American Foreign Policies During the Cold War
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was a crucial strategy that supported Europe’s economic recovery and stability following World War II. This was done to stop communism from spreading over the world (Corbett et al., 2017). George Marshall, who was the US Secretary of State at the time, proposed a plan to aid war-affected countries in 1947. In general, the plan helped rebuild Europe’s economies and infrastructure while promoting democracies and averting the fall of communism.
Berlin Airlift
The Berlin Airlift was another successful strategy that prevented the spread of communism worldwide. Following the conclusion of World War II, the Soviet Union made several attempts to restrict Western entry to Berlin, which was then situated within the territory of East Germany controlled by the Soviets (Corbett et al., 2017). In response, the United States of America and its allies arranged a massive airlift to deliver food, fuel, and other necessities to West Berlin.
Camp David Accords
By contributing to maintaining peace in the Middle East, the Camp David Accords were also an efficient policy for preventing the spread of communism across the globe. In 1978, then-President of the United States, Jimmy Carter, was the mediator in several settlements between Egypt and Israel that came to be known as the Accords (Corbett et al., 2017). The agreements helped end the conflict that had been present between the partner governments and paved the way for peace that would last in the region.
The Effectiveness of the Policies to Thward Communism Spread
During the Cold War era (1945-1991), the United States implemented several key strategies to counter the spread of international communism. The Marshall Plan, the Berlin Airlift, and the Camp David Accords were all critical approaches in this regard (Booth et al., 2021). The Marshall Plan, in particular, was instrumental in promoting economic recovery and stability in Europe, which helped to prevent the spread of communism. Similarly, the Berlin Airlift was a significant strategic move to prevent the Soviet Union from taking control of West Berlin. The Camp David Accords, which sought to achieve a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt, also aimed to prevent the spread of Soviet influence in the Middle East (Booth et al., 2021).
These approaches demonstrate that the United States had legitimate reasons to fear international communist subversion during the Cold War era. The Soviet Union was actively attempting to spread its communist ideology and gain influence in other parts of the world.
References
Booth, W. A. (2021). Rethinking Latin America’s Cold War. The Historical Journal, 64(4), 1128-1150. Web.
Corbett, P. S., Janssen, V., Lund, J. M., Pfannestiel, T. J., Vickery, P. S., & Roberts, O. (2017). US history. OpenStax.