Essay

=__ Essay __ = During the cold war, the United States used the containment theory. The idea behind the containment theory was to keep enemies and any potential threats contained or appeased. By containing these countries or states, the United States would not have to worry about being militarily, politically, or economically threatened. One of the main things the United States was trying to contain was Communism and the spread of it throughout Europe and to prevent it from getting to the United States. The containment theory was also referred to as the Domino theory; if one country was communist the rest would eventually follow. The Domino theory was developed by president Dwight D. Eisenhower. The introduction of the Domino theory led to the United States foreign policy of containment. The United States hoped by politically and Militarily keeping the Soviet Union from spreading communism that they could prevent other countries from becoming communist and possibly hostile toward America. By preventing hostility towards the United States, another war would also be prevented. An example of the containment policy would be when Cuba became communist and has relations with the Soviet Union. Cuba was receiving support from the Soviets. The United States was worried that Communism was going to start spreading in the United States. Cuba is a small island 90 miles away from the United States. If Cuba was communist and had relations with the Soviet Union, then Russia could possibly invade the United States. The United States kept close surveillance. Th United States finally took care of the problem during the Cuban missile crisis where the U.S. sent in troops. Cuba eventually moved away from communism. A second example of containment was The United States and Russia throughout the entire cold war. The Soviet Union was trying to convince other neighboring countries to become communist and finally convinced China. The United States then competed in an arms race with the Soviets and eventually won. By competing and always having as many weapons as Russia neither country wanted to attack because the result would be a stale mate. The United States succeeded in containing communism because it did not reach very many countries. Also it didn’t spread in the United States.