Background and foundations of US foreign policy

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Background and foundations of US foreign policy
- Containment
  - US power should be used to contain and 'roll back' communism where possible
- ''The long telegram''
  - Written by Kennan
    - Gives his view about the Soviets and what the US policy should be towards them
  - One of the most influential underpinnings for America's cold war policy of containment
- NSC 68, 1950
  - Bipolar- USSR aiming for world domination, spending more on the army than the US
    - 1949, USSR create first atomic bomb- USA lose atomic monopoly
    - USA should increase military spending and develop hydrogen bomb to regain initiative in arms race
  - USA should engage in limited wars to resist communism
  - USSR must be handled forcefully
- The Truman Doctrine, 1947
  - US could no longer stand by and allow the forcible expansion of Soviet totalitarianism into free independent states
  - US was compelled to assist ''free peoples'' in their struggles against ''totalitarian regimes''
- National Security council
  - to advise the president in the new context of the cold war
  - growing amount of experts and analysts that produced a series of influential policy statements
The Truman Doctrine, 1947
- US could no longer stand by and allow the forcible expansion of Soviet totalitarianism into free independent states
- US was compelled to assist ''free peoples'' in their struggles against ''totalitarian regimes''

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