Context in the Cold War
Amid Communist fears in the United States, American foreign policy focused on preventing the spread of Communism throughout the world.
Mouse over map markers for information about key Cold War countries
"...we have won an armistice on a single battleground--not peace in the world. We may not now relax our guard nor cease our quest."
-Dwight D. Eisenhower, on the end of the Korean War, July 1953
-Dwight D. Eisenhower, on the end of the Korean War, July 1953
American Foreign Policy
The Iron Curtain: The West hoped to contain Communism within the red area until it died out on its own.... [Wikipedia]
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...while the Truman Doctrine offered to protect all Democratic countries from Communism. [American Rhetoric]
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Excerpts from the Truman Doctrine speech, 1947. Click here for the full transcript.
"It is logical that the United States should do whatever it is able to do to assist in the return of normal economic health to the world, without which there can be no political stability and no assured peace."
- George C. Marshall on the Marshall Plan, 1947
George Marshall [NY Times]
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Excerpt from the Marshall Plan. Click the image for the full document.
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Domestic Sentiments
Fears of communism grew inside of the United States, as people became worried of the viability of Containment.
“Forces of good and evil are massed and armed and opposed as rarely before in history. Freedom is pitted against slavery, lightness against dark.” 
Anti-Communist propaganda [Vincze Miklós]
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Political cartoon reflecting American public opinion of the Soviet Union [GoPixPic]
"We shall never have a secure peace or a happy world so long as Soviet communism dominates one-third of all of the peoples." |
McCarthyism
The fears of communism were enhanced by Senator Joseph McCarthy's continuous accusations of communism within the government, which often had little basis in fact.
"I have here in my hand a list of two hundred and five people that were known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping the policy of the State Department." |
Joseph McCarthy [Library of Congress]
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