HIST 405N Week 7 Discussion: American Foreign Policy during the Cold War

HIST 405N Week 7 Discussion: American Foreign Policy during the Cold War Professor and Classmates, I have chosen to discuss the following three American Foreign policies: Marshall Plan Vietnam War (conflict) Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars) Before this week I knew nothing about these foreign policies except for the Vietnam War. So I have found researching them to be very interesting. Marshall Plan was created by President Harry S. Truman and Secretary of State, George C. Marshall. It was named after Marshall because he proposed it to congress. President Truman thought it would not only be a good political and economic move but also a philanthropic decision (Corbett & Janssen, 2019). During that time Western Europe was going through a devastating time and the communist were moving towards France and Italy (Corbett & Janssen, 2019). It was initiated in 1948 and ran till 1951 when it was terminated. This plan would financially aid in the European countries getting back on their feet economically (Corbett & Janssen, 2019). In order for these countries to receive the financial aid from the United States they would be held to certain stipulations. They would need to collaborate with each other in order to receive this aid. Over the course of the three years Europe would receive thirteen billion dollars in aid from the United States for their economic growth and the nations that accepted the financial assistance found themselves recovering (Corbett & Janssen, 2019). President Truman’s goal was to undercut the political approval of the French and Italian communist and discourage middle of the road citizens from forming a merger with them. The Soviet Union refused to accept any help from the United States as they had seen it as a bribe from them (Corbett & Janssen, 2019). America’s economy was increasing due to the money that the Europeans were spending. In 1949 there was a couple occurrences that made Americans feel as if there could be a chance that communism could cross into the borders of the United States. The initial incidence was when the Soviet Union detonated their first atomic bomb on August 29, 1949 (Corbett & Janssen, 2019). Later the Chinese government on October 1, 1949 conquered the Nationalist in a civil war that had been going on since 1927 (Corbett & Janssen, 2019). There were believed to be spies that leaked the bomb production secrets to the soviets. Because of this breach President Truman signed an executive order that would allow the FBI to investigate all federal employees to pinpoint any potential security threats. There were many reasons that caused the US to become involved in the Vietnam War (conflict). They wanted to help prevent the spread of communism among the Asian countries. North and South Vietnam were at war with each other and the threat of communism was a very large issue. The North Vietnam were communist whereas the South Vietnam was capitalist republic (BBC, 2019) and the United States was in fear that communism would be spread to the south Vietnam so they send supplies, money and military advisors to assist them (BBC, 2019). In 1964, the North Vietnamese attacked the US Navy in the Gulf of Tonkin and this was the justification that the United States needed to wage a war on North Vietnam. For nearly ten years the United States was at war with North Vietnam. This war didn’t sit well with the American people and there were many protests and riots during this war, the American people didn’t agree with the reason that the US was there. On April 29, 1975, President Nixon ordered that all US Troops and some South Vietnam refugees were to be evacuated by helicopter due to inability to use the airports, they were sent to ships that were off the coast (BBC, 2019). The next day the South Vietnamese surrendered to the North Vietnamese. The Vietnam War cost the United States more than 58,000 U.S. troops’ lives and a loss of consensus, confidence and moral high ground in the American political culture (Corbett & Janssen, 2019). The Strategic Defense Initiative or also known as Star War(after the movie) was proposed by President Ronald Reagan in 1983 and was for the development of a defense shield that would protect America from a missile strike from the Soviet Union (Corbett & Janssen, 2019). This was argued that if it was created it would violate an existing treaty that the United States had with the Soviet Union (Corbett & Janssen, 2019). SDI was never created but has been discussed over the last twenty years by presidents succeeding Reagan just under different names. Having a missile defense program is beneficial to the United States to protect us from any missile that would harm our country. I do feel that the United States needed to have fear of communism possibly coming across the globe to America. With the many countries that were communistic there is always a chance that they could try and overthrow our government. I believe that our presidents had the best interest of our people in their decisions to go to war with these other countries. References B