there was a need to create and foster peace among nations as a way of reconciling. The two wars led to the emergence of two world superpowers that were fighting to control European affairs as well as international relations. It led to mistrust hence deriving propaganda that would ensure that they achieve their various objectives. Increased divisions were crucial to the start of the war that was silent but based on ideological differences.
To begin with, the emergence of two superpowers, the United States of America and the Soviet Union (USSR) after the Second World War, much divided the whole world on ideological perspectives. The two superpowers divided countries into two blocks Eastern and Western hence creating tension and suspicion among countries. The Soviet Union was eager to play an essential role in post-war economic and political healing. Stalin was not aware of the political game that was being planned by the United States and Great Britain on their view on economic and political change (Minkova, pg.27). They developed propaganda based on the political and economic ideologies of their respective allies. Communistic view of the USSR and the capitalistic view of the USA created a mountain of mistrust among nations that were allied on their separate blocs. This tension, coupled with the urge between the two superpowers to control European affairs and international relations, led to the emergence of the cold war.
Growth and establishment of the cold war in America emanated from various political threats that were being posed by the Soviet Union. President Harry Truman was very influential in the spread of the cold war in America. A great critique of communism, Truman was much concerned by the fast growth of communism in European countries and had to find a way of counter-attacking. Truman was not happy with Stalin’s action of installing a communist government in Poland. They differed at the Potsdam conference about Stalin’s demand to have more substantial compensations from Germany. With the Truman doctrine and the Marshall plan, he aimed to counter-attack communistic influence by offering financial aid to countries to improve their ailing economies. Increased tension between the Soviet Union and the USA led to the rejection of the plan by the Soviet Union (Stephanson, par.7). Truman’s plan was a propaganda that was laid down by his secretary of state, George Marshall, to weaken communism’s influence in European affairs.
Collapsing economies and unstable democracies started to hit Western European countries, especially after the Second World War. The states were divided and did not find the best way to recover after the war. The Soviet Union took this advantage to spread the idea of communism. As a result, the United States of America felt that the spread of communism could destabilize the countries and thus had to find a way of stopping the spread of communism. They, therefore, developed containment policy, which was first developed by George Kennan in the “Long Telegram” and later adopted by President Harry Truman. It changed American foreign policy as that which supports free people who should not be forced to unwanted control (Hickman, par.5). The policy, therefore, shows how it became desperate to end communism. The impact of communism and the rate at which it was spreading was alarming to the extent that all possible situations were to be looked at to counter it. Containment policy, thus, shows how fearful the activities of the Soviet Union were shaping the world political view. American involvement in the Vietnam War and the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) shows how fearful they were to communism. American agreement to help both Greece and Turkey during their civil wars shows how fearful they were on the communist influence because they did not want the Soviet Union to be involved.
In a nutshell, increased tensions among the USA and the USSR led to divisions in Europe that resulted in mistrust hence leading to the start of the cold war. However, it is the role that President Truman played that shaped the growth of the cold war in America. His famous Truman’s Doctrine was pivotal in containing the spread of communism in Europe. The containment policy portrays how fearful it was to see the spread of communism; thus, all efforts had to be done to counter check on its spread.
Work Cited
Hickman, K. (2019).The History of Containment Policy: George Kennan and American Foreign Policy During the Cold War. Accessed May 2020.
Minkova, K (2017).The Economic Roots of the Cold War: The IMF, ITO, and other Economic Issues in Post-War Soviet American Relations. Journal of Global Initiatives vol.12, No.1, 2017, pp.18-31.Accessed May 2020.
Stephanson, Anders.” Understanding And Teaching The Cold War”. Journal of the American History, vol.104.no.4, 2018.pp.994-994.Oxford University Press (OUP), doi:10.1093/jahist/jaxi435.Accessed May 2020.