Containing Communism Under Truman and Eisenhower

From the time Truman first took office to when Eisenhower (IKE) left, Communism was spreading to all parts of the world. The force of Communism was so strong that it was hard to stop. In fact, it was impossible. The only thing possible was to assess the situation and to contain it. Containing Communism was the main goal for both of these presidents throughout both of their double terms. In a world where all eyes were on them, they (for the most part) made the right decisions. The fear of the American people played a big role in their decision, especially at the end of each of their terms so that they could get reelected. Although they were not the most popular presidents running for office, their decision making and their keen eye for what is right for everybody got them the extra four years. And in that four years, they sure did help out the American people overcome their fears, although it was not easy.

President Truman was elected into office for his first term in 1944. Conflicts with the Cold War started in 1945 at the end of World War II after the United States no longer need the Soviet Union to fight Germany. In 1946, Truman recognizes the Soviet threat and decides to use "the long telegram." This document contained an idea which dictated the U.S. government for the next fifty years. In it was the idea to contain Communism. Truman releases the Truman Doctrine in 1947. The Truman Doctrine stated that our foreign policy would allow us to "create conditions in which we and other nations will be able to out a way of life free from coercion." [1]Czechoslovakia to the Soviets was a wake-up call to the U.S. which pushed the United States in instituting the Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan gave 16 billion dollars to Western Europe to rebuild and to stop Communism from spreading further west Since the Soviets pushed as far west as Czechoslovakia, the United States wanted to stop them from coming any further. This plan was also good for the U.S. economy because the Europeans would take the money and buy U.S. goods. The U.S. did not want another depression like after World War I. The United States had control of West Berlin, which was surrounded by East Germany, Soviet territory. Stalin closes off access to West Berlin so Truman supplied them through a series of airlifts. Truman took a big risk as Stalin could have easily started a war by shooting down one of the planes. If Truman did not risk it, he would be accused of being "soft on Communism." In 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) formed. It was a permanent mutual defense treaty with countries that were on the United States' side. A little while after that, China fell to Mao and his Communist followers. This now means that one/fifth of the world is under Communist rule. Now, of course, the U.S. must contain. However, China is so big that the U.S. cannot simply take over. In 1946, Korea was divided into North and South at the thirty-eighth parallel. In 1950, North Korea decided to invade the South. China joined the North so the U.S. had no choice but to help out the South to prevent the spread of the Communists. The Domino Theory was, "You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is certainly that it will go over quickly."[2]North Korea has the second largest army in Asia and China is Communist. Communism is pushing from the inside (Soviet Union) toward the outside. Coming into presidency was Dwight D. Eisenhower, who already had an adequate amount of conflicts and issues at hand. At the end of Truman's term, Truman recognized that this policy was needed in order to prevent Communism. If we prevent Communism, then we do not need to contain it. The next year, things really started to get hectic. The fall of

Eisenhower entered his presidency in 1953 and stayed until 1961. He was the first Republican in office since 1928. He became to be known as one of the most popular presidents in United States history. He understood the Limits of Power and was not willing to use American lives in a battle situation. He would have rather dropped a bomb then enter a ground war. Eisenhower would supply other countries with money and weapons in return for bloodshed. This would bring good moral to the American troops and the American people loved the idea. He was the first president to get actively involved with the American people. A new policy came into effect with a central theme of four main ideas. It was called the New Look and included rolling back Communism, brinkmanship, "more bang for your buck", and the Domino Theory (as stated before). The only idea that he does not follow through in is rolling back Communism. When a country would threaten an invasion, he would threaten them with a bomb drop. Other leaders respected the bomb, so they respected his threats. He cut military spending because he would no longer need to maintain weapon equipment. The reason for this was because he had a lot of bombs made which would cause massive retaliation on nay country that did not respect the Unites States' orders. This goes along with getting "more bang for your buck." The French's failure to colonize Vietnam led to the split of Vietnam. The South American backed leader cancelled the next election in fear of losing and the North leader, Ho Chi Minh, became furious. In 1957, he started the Viet Cong (Vietnam's communist group) and attacked the southern government. The US supplied the South in fear of the Domino Theory. Other than that, Eisenhower did not have success in Iran. The United States was taking 95% of Iran's oil profits. This upset the leader of Iran so he took over the oil. The U.S. hired people to protest this and the rise of Islamic Fundamentalism began. We are still paying the price for Eisenhower's actions today. Containment also failed in the Middle East when the leader of Egypt, Nasser, might have closed the Suez Canal do to integrity prestige. The French and British then "hired" Israel to take over the canal. Israel succeeds, but then the United States steps in to stop colonialism. Nasser then gets involved with the Soviets, which, of course, spreads Communism to another part of the world. Although it seems that Communism spread during Eisenhower's term, he did a lot more excellent things for the United States that overshadow the negatives.

Both Truman and Eisenhower thought about the American public first before making any kind of decision. Truman made good foreign policies to benefit the people of the United States. Eisenhower started the "New deal," which stated that he would help out Americans when they needed it. This came to be known as Social Security. These two presidents both did fine in finding trust in their supporters. It was politicians such as Joe McCarthy that were scaring the American public by accusing people of being "pinkies." Rumors in the media also cause the Red Scare such as the Soviets having as many missiles as us. The Soviets stealing Joe 1 from the U.S. through a spy. The American people were terrified when the Soviets reached space first with Sputnik. However, it is safe to say these two presidents, Truman and Eisenhower did a fantastic job containing communism. If you look at the world today, communism does not exist in many places. These two intelligent men knew what they were doing and never gave up when they made a wrong turn. They did as much as they could and focused their eye on the prize no matter what was going through the American peoples' heads.

^[1]The Avalon Project at Yale Law School. Truman Doctrine. Direct Source.

^[2]Domino Theory Principle. Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1954. Direct Source.