The foreign policy and the domestic life of the United States from 1945 to 1965 - Essay Example

DISCUSS THE RELEVANCE OF THE WORD "CONTAINMENT" TO BOTH THE FOREIGN POLICY AND THE DOMESTIC LIFE OF THE UNITED S FROM 1945 TO 1965. WHAT NEEDED "CONTAINMENT" Introduction There have been many studies about what lead to the cold war and what were the main causes of the "Race for Power" among the dominant forces of the 20th century the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. This essay highlights the main ideas of the US foreign policy during the cold war. Apart from that an account of the domestic life will also be discussed and the strategies to maintain growth periods will be reviewed. It is known that the cold war broke out after the World War II and the consequences were harsh for the entire world. Before World War II the US went through the great depression and during the cold war most of the resources were used on defenses. The start of the Rivalry The main initiator of the rivalry between the US and USSR was the Bolshevik Revolution lead by Lenin in 1917. This was the key event that made the United States and the USSR against one other for a massive seventy years. Basically it can be said that it was this revolution that fueled the Race for Power and becoming the super power of the world. This became a serious concern for the Americans as Mitchell Palmer, an attorney general, suffered a bomb explosion at his home and numerous other such incidents were intercepted. This brought terror within the nation. There were Russian workers present in the US and after such incidents riots rose against them. Palmer was late in deciding that this was revolutionary act and ordered for a massive operation of arrest and deportation of the workers. During these acts many were arrested and though later it was considered a human rights violation act and people went after Palmer. However this action by Palmer reduced the terror within the city. Coming forth it was recognized that since the revolution the American attitude became an anti-Soviet one. Further heat to this problem was that the US has always supported the capitalist regime whereas the Russians were against it as they were from the communist side. Thus a strong hostility arose between the two nations and the World War II was the highlight of this hostility. And this hostility continued till the very end of the century. The Cold War People from the cold war era do have the memories of the key features involved within. It has been for almost five decade, i.e. starting from the late 1940s until the termination of the USSR. The Cold War pictured the main outlines of the international background. It was, at its foundation, an ideologically stimulating conflict between the United States and its allies and the Soviet Union. As a fact Americans were okay with the point that this was nothing more than a preservation of the way of living. The viewpoint of a nuclear power gave both sides a venture in maintaining a constant poise of terror, a sense of balance both sanctified and symbolized in a series of arms control conformity. The better part is both parties avoided a direct military confrontation. The cold war is referred to as a war between the giants. It had an overall effect on the world with a steady threat to peace and rising terror. But the steadiness was struck at an outrageously high and costly level. In this race both nations equipped themselves far more than their need for self defenses as their main aim was to deteriorate the other foe. For that reason they made up above a thousand Nukes. How much it could be, to our amazement those weapons, with further usual weaponry, cost these superpowers a great deal which was around trillions of dollars. Through the economic point of view much of this money was wasted and could have easily been diverted to other social needs, however we can not be sure of this fact that could it be used elsewhere as at that time the hype was crushing the other super power. During the cold war regime the defense spending was very high. In 1955 President Eisenhower told that it was very difficult to manage the defense spending figure as the requirement is not known. Through research it was revealed that around $8 trillion was spent, worldwide, on nuclear and other weapons between 1945 and 1996.at the very max the weight of the nuclear stock pile was about 18,000 megatons. However these superpowers still hold around 8,000 megatons. In the Soviet Union around 50% of the national product was spent on armament which deprived the people from better life. The Foreign Policy since World War II After the end of World War II, American foreign policy has consisted mainly of the attempt to deal with with two enormously difficult problems which the events of that war brought into being, neither of which had been effectively projected and which the debate between the winners at the conclusion of the war failed to resolve. Among them was the dilemma that how can the great vacuums, created by the removal of the hegemonies, be filled, which were recently exercised by Germany and Japan. The vagueness and rising incongruity over the attendant questions worried not only much of Central and Eastern Europe but also concerned were parts of East Asia that had been infested by the Japanese, and the agreement of the Asian aspects of the crisis came to engage not only the US, the Soviet Union and the populace of the affected regions themselves but as well as with the completion of the Chinese Revolution. It is true that these policy makers were confronted with many problems and the containment was necessary as they were in the period in which they had to struggle was one for which they were equally unprepared. The problem faced was what to do now, in time of peace, and along with the fearful weapons of mass destruction that were use in the war at the end of the struggle against the Japanese. The problem was effectively without precedent. The point to be debated upon is that it should not have taken the Nuke to influence people that war, as a means for resolving clashes between technologically superior great powers, had become extremely costly, hazardous and self-destructive. A sufficient example can be the World War I. The nuclear weapon implicated a revolution in the degree of destructiveness so great as to be in consequence a change in kind. The questions that remain are how this weaponry can be fitted into national arsenals and where would it stand if related to traditional concepts of the role of weaponry, had never been faced before. As the US was the first one to develop this weapon it was stressed on the US to give solutions for the problem involved and another problem arose was the use of new base defenses because it was necessary to use new weaponry. Other concerns were what to do about sharing control of it. In addition the US was asked to come up with policies that could deal with the communist government. The Cold War drastically distorted the way foreign policy is administered today. Further more the US was strained to make strategic plans to help other countries recuperate economic strength, contain socialism and not end up in a disastrous global nuclear war. Resolutions were kept on search and later three policies and two ideologies were formed which became the backbone for outlining the foreign policy in America through the Cold War era and ultimately setting a paradigm reflected in current politics. If we look at the current system then we might see that much of the policies formed in the wake of the Cold War are pertinent to America's attitude toward and involvement in other nations. Domestic Affairs in the US During the cold war the foreign policy had a strong impact on the domestic side. It influenced both the Second Red Scare and the rise of McCarthyism. But other factors also shaped the home front during this period. Features of the 1950s included: There was a scheme called as the American Dream. This scheme was supported by expanded military investment. The increased government spending in the military department was witnessed after the fall of China. Soon the Department of defense became the best customer of those companies which did not have an idea about what the department was. Amazingly by the mid-1950s, the number of contractors working for the government was around 40,000. As we move along, the department of defense had more assets than 75 of the largest corporations of the US and the federal spending on defense was about half of the overall revenue. The critics of that time charged the federal government as being a wartime economy. This is true as when an economic recession struck in 1956, President Eisenhower responded by allocating more money to defense. However in later stages Eisenhower, himself, warned Americans that relationship between the defense sector and private sector is posing a threat. During this time a famous economist named John Kenneth Galbraith wrote a book called "The affluent society". It was at this time that the private sector was at a boom with little for the public side and this was mainly due to the wartime contribution. Galbraith's view about education was more to the correct side. To my concern if education was deemed as a private good then the literacy rate may not have risen as high as today. The idea is quite fair that education be funded by taxes and why not, the private sector is more than just powerful to accommodate almost every tax system. As for Americans, they have been considered rich throughout the inception of USA and therefore can afford taxation. Controlling inflation is difficult task, as inflation can bring the best and can do the worse as well. This strategy could have led to a betterment of life of a normal civilian. The defense helped the economy rise at a faster rate and eventually the GNP rose about 51%. Nevertheless the home consumption also contributed to this growth. It was quite a challenge to cope with consumer demands of an increasing population but the industry should a rapid pace and brought a maximum result. Now from these facts we come to the point that containment was more necessary in the domestic operations. As the main driver of an economy is its labor force and if they are not equipped well then the economy will collapse. This is seen in the American trend as by 1959 the average consumer was better off. Bibliography 1. Churchill, Sir Winston. The Second World War: Their Finest Hour, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, MA 1949. 2. Meernik, James D. "Presidential Decision Making and the Political Use of Force" International Studies Quarterly 38 (1): 121-38. 1994 3. Ward, Michael Don. "Cooperation and Conflict in Foreign Policy Behavior." International Studies Quarterly 26 (1): 87-126. 1982 Read More