Title: Was the US’s containment policy effective during the Cold War? | by August Frederico | Medium
Headings: Was the US’s containment policy effective during the Cold War?
Was the US’s containment policy effective during the Cold War?
Content: Over the course of the Cold War, the US foreign policy directed over $140 Billion (adjusted for inflation) via the ERP to prop up weakened states (Fogarty, 2/20/18, N/A) .. It was one of the most brilliant plans to come in support of US foreign policy, as it provided Europe money that stabilized its economy and thus prevented the spread of communism, while the very money the US provided circulated back to the US as Europeans bought goods from them. While the Marshall plan was undeniably effective, acting as a strong preventative measure against European communism while continuing to increase America’s economic power in Europe, it was not a direct action against the USSR and allies. To directly target opposing nations, the US placed numerous and harsh embargos against the soviets and their allies through the National Security Decision Directive. This directive sought to choke the USSR of what little economic power they had while driving wedges between them and their allies by placing similar but lighter embargos on any nation tied to the Soviet Union. This included a number of Eastern European nations, Vietnam, North Korea, Cuba, and China (Donnelly, 1965, page. 45). In hopes of strengthening the power of these embargos, the US strongly encouraged it’s allies to assess similar embargos on their enemies. This recommendation was supported by the Battle Act, a policy in which the US would refuse assistance to nations that did not embargo the USSR and their allies (Donnelly, 1965, page. 46). This policy not only acted to further alienate the communist world powers, but also was a huge factor in the eventual collapse of the USSR.