US containment in action in Asia

Question 1

When was the loss of the nuclear monopoly?

Answer 1

August 1949

Question 1

When did Truman approve NSC-68 recommendations?

Answer 1

1950

Question 2

When was the San Francisco Peace Treaty between USA and Japan signed?

Answer 2

September 1951

Question 3

When did Eisenhower become president?

Answer 3

January 1953

Question 4

What was the attitude towards Japan from 1945 onwards?

Answer 4

That it needed to be rebuilt. Including re-education, democratisation, economic reform and demilitarisation

Question 5

What was introduced in 1947 in Japan?

Answer 5

The ‘reverse course’

Question 6

Why did the USA want to rebuild Japan?

Answer 6

It was seen as an essential element of it’s power base in Eastern Asia.
Ensured that Japan would remain aligned to USA and less vulnerable to communist influences.

Question 7

What is SCAP?

Answer 7

Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (General Douglas MacArthur)

Question 8

How was economic stabilisation achieved in Japan?

Answer 8

• increased regulation of foreign exchange
• a balanced budget
• stricter lending criteria
• wage controls
• A more efficient taxation system
• Price controls
• Increased regulation of trade

Question 9

What did the USA demand that Japan join?

Answer 9

the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
- This strengthened Japan’s access to Western trade by also prevented trade with communist China from late 1950

Question 10

When did communist China form a military alliance with the USSR?

Answer 10

February 1950

Question 11

When did China join North Korea in its war against the South?

Answer 11

November 1950

Question 12

What role did the USA see itself as despite the creation of the UN?

Answer 12

a global policeman

Question 13

What did the San Francisco Peace Treaty not do?

Answer 13

• place significant restrictions on Japans economy
• Place significant restrictions on it’s future political model
• Identify Japan’s responsibility for the war
• Restrict Japan’s future rearmament
• Impose reparation payments for those Southeast Asian states occupied by Japan during the war

Question 14

Who didn’t sign the SF treaty?

Answer 14

USSR and China

Question 15

What did the USA require Japan to sign in response to this treaty?

Answer 15

US-Japan SecurityTreaty (1951)

Question 16

What did the US- Japan Security Treaty mean for the USA?

Answer 16

• unrestricted use of military bases in Japan
• administrative control of Okinawa
• The right to use military force to intervene in any internal disorder in Japan
• The right to veto Japan offering military bases to other states

Question 17

What did MacArthur and Dulles request for Japan?

Answer 17

rearmament, particularly with the growing threat of communism in Korea

Question 18

When did China turn communist?

Answer 18

1949, following a communist victory over Jiang Jieshi’s nationalist forces and the Chinese Communist party announcing it’s allegiance to the USSR

Question 19

Why didn’t the US intervene in the Chinese Civil war?

Answer 19

Truman felt that China would be isolated from Soviet support and therefore wasn’t a real threat and was much more interested in the situation in Europe

Question 20

What was the China White Paper

Answer 20

July 1949, document by Acheson attempting to justify it’s withdrawal from direct military support for Jiang Jieshi

Question 21

When was the Defensive Perimeter Strategy defined? and why was it criticised?

Answer 21

January 1950, because it left out Korea

Question 22

What was NSC-68 about?

Answer 22

It stressed the urgency of building the USA’s political, economic and military power as well as the globalisation of the Cold War

Question 23

‘It was China that caused a fundamental shift in US Cold War strategy by 1951’ Assess this statement

Answer 23

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