Jockeying for Political Advantages
Containment was a United States policy made to find strategies to prevent the spread of communism. This policy was a response to the Soviet Union's actions to enlarge its communist sphere in Eastern Europe, China, Korea, and Vietnam.
The doctrine was articulated in a 1946 cable by United States diplomat, George F. Kennan. The containment is associated most strongly with the policies of United States President Harry Truman including the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). President Dwight Eisenhower attempted to make changes to the rival doctrine of rollback, he refused to get involved the Hungarian Uprising of 1956. President Lyndon Johnson cited containment as a justification for his policies in Vietnam. President Richard Nixon, working with his top advisor Henry Kissinger, rejected containment in favor of friendly relations with the Soviet Union and China; this détente, or relaxation of tensions, involved expanded trade and cultural contacts.
President Jimmy Carter emphasized human rights rather than anti-communism, but dropped and returned to containment when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979. President Ronald Reagan denouncing the Soviet state as an "evil empire", escalated the Cold War and promoted rollback in Nicaragua and Afghanistan. Central programs begun under containment, including NATO and nuclear deterrence, remained in effect even after the end of the war.
The doctrine was articulated in a 1946 cable by United States diplomat, George F. Kennan. The containment is associated most strongly with the policies of United States President Harry Truman including the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). President Dwight Eisenhower attempted to make changes to the rival doctrine of rollback, he refused to get involved the Hungarian Uprising of 1956. President Lyndon Johnson cited containment as a justification for his policies in Vietnam. President Richard Nixon, working with his top advisor Henry Kissinger, rejected containment in favor of friendly relations with the Soviet Union and China; this détente, or relaxation of tensions, involved expanded trade and cultural contacts.
President Jimmy Carter emphasized human rights rather than anti-communism, but dropped and returned to containment when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979. President Ronald Reagan denouncing the Soviet state as an "evil empire", escalated the Cold War and promoted rollback in Nicaragua and Afghanistan. Central programs begun under containment, including NATO and nuclear deterrence, remained in effect even after the end of the war.