Imagine if you lived in a place where you had no freedom and was ruled by a terrible man named Joseph Stalin. That is what it was like in many countries until America’s policy of containment. The United States made a policy of containment because they didn’t like the idea of communism. Communism is where you have no freedoms and you were under the rule of a dictator. There are three main reasons for how did the US contain communism: the Berlin Airlift, the Korean War, and finally the Cuban Missile Crisis.
One example of containment is the Berlin Airlift. Communists wanted to take over West Berlin since they weren’t communists, but the US didn’t want to give it up so they resisted. Then on June 27, 1948, Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union decide to blockade any shipments coming into West Berlin. They did a blockade on West Berlin so they could weaken them, so the US, Britain, and France responded with an airlift with supplies so they can defend it and resist a takeover. This is an example of containment because it kept communism from taking over in West Berlin.
The next topic is the Korean War. On June 25, 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea. Communist North Korea wants to reunify with South Korea. The United States pledged to help them because they didn’t want communism to spread. General Douglas MacArthur staged a risky yet successful counter-attack at the port of Inchon. North Korean forces are routed and pushed back all the way to the Yalu River, the border of North Korea and China communist. Communist China than enters the war and in November of 1950. The war lasts many years and at the end of the war, there were more than 2 million deaths. This is an example of containment because Soviet power and communism were kept from spreading.
The third topic is the Cuban Missile Crisis. In January of 1959, Cuba becomes communist under Fidel Castro. United States spy planes find evidence of medium-range nuclear missiles being rapidly installed in Cuba. October 23 US announces a quarantine against ships carrying offensive weapons to Cuba. The Soviets begin to remove missiles, and the crisis is avoided. Finally on April of 1963 US had a quiet agreement with the Soviets, and they removed missiles. This also let communism not spread.
In conclusion, all of the above confirms why communism should not be spread. Containment was not only a good thing it kept the US from going into another war.