The Cold War is defined as an open though restricted rivalry between the Soviet Union, the United States, and their allies. Although it developed after World War II, the roots of The Cold War were in Western allies’ repeated delays in providing help and opening a European second front. The Russians’ concerns related to allies’ genuine motives were increased by the refusal of the United States to continue lend‐lease aid after the war. In response, Stalin broke his commitment to free elections in the countries of Eastern Europe, installing Communist‐dominated governments in Romania, Poland, and Bulgaria in 1945. Thus, the Soviet Union’s expansion of communism across the globe was regarded as a threat to democratic nations. It led to direct confrontations over Germany in 1948, the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the end of the Western monopoly on nuclear weapons due to the Soviet Union’s first atomic warhead, both in 1949, and confrontation between countries on other territories that led to war, including wars in Vietnam and between South and North Korea that caused the division of two states and their functioning on the basis of opposite ideologies.
At the same time, American foreign policy in the immediate postwar years and through the 1950s targeted both the protection of the world against the Russians’ aggression and the establishment of its global dominance. Thus, between 1948 and 1951, for Europe with devastated infrastructure after the war, the United States offered financial help through the Marshall Plan. On the one hand, it provided the recovery of Western Europe; however, on the other hand, it contributed to the reduction of Communist parties’ electoral power there, the growth of the United States’ economy, and the spread of the country’s influence. At the same time, in relation to the Soviet Union, Truman’s containment policy was cautious as it did not presuppose open confrontation. However, since 1952, the Eisenhower administration has supported a more forceful response – in particular, it supported the concept of Massive Retaliation as part of its foreign policy in the belief that it would deter Soviet aggression.
However, as previously mentioned, the confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States was expressed in their efforts to impact the political systems of other countries, even if these efforts led to serious conflicts. Thus, in 1950, the Korean War between North Korea, supported by the Soviet Union, and South Korea, supported by the United States, started. Although General Douglas MacArthur, who led the UN command during the Korean War, sought to expand the war into China, in which the Communist party had taken power as well and even used nuclear weapons, his intentions were mitigated. The United States did not want to expand the war in Asia, impacting its influence in the region in a negative way.
The confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union was obvious in other parts of the world as well, and among third-world regions, the Middle East was a highly challenging one. The United States prioritized its access to oil. However, it had concerns in relation to the possible close partnership of the Arabs with the Russians that could lead to the strengthening of the latter’s influence. Thus, the United States has supported the recognition of the state of Israel since 1948 and for decades after World War II. At the same time, in Cuba, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, as part of its Operation Mongoose, sought to oust the Castro government from power During the early 1960s through the use of “indigenous sources” and assassination plots against the Cuban Communist leader Fidel Castro. The existence of a communist state that agreed to put the Soviet Union’s nuclear weapon in its territory created a serious threat to the United States’ national safety.
At the same time, American foreign policy in the 1950s and subsequent decades was associated with particular controversy. On the one hand, in characterizing U.S. relations with the Third World in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America during the Cold War, the U.S. supported all freedom fighters, regardless of ideology, who were intent on advancing modernization and their people’s aspirations for a better life. On the other hand, the United States supported powers to confront the Soviet Union, decreasing its influence across the globe and establishing its own dominance at the same time. Moreover, since World War II, military contracts have become the United States’ major source of income ensuring its economic growth and development in many sectors. Thus, participation in conflicts was economically beneficial for the United States. However, in the 1960s and 1970s, this policy started to contradict public opinion. In particular, the participation in the war in Vietnam led to the Vietnam Syndrome that emerged as a popular public policy to decrease American troop engagement in Indochina without obvious reasons connected with the country’s national security.
In the 1970s, the United States perceived the detrimental impact of direct confrontation and tension that existed between communist and democratic states. In particular, Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger sought to make U.S. diplomacy less ideological and more balance of power politics as part of their Grand Strategy and detente with the People’s Republic of China. In other words, for the United States, the preservation of peace was regarded as more beneficial for the maintenance of other vital interests, while the Cold War created a threat of the next world war with the use of nuclear weapons. This policy was continued by Jimmy Carter, who maintained his commitment to idealistic cooperation, human decency, and global human rights. However, the Iran-Hostage crisis and the invasion of Afghanistan forced him to increase military aid to the latter and introduce severe economic and political sanctions for Iran.
Nevertheless, the United States continued its policy of regulating world conflicts, emphasizing the necessity of cooperative efforts. In particular, this policy presupposed the rationale of the United forces’ military intervention for the establishment of peace in regions that cannot solve their problems independently. Thus, after signing a cease-fire agreement in war-torn Bosnia in 1995, William J. Clinton urged the United States to resist isolationism and maintain its globalism and role as a world peacekeeper.
All in all, there are multiple people and their decisions that affected American foreign policy after World War II. When Truman introduced his doctrine related to the policy of Soviet expansion’s restriction after World War II, it was inspired by the writings of George F. Kennan, an American historian and diplomat. Subsequently, the actions of the Eisenhower administration were impacted by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. According to him, the maintenance of peace was possible through the containment of the Soviet Union’s influence. However, Dulles confronted American foreign policy challenges, including Middle Eastern ones, while the Carter Doctrine proclaimed the rationale of the use of military force for the defense of the United States’ national interests. Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader of the Soviet Union, contributed to American foreign policy as well by finishing the Cold War together with Raegan. Finally, while George W. Bush aimed to establish a partnership with countries across the globe regardless of their ideologies, his time-sensitive and efficient reaction to conflicts demonstrated the intentions of the United States to act as a global protector of human rights and freedoms.