the specter of communism
In the years following the end of the Cold War, many historians and social scientists have written accounts of what were some of the causes and effects of this period when the threat of war was almost always present. One such person was Melvyn Leffler and his work, The Specter of Communism, which described the origins and conflicts of the Cold War. Out of these accounts several interesting questions come to light about the true nature of the Cold War. One such question that has surfaced recently is that of "number 2" on the handout. The main emphasis of the question or statement is that the Cold War never really took place, and what did occur was nothing but "a complete waste" of money and time. I will have to disagree with the statement that it was a waste of time and money for several reasons. First of all, throughout the entire Cold War, America's core interests were constantly a threat from the expansion of the Soviet Union and communism. These ranged from the spread of communism through Europe, into the Far East and even into our own backyard of Latin America and the Caribbean. All of these places represented vital interests for the survival of the United States and the American way of life.
LaFeber, Walter; The American Age, Second Edition; W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., NY; The biggest problem to the security of America came when countries in Latin America began to turn towards communism as a means of economic recovery. When Cuba fell in 1959, Castro quickly nationalized the industries in his country and sought military and economic aid from the Soviet Union. Since Cuba was so close to the United States, the Soviet Union decided to exploit the situation and give aid to Castro in return for Soviet bases in Cuba. In 1962, Krushchev placed strategic nuclear weapons inside Cuba after Castro requested more military aid for fear that the United States was planning to invade again. Krushchev was after all know for his "support of wars of liberation."(The American Age, Walter LaFeber, page 595) This clearly represented a real threat to the United States and its sovereignty. The American government and John Kennedy would not back down from the communists, the threat of a global nuclear war was very real. Tensions rose high in the Western sector of Berlin and West Germany where there was the fear that the Russians were going to come across at any time. After all, the Soviets tried to squeeze the Americans out in 1961 when they erected a wall between East and West Berlin and cut off all supplies going into the city. American forces were placed at their highest level of peace time alert. The Strategic Air Command had planes flying in the air at all times loaded with nuclear bombs. The Soviets clearly were ready to risk it all, but at the last minute they backed down when Kennedy got tough. Krushchev took the missiles out of Cuba only after the United States promised to never invade Cuba again. Although Cuba remained communist, its importance was drastically reduced. American determination was the only things that was able to keep the Western Hemisphere free from the tyrannical control of the Soviet Union. When the government of Kim Il Sung brought his troops across the 38 Parallel into South Korea, he was not counting on American intervention to put down his dream of reunifying Korea under a communist dictatorship. President Truman was faced with the prospect of fighting another world war, the second in during his administration, when news reached him that the North Koreans had invaded the South. He faced a tough choice, should he risk an all out war against the Soviets and the Chinese for the defense of the small state of Korea, or should he leave the Koreans to their own defense. Truman decided that the risk was too great to have communists in control over all of Korea. This would just incite revolts in other countries, especially in Japan and Indochina. The American troops fought for three hard years in the bitter cold mountains just to keep the Chinese and Koreans at a stand still. The real threat existed that the Soviet Union would escalate the conflict into Europe while the United States was fighting a protracted war against North Korea and China. The Soviet Air Force had already engaged American warplanes over Korea, who knew how far they would go to spread their ways. American military advisors also told the President that nuclear weapons may have to be used just to keep the communist back. The President dismissed this for fear that it may draw the Soviet Union and its nuclear weapons further into the war. After three long years of fighting, the Americans and North Koreans ended their fighting with an armistice that created borders that were almost the same as those at the beginning of the war. The United States fought its first limited war to stop the spread of communism, and it came away with a free South Korea, and a prosperous
Some common words found in the essay are:
Soviet Union, Western Europe, Cold War, Charter United, Latin America, South President, Europe Asia, North Koreans, Western Hemisphere, Defense United, soviet union, cold war, world war, latin america, spread communism, american government, nuclear weapons, military economic, latin america united, north koreans, american exports, countries latin america, real reason fear, soviet union soviet, webster's college dictionary,
Approximate Word count = 2519
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)
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