US Cold War Containment Policy

By Catechetical Guild (Catechetical Guild) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

After the conclusion of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as the two “superpowers” whose economic, social, and cultural influence would long influence what historians later refer to as the Cold War period, roughly from 1945 until the 1990's. Alongside the rising international power of these two nations, each took on official policies to try and influence proxy states to adopt their own domestic governments allied with the two economic regimes, either Democracy or Communism.

Two regions, East Asia and Europe, were greatly influential in the United States' Cold War policy of containment, and felt the consequences of the worldwide contests between Soviet and US-backed governments.

After the war, Japan was essentially a nation rebuilding itself from square one. Much of the country had been destroyed by the Allies and many people were without basic fundamental services peacetime, first-world citizens take as given. The occupation by the United States also ushered in a period of demilitarization, and the reestablishment of fundamental government structures. Given this circumstance, the United States could, in essence, build a democratic nation, providing significant military and economic backing, and ensure that Japan could be relied upon as a “buffer” against the spreading of Communism from Soviet and, later, Chinese influence. US Cold War policy demanded a protected Japan.

In Korea, with the solidification of Chinese Communism to its West, and the influence of the Soviet north, a movement towards a Communist Korea swept through and built up a power base in the North of the peninsula under Kim Il Sung. Sung wanted the official military backing of China and Soviet Russia in order to take the South and make Korea a Communist nation, but was largely left wanting. Syngman Rhee, a national conservative politician of the south, kept the US interested and worked to encourage a US Cold War policy that ensured Korea would not fall to the Communists. The Korean Conflict was largely an expression of Cold War policy by the two dominant powers to create a sphere of influence in East Asia, with the US seeking to continue its Cold War policy of containment. Though some efforts were made to take the entire peninsula for the South, the US ultimately failed and the modern de facto borders of North and South Korea were established along the 38th parallel line. Partial Cold War containment, however, was a success in Korea.

In Vietnam, the Communists began efforts to unify the country along Communist lines under Ho Chi Minh, while the Southern Vietnamese government of Ngo Dinh Diem was supported as a nominally democratic government, although displayed dictatorial tendencies. In some parallels to Korea, Vietnam became a proxy war that escalated to a direct conflict for the United States. 1968’s escalation under Lyndon Johnson resulted in over 500,000 US troops committed to South Vietnam. Efforts at US Cold War containment were in full swing in Southeast Asia,

Post War, Germany was a country divided, both ideologically and literally. Eastern Germany was established as a Communist satellite state, and West Germany a democratically aligned state. Indeed, Berlin itself was divided along Democratic-Communist divisions, and later a wall. The US Cold War policy committed to the protection of Berlin and Germany specifically because of the limited successes in the Korean Conflict, which spiraled out of control. Berlin and Germany were influential in the developments of the Cuban Missile Crisis, as one of the key considerations for Soviet Russia was the inability of the US to simultaneously defend West Germany and Cuba with their military. The presence of missiles so close to the US mainland negated any advantages the US held by stationing military forces in, and thus militarily advantageous, Europe. This was the closest the world came to a third World War, and total nuclear conflict. Fidel Castro was committed to the Communist cause, and when Khrushchev decided to back down in the face of a US blockade and ultimatum, Castro felt betrayed. Thankfully, however, it avoided a nuclear war between the periods’ two superpowers.

Recommended Films: Dr. Strangelove and Full Metal Jacket, Stanley Kubrick; The Manchurian Candidate, John Frankenheimer; The Bedford Incident, James B. Harris