US reactions to the fall of China to Communism

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  • Created by: Alasdair
  • Created on: 19-06-17 22:04
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  • US reactions to the fall of China to Communism
    • The 'fall' of China to Communism dramatically affected US domestic politics
    • President Truman was a victim of his own 'Truman Doctrine' of 1947, which depicted a frightening world in which US faced an evil, expansionist Communist ideology
      • As most Americans fully persuaded by Truman Doctrine, many then wondered why Truman had allowed China to fall to Communism if Communists were such a threat
    • Jiang surely beyond salvation but Republicans exasperated by more than a decade of Democrats in the White House, made a great deal of political capital out of Truman's 'loss' of China
    • Republican attacks exacerbated post-war 'Red Scare' and contributed to great changes in US foreign policy
    • As early as June 1949, Truman Administration concluded that:
      • "The extension of communist authority in China represents a grievous political defeat for us...If Southeast Asia is also swept by communism, we shall have suffered a major political rout, the representation of which will be felt throughout the rest of the world....The colonial-nationalist conflict provides a fertile field for subversive movements,, and it is now clear that Southeast Asia is the target for a coordinated offensive directed by the Kremlin.'
    • The combination of the factors listed led Truman to get involved in Korean War and with Jiang Jieshi's Taiwan and French colonial regime in Vietnam:
      • Loss of China
      • Republican attacks on Truman for losing China
      • Huk rebellion in the Philippines
      • Communist activity in British Malaya
      • Communist opposition to colonial regime in French Indochina
      • Desire to maintain Japan as  bulwark against Communism
    • Memory of those Republican attacks helped to ensure subsequent Democrat Presidents escalated US involvement in Vietnam War
    • In short, China's fall to Communism brought Cold War to Asia with vengeance

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