US containment in Asia -> Dominoes and NSC-68 Flashcards
how much money had been given to Japan by 1949?
$500 million given to Japan as the cost for passive containment
What triggered the shift from passive to active containment for the USA (NSC-68)?
- August 1949: Soviets explode first atomic bomb in Kazakhstan
- October 1st 1949: Mao declares the People’s Republic of China - moment of horror for Truman (shift to communism)
- USA’s nuclear monopoly ended
- Sino-Soviet Pact February 1950 introduces a further meltdown
What were the problems with the Truman Doctrine?
- Countries did not need to be democratic to receive Marshall Aid or join NATO
- e.g. 1953: fascist Spain given a life aid by Eisenhower
- could be brutal, oppressive, backwards looking, as long as you wanted to fight the Soviets
What did Eric Foner quote about the Truman Doctrine setting a precedent for?
“The Truman Doctrine set a precedent for American assistance to anti-communist regimes throughout the world, no matter how undemocratic, and for the creation of set global military alliances directed at the Soviet Union”
What was the NSC-68?
- Classified report issued by the United States National Security Council
- Emphasised need for building USA’s political, economic and military power
what did Truman say that suggested NSC-68 was a response to China and Soviet Union?
Truman: “to make an overall review and re-assessment of American foreign and defence policy in the light of the loss of China [and] the Soviet mastery of atomic energy”
what did Senator Harry Jackson declare NSC-68 to be?
Senator Harry Jackson: “the first comprehensive statement of a national strategy”
When was NSC-68 issued?
Issued on 14 April, 1950
- Approved by Truman on 30 September, 1950
What did the NSC-68 entail?
- Wanted to increase air, ground and sea strength and atomic capabilities to deter war
- Highlights need for military readiness to deter Soviet aggression
- Act as source of encouragement to nations resisting Soviet threat
- Provide aid to non-Soviet nations that are willing to contribute to US security
- Increase their economic and political stability and their military capability
How did Truman and Congress first react to NSC-68 and what changed their mind?
- Dean G. Acheson struggled in persuading Congress and Truman to accept it
- Outbreak of Korean War convinced them
What changes did NSC-68 lead to?
- More military emphasis on application of containment
- In 1950, military budget was $60 billion
- Rose to $135 billion in 1951
- 1950-53, Truman administration almost tripled defence spending as a % of GDP from 5 to 14.2%
What were the limitations of NSC-68?
It meant tripling the budget, increasing taxes heavily, and imposing various kinds of economic controls
- large funding that Congress and Public were unlikely to concede to
what was a turning point in the Cold War?
Events in the far east served to reinforce 1950 as the turning point in the Cold War
what did NSC-68 represent?
NSC-68 represented the practical extension of the Truman Doctrine
- shift from passive to active containment
- limited to Europe in its practical application (via MP and NATO)
what did NSC-68 provide justification for?
NSC-68 provided justification for America’s assuming the role of world policeman
what did Truman need for him to be able to implement NSC-68?
Truman would need to be elected in the upcoming November 1952 general election
why can NSC-68 be viewed as electoral suicide?
the demand for more money as well as its suggestion that old policies had failed made it electoral suicide
who set up the domino theory and when?
US President Dwight Eisenhower in April 1954
what did Eisenhower quote about the domino theory?
“falling domino theory… could have a beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound influences”
- assuming all bad things had their roots in Moscow
where was the domino theory first used?
- In 1947, the domino theory first emerged int he form of the Truman Doctrine on Greece
- Were Greece to fall, Turkey might follow and “Soviet domination might thus extend over the entire Middle East and Asia”
how did the domino theory require the reconstruction of West Germany?
Later in 1947, the same theory required the reconstruction of West Germany with the Marshall Plan
- done so that West Germany’s weakness would not create a vacuum of power where communism could enter and spread throughout Western Europe
what drove domino analysis?
- The effects of major political upheavals predicted based on their potential to influence the surrounding region
- not just about country’s neighbours but their far flung ones and colonial powers in Asia
how did the domino theory impact decisions in China and Asia?
- Led to the official decision in 1949, when the Communists triumphed in China
- to draw a line against any new Communist states in Asia
- explains American intervention in Korea in 1950
- and support for France against Vietnamese national liberation movement
how was the domino theory used in SE Asia?
Domino theory to be used more than any other justification for US involvement in SE Asia as the concept embodied key economic and political concepts for American leaders
