USA Foreign Policy

• Leaving Cert History

• Revision Presentation

• Dictatorship and Democracy 1919-1945

USA Foreign Policy

• The Cold War 1945-1972

• Decline of Cold War Certainties 1973-1989

Potsdam July 1945

• Germany & Austria divided in 4 zones• Nazis to be tried for crimes• Transfer of land from Germany to

Poland• Russian support against Japan• Successful atomic test• Atomic bomb raised tensions

Easter Europe • Stalin worried about invasion• Establish buffer zone• Communist regimes in East

Germany, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Albania, Romania, Czechoslovakia

USA response

• Growing concern about spread of communism

• Churchill – Iron Curtain speech• Increased support for French & Italian

Communist Parties• Civil War in Greece – US send military

supplies• Truman Doctrine• Marshall Plan

Truman Doctrine • March 1947 – Aid to Greece and

Turkey• America ‘would support free

peoples who are resisting subjugation by armed minorities’

• Policy of ‘containment’• Direct military support for anti-

communist governments around the world

Marshall Plan

• Economic recovery in Europe key to stopping the spread of communism

• Massive economic aid to Europe – particularly Germany

• Stalin told Eastern European countries not to accept money

• German recovery triggered economic growth

Berlin Blockade • City divided in 4 zones• Deep in East Germany• Marshall Plan led to new currency –

Deutschmark – triggered crisis• Stalin orders blockade of Berlin• Twenty mile air corridor• Operation Vittles – massive airlift• Blockade lasts 320 days• Stalin ends blockade – Berlin centre

of Cold War

Results of Crisis

• USA, Canada and most of Western Europe form NATO

• Division of Germany now permanent – new West Germany and Russian controlled East Germany

• Communist countries form Warsaw Pact in 1955 when West Germany joins NATO

• Cold War now dominant – USA and USSR enemies – crisis could lead to war.

McCarthy Witch-hunts • ‘Are you or have you ever been a member of

the Communist Party?’• Anti-Communist campaign• Federal Employee Loyalty Programme – root

out communists among government employees

• House Un-American Activities Committee • Hollywood – Charlie Chaplin, Paul Robeson and

Arthur Miller• McCarthy prominence 1950 – Republicans used

him to undermine Truman – supported by FBI• McCarthy discredited when he accused the

army of harbouring communists

Korean War 1950-1953 • Korea divided after WW2 – Russia

controlled the North – USA controlled the South – 38th Parallel

• North Korea invades in June 1950• North takes control of most of the

country• After the ‘loss’ of China (Mao in 1949)

Truman’s view that loss of Korea would be a blow to US prestige

• USA used the USSR boycott of the UN to condemn the North Korea invasion

• A UN force (mostly from USA) sent to Korea under General MacArthur

• North Korean forces pushed almost to border with China

• China intervenes and pushes back South• MacArthur criticises Truman and is sacked• Stalemate results – Stalin dies in 1953

and a DMZ established at 38th Parallel – ‘containment’ success

• Massive increase in defence spending• Unpopular war and Truman does not

stand for re-election

Korean War 1950-1953

Eisenhower

• Elected President 1952• Stalin dies 1953 – replaced by

Khrushchev• Hungarian Uprising 1956• US does not intervene• Hungary in USSR’s ‘sphere of

influence’• Eisenhower pursues diplomacy –

refuses to increase military spending

Divisions over Berlin • As West Germany prospered – East Germany

remains poor• Thousands of Germans move to West Berlin• Khrushchev pressurises West to give up

Berlin• Eisenhower refuses• Kennedy replaces Eisenhower in 1960• Vienna Summit June 1961 – Khrushchev tries

to bully Kennedy• In effort to stop refugees East Germany

builds ‘Berlin Wall’• Eases crisis – becomes symbol for East-West

divisions

Cuba • Castro’s forces overthrow dictator

Batista in 1959• Castro approaches USA for support –

turns to USSR when rejected by USA• USA imposes trade embargo• Kennedy assists anti-Castro Cubans• Bay of Pigs invasion• Castro declares Cuba ‘socialist’

Cuban Missile Crisis • USSR secretly begins building missile bases in

Cuba• CIA notice increase in Russian ships to Cuba• Spy planes take photos of missile bases• Kennedy decides to blockade Cuba• US forces placed on alert• Kennedy press conference to tell world about

missiles in Cuba – says US will search all ships and turn back any with weapons

• Calls on Khrushchev to stop ‘provocative threat to world peace’

• The World holds it breath – panic buying in USA• Khrushchev backs down and removes missiles

Prague Spring 1968

• Reforms introduced in Czechoslovakia by Dubcek

• Fearing change – USSR sends in tanks to remove Dubcek

• USA does nothing – sphere of influence

• Coup in Chile 1973 – overthrow of Socialist Government of Allende

Détante • Nixon and Brezhnev want to relax tensions• Arms race placing massive drain on resources

(USSR)• Nixon wants to develop US-China relations • USSR and China fall out in 1955• 1969 – Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) –

Helsinki• Nixon visits Moscow in 1972 to sign SALT 1• Détante politically popular in USA• Yom Kippur War in Oct 1973 causes tensions• Détante continues under President Ford • SALT 2 signed by President Carter in 1976

Decline of Détante • Criticism of Détante because of growing

support for Communism in Africa• Carter considered weak• US increases military spending• USSR invades Afghanistan in 1979 • Carter warns USSR to keep out of

Middle-East oil-region• Carter Doctrine• Ratification of SALT 2 suspended• USA boycotts Moscow Olympics 1980

Ronald Reagan • Anti-communist crusader – elected 1980• ‘evil empire’• Confront USSR from a position of strength• Renewal of Cold War – massive increase in

military spending• Increased support for Reagan after

Solidarity in Poland suppressed • USA funds anti-communist rebels and

dictatorships in Central and South America• Star Wars – defensive shield – escalation of

arms race• USSR in financial trouble – cannot compete

Fall of USSR • Gorbachev USSR leader 1985 - reforms• Perestroika (restructuring)• Glasnost (openness)• Wanted improved relations – no money for arms• Reagan wanted to be remembered for ending Cold

War• Meeting in Reykjavik 1986 – signing of INF Treaty in

1987• Demands for reforms in Eastern Europe grow• Communist regimes collapse like dominoes – fighting

in Romania• Gorbachev tells Bush (1988) USA not an ‘enemy’• USSR disintegrates in 1991• Attempted coup fails - Yeltsin

The End of History

• Francis Fukuyama - 1989

• "What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the end of history as such: that is, the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government."

• Presentation prepared by:

• Dominic Haugh• St. Particks Comprehensive School• Shannon• Co. Clare

• Presentation can be used for educational purposes only – all rights remain with author