A presentation that explains how USA tried to stop spread of communism through its policy of Containment.

2. CONTENTS
 Introduction
 Application of Containment Policy
 Containment through Economic Aid.
 Containment through Military
Intervention
 Role of CIA in Containment
 Communist Spread in Cuba
 Conclusion
 Citation

3. INTRODUCTION
 Containment means keeping something
harmful under control or within limits.
 USA adopted a foreign policy during Cold War
called Containment Policy.
 Containment was a policy using different
strategies to prevent spread of communism.
 This policy was adopted as a reaction to the
Soviet Union’s moves, enlarging its communist
sphere.

4. GEORGE KENNAN: FATHER OF CONTAINMENT
 US foreign service officer George F.
Kennan for the first time coined the term
‘containment of communism’.
 He proposed that:

5. TRUMAN DOCTRINE
 The Truman Doctrine was the name given
to a policy announced by US
President Harry Truman on March
12th, 1947.
 It stated that:

6. APPLICATION OF CONTAINMENT POLICY
 USA applied the containment policy in different ways.
 Sometimes it succeeded in containing communism by giving economic aid .
 Sometimes even military offensive didn’t help to contain communism.

7. CONTAINMENT THROUGH ECONOMIC AID
 1946, Civil War in Greece
 Soviet Union pressurizing Turkey to
allow it to build naval bases on its
northwestern coast.
 So easy access to Mediterranean for
USSR.
 United States stepped in, in order to
contain communism.
 Truman asked Congress for $400 million
in military and economic aid for Greece
and Turkey under the Truman Doctrine.
 Communists defeated in the Greek Civil
War in October 1949, and the foreign
aid helped strengthen the Turkish
economy.

8. MARSHALL PLAN
 US Secretary of State, George
Marshall, shared the Marshall plan On 5th
June 1947, formally called European
Recovery Program.
 Designed to recover the economies of
17 western and southern European
countries.
 The United States feared that the
poverty, unemployment, and post-World
War II misery will appeal the
Communism in Western Europe.
 European nations received nearly $13
billion in aid.
 From 1948 through 1952 European
economies grew at an exceptional rate.

9. AGREEMENTS SIGNED UNDER STRATEGY OF
CONTAINMENT
 The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was created in 1949 by the United
States, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security
against the Soviet Union.
 In September of 1954, the United States, France, Great Britain, New
Zealand, Australia, the Philippines, Thailand and Pakistan formed the Southeast Asia
Treaty Organization, or SEATO.
 The purpose of the organization was to prevent communism from gaining ground in the
region.

10. AGREEMENTS SIGNED UNDER STRATEGY OF
CONTAINMENT
 The Baghdad Pact was a defensive
organization for promoting shared
political, military and economic goals
founded in 1955 by Turkey, Iraq, Great
Britain, Pakistan and Iran.
 The main purpose of the Baghdad Pact was
to prevent communist incursions and
promote peace in the Middle East.
 It was renamed the Central Treaty
Organization, or CENTO, in 1959 after Iraq
pulled out of the Pact.
 United states didn’t join the pact formally
rather it participated as an observer and
took part in committee meetings

11. THE EISENHOWER DOCTRINE
 President Dwight D. Eisenhower announced
the Eisenhower Doctrine in1957.
 Under the Eisenhower Doctrine, a country
could request American economic assistance
and aid from U.S. military forces if it was
being threatened by armed aggression from
another state.
 The doctrine was intended to check
increased Soviet influence in the Middle
East, which had resulted from the supply of
arms to Egypt by communist countries and
its support to Arab countries during Suez
war.
 US feared that communism might get roots
in Middle East.

12. CONTAINMENT THROUGH MILITARY INTERVENTION
KOREAN WAR
 Korea had been ruled by Japan until
1945. After WWII the northern half was
liberated by USSR troops and southern
half by USA.
 In 1950 North Korea invaded South
Korea.
 US state department responded by
saying that:

13. CONTAINMENT THROUGH MILITARY INTERVENTION
KOREAN WAR
 UNO intervened in the war after
resolution presented by USA and pushed
back north forces across the 38th Parallel.
 Korean War was a resounding success as
there were no more invasions made by
the North Koreans or Chinese into South
Korea afterwards.
 Although North Korea remained and still
is Communist but US succeeded in
spreading communist influence over
South Korea.

14. CONTAINMENT THROUGH MILITARY INTERVENTION
VIETNAM WAR
 US involvement in Vietnam was because of Domino theory of President Eisenhower who
proposed that if one Southeast Asian country fell to communism, then all of Southeast
Asia would fall like a domino effect.
 Vietnam was divided in North and South at 17th Parallel after French withdrawal from
region according to peace settlement of Geneva Accord.

15. CONTAINMENT THROUGH MILITARY INTERVENTION
VIETNAM WAR
 Civil war started between North and
South Vietnam.
 South Vietnam aided by USA and
North Vietnam was aided by the Soviet
Union and China.
 President Nixon started withdrawing
troops when apposition grew in
America against long, tiring and
unfruitful war.

16. CONTAINMENT THROUGH MILITARY INTERVENTION
VIETNAM WAR
 North succeeded to invent South Vietnam and a communist country with the name of
‘Socialist Republic of Vietnam’ was established in 1975.

17. ROLE OF CIA IN CONTAINMENT
 The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
provided covert assistance to those Third world
Countries that were opposing Soviet-backed forces.
 CIA intervened in elections of Italy and Philippines
to prevent communists from coming to power.
 CIA also organized and backed military coups in
countries like Iran, Guatemala, Indonesia etc. to
overthrow or prevent the Communist governments.
 CIA also helped Afghan guerillas both in arms and
money against Soviet backed government of
Afghanistan.

18. COMMUNIST SPREAD IN CUBA
 Cuba had been allied of USA and
ruled by a dictator Batista.
 It was known as backyard of USA
being located about 130 miles south
of Florida.
 The communist takeover in 1959 by
Fidel Castro had brought direct
problems for the United States.

19. COMMUNIST SPREAD IN CUBA
 Soviet’s decision to install missiles in Cuba, with the range to reach any target in
USA, brought most serious confrontation of cold war and its major turning point.
 The Cuban Missile Crisis was a demonstration of failure of containment and did not
succeed to halt the spread of communism.

20. CONCLUSION
 USA designed its Containment policy in order to prevent the Communist expansion.
 USA spend millions of dollars giving support to poverty stricken areas as communism is much
attractive for peasantry and middle class.
 Containment policy was neither a complete success nor ultimate failure.
 China, North Korea, Vietnam, Cuba and the Eastern Europe fell to Communist and US couldn’t
prevent it.
 However US succeeded to prevent communist spread in Western Europe, South Asia and
Middle East through its military and economic aid.
 The Containment Policy officially ended with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.
 It couldn’t be concluded that USSR collapsed because of Containment Policy rather it fell
because of its own blunders, failure to control a large country and military expenditures while
in a conflict with a big power turned it bankrupt and it eventually fell.

21. CITATION
Books:
 Amstutz, Mark R, International Conflict and Cooperation, (New York: McGraw-Hill
companies,1999)
 Duiker, William J & Spielvogel, Jackson J ,World History,(Boston: Wadsworth Cengage
learning,2010)
 Morris, Roberts John, Twentieth Century the history of the world 1901,(New York:
Penguin books Ltd, 1999)
 Walsh, Ben, Modern world History, (London: John Murray publishers Ltd,1996)

Websites:
 https://www.boundless.com/political-science/foreign-policy/history-american-foreign-
policy/cold-war-and-containment/
 http://dictionary.reference.com/
 http://www.cliffsnotes.com/study_guide/The-Origins-of-the-Cold-War.topicArticleId-
25238,articleId-25220.html
 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/366654/Marshall-Plan
 http://history.state.gov/milestones/1953-1960
 http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war