Unit 5 Containment in Action

US Presidents
→ 1945 Harry S. Truman
→ 1953 Dwight D. Eisenhower
→ 1961 John F. Kennedy
→ 1963 Lyndon B. Johnson
→ 1969 Richard Nixon

USSR General Secretaries

→ Stalin
→ 1953 Nikita Khrushchev
o Peaceful co-existence - But some W. Leaders were not convinced -
Behaviour in E. Europe:
 1953 - protests in Poland (rise in food prices) → Red Army moved in
to restore order
 1956 - Anti-Communists rising in Hungary → Red Army kills 30,000
to put down the protest
 1961 August - Communists build Berlin Wall to stop people leaving
E. Berlin or Germany - shot anyone who tried to cross illegally
→ Brezhnev 1966

1. The Korean War

Japan ruled Korea during WW2.

It was split at 38th parallel in 1945. The North was under communist Kim Il Sung. The
South was capitalist under Syngman Rhee.

In 1949, China turned communist AND USSR developed the atom bomb.

Kim Il Sung had been asking to invade South for years. Now Stalin gave him he T34
tanks to do so, as he felt with a communist China ally and atomic bombs, the USA
would not interfere.

Therefore:

 September 1950
→ North Korean troops overwhelmed South’s forces past 38th parallel
→ Only small corner of Anti-communists left
→ Syngman Rhee appeals to UN
→ Resolution 84 passed to send UN help (USSR absent on the day so could
not veto)
→ It was the first test of Truman’s containment policy and Truman Doctrine.

 October 1950
→ UN forces enter
→ Daring raid: Inchon Landings was a great success
→ MacArthur pushes North forces past 38th parallel.
→ He ignores Truman’s advice to hold at the border.
→ He ignores Chinese warnings to NOT invade North Korea.
→ He changes containment into rollback.
→ He pushed the Korean forces up to the border with China at the Yalu River
  January 1951
→ 200,000 Chinese troops join N. Koreans
→ UN forces pushed into S. Korea
→ UN troops recover and fight until they reach 38th Parallel

 Truman felt it was good enough to ‘save Korea’ from a Communist takeover
 McArthur wanted to continue (threatened attack on China) and even
contemplated dumping toxic waste in rivers to prevent the Chinese advance and
using nuclear weapons on China. → Truman brings him home and sacks him
 In 1953 Eisenhower became President, voted in on a promise to ‘go to Korea’. He
sought peace.
 Stalin dies in 1953 too, so USSR support for China and N.Korea was less likely.
 Both sides negotiated an armistice.
 July 1953 Korea split at the 38th parallel again.

USA lost 30,000 US soldiers and spent millions. BUT they had CONTAINED communism
in North Korea. Only when they changed tactics and tried rollback did they fail.

However, it showed the split in the USA between hardline anti-communists like
MacArthur, who wanted to attack communism, and those like Truman, who just wanted
to CONTAIN communism.

70,000 South Korean soldiers, 500,000 South Korean civilians were also lost.

N.Korea and China lost around 780,000.

More anti-communist alliances were made as a result:

 SEATO, South East Asia Treaty Organisation - 1954
 CENTO, Central Treaty Organisation – 1955

In turn, these lead to:

Warsaw Pact, 1955
 USSR + all Eastern European countries (except Yugoslavia)
The Arms Race
 Nuclear weapons: USA/USSR tell each other when they made them - Propaganda
 Competition: Who makes it first/better/bigger
 Eg. Atom bomb, H-Bomb, U-2 Spy Plane (Spy on each other), ICBM
 1959 USSR had more nuclear missiles than USA
 Still made/tested them after 5th August 1963 - Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
 Also SPACE RACE: First satellite/man in space

MAD - Mutually Assure Destruction → No one would strike

U-2 Crisis, 1960

 Truman didn’t allow U-2 Spy planes to fly over USSR → Eisenhower allows
 Soviet missiles improved → May 1960 U-2 shot down - Pilot: Gary Powers
 USA first decline Gary Powers was spying → Then admit but don’t promise to stop
→ Downturn in US-USSR relations
 Gary Powers sentenced to 10 years of prison but exchanged for Soviet spy
2. CUBA

Before 1959

• American Ally under Batista, a corrupt dictator, but anti-communist.

• US owned businesses there.

• Big US holiday destination

Cuban Revolution

• After three years of fighting, Castro and Che Guevara took over

• They arrested and killed many Batista supporters.

• Many left Cuba with their money, and fled to Florida in USA, begging for US aid.

• June 1960 Eisenhower asked CIA what to do. They started to burn sugar
plantations.

• US businesses on Cuba refused to deal with any Cuban companies who had links
to USSR.

• Then Eisenhower boycotted Cuban sugar, which crippled the Cuban economy.
Banned trade by October 1960.

• Castro responded by nationalising industry, especially the oil refineries and

agriculture, and handed out land to the poor.

• Castro allied with USSR in summer 1960, signing a trade agreement with them
worth 100 million dollars. He also receives arms.

• January 1961 JFK broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba.

Bay of Pigs Incident

 April 1961
→ Kennedy supplies arms, equipment, transport for 1400 anti-Castro exiles
to invade Cuba and overthrow him – CIA sponsored attack
→ Land at Bay of Pigs
→ Met with 20,000 Cuban troops who kill and capture them
 To Cuba & USSR suggests USA unwilling to get directly involved. Kennedy looks
weak to Khrushchev and Castro now worried USA will invade.
 Khrushchev scornful of pathetic USA – JFK looks weak
 Cuba being communist is a worry to Truman Doctrine
 Made USSR put even more arms/missiles there to defend Castro
Why did the Bay of Pigs (April 1961) invasion result in humiliation for JFK?
 It failed - 1400 Cuban exiles attack → met by 20,000 Cubans on the beach →
almost all killed/captured: JFK misjudged it???
 CIA planned this covert operation → looks like USA meddling in Cuba’s affairs and
even trying to help invasion!
 JFK looks weak in front of Khrushchev → Cold War context this would encourage
Khrushchev to be more aggressive
 Makes it look like USA not willing to risk own troops to contain Communism in
Cuba
 Strengthens Castro’s position → image + popularity
 Humiliating as shows JFK not really in control of CIA
 It makes Castro + Khrushchev very suspicious of USA policy + JFK ie. Driving
them together

Why was Bay of Pigs a failure?

 Badly planned
 Kennedy wrongly advised → badly outnumbered
 Exiles defeated
 Encouraged Cuba to turn to USSR (USA enemy) – needs help to protect himself
and his people → asks Russia to buy sugar + sell weapons to Cuba → Khrushchev
sends military advisors + nukes

Missile Crisis, October 1962

 14th Oct → U-2 plane flies over Cuba → Spots nuclear missile sites + 20 USSR
ships bringing nuclear missiles
 16th Oct → Kennedy informed of missile build up
 20th Oct → Kennedy decides on blockade of Cuba (best option)
 22nd Oct → Announces blockade → tells Khrushchev to withdraw missiles
 23rd Oct → Khrushchev denies presence of nuclear missiles
 24th Oct → Blockade starts → First ship approaches blockade zone → Stops and
turns around
 25th Oct → Work on missile bases proceeds rapidly
 26th Oct → Letter 1: Khrushchev admits their presence: defensive →if USA lifts
Blockade and don’t invade Cuba, might withdraw them
 27th Oct → Letter 2 from Khrushchev: If USA lift missiles from Turkey they’ll
withdraw missiles
→ U-2 plane shot over Cuba but Kennedy delays attack → Accepts Letter 1
 28th Oct → Withdrawal of Nuclear missiles ‘to make peace’
 NB - Bobby Kennedy meets with Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin → Decides to
remove Turkey missiles but don’t tell press.

Why did the USSR place nuclear missiles on Cuba?

 To Spread Communism
 New Ally - near USA for Soviet Union
 To Scare USA: pressure on USA → Cold War game
 NUCLEAR BASE: Threat to USA - Nukes: Closer to USA→ First strike?
 To use as Bargaining tool (Remove missiles in Turkey)
 To Defend Cuba? → Bay of Pigs incident & Assassination attempts on Castro
 To Test JFK: is he weak? Will he fight?
 JFK looked weak over Bay of Pigs incident
 Start a world revolution in South America?
Why was USA concerned about the nuclear missiles in Cuba?
 Too close → threat
 Made Cuba strong
 Threat to World Peace
 Challenge to Kennedy – upper hand in arms race
 Within US sphere of influence
 Bargain – Turkey missiles
 Testing JFK

To what extent did...

...the USSR win? ...the USA win? ...Cuba win?
 Ally near USA  Kennedy looks  Communism
 Communist Cuba → stronger - USSR  Independence
Spread Communism backed down  Money and aid from
 Didn’t fight  JFK looks like he USSR
 Turkey missiles saved the world  Revolution survives
removed  Missiles removed  Castro = happy
 US promise not to  Understated win
invade (‘triumph for the
 Saves Cuba next generation’)
 Turkish missiles gone
but still have
UK/Germany
 Prevents nuclear war
 Khrushchev’s
prestige damaged →
overthrown

“The Cuban Missile Crisis was a success for the US policy of containment.”
HFDYA?
YES NO
 Nuclear weapon removed from  Cuba stayed Communist! Still is
Cuba. This was a huge success as today. So missile crisis could not
USA now safer. prevent the spread of Communism
 Gave little to Soviets → Jupiter in to Cuba – JFK promises not to
missiles to be withdrawn from take Cuba
Turkey anyway (replaced)  USSR gained a useful ally in Uncle
 JFK comes out looking stronger as Sam’s backyard ie. Cuba/Castro
he stands up to N. Khrushchev and  USA had to remove Jupiter missiles
K. Backs down from Turkey
 Assuming containment as in missile  If containment as a policy taken
crisis then it did partly prevent towards Cuba in general, then can
Cuban Communism from spreading spread into S. America
into S. America  NB – there WAS some
 JFK’s reputation is so enhanced encouragement to Communist S.
USSR looks like bad guys!!! American groups
Success: Avoid war! → El Salvador
 Led to fall of Khrushchev → Nicaragua
“The Cuban Missile Crisis was not as serious as it appeared at the time.”
HFDYA?
AGREE – NOT SERIOUS DISAGREE - SERIOUS
 Nothing happened  US see threat – USSR spreading
 No one was going to strike – MAD Communism
 Khrushchev only testing JFK?  Kennedy threatened to attack
 Bargaining tool – Turkey?  General LeMay wanted to nuke
 USSR just defending Cuba? Cuba. It was JFK who kept control of
his General Staff
 Castro would have used nuclear
weapons if US invaded
 1963: (events suggest serious)
→ Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
→ Hotline

3. The Vietnam War

Origins:
 Japanese take over Vietnam during WW2 (French defeated)
 Ho Chi Minh + Viet Minh beat Japan and declare Vietnamese independence in
1945, Hanoi
 1945, French return → WAR: 1945-1954 (Dien Bien Phu - French defeated)
 US sympathetic until 1949 when China Communists help Ho Chi Minh → feared
Communist takeover in SE Asia → Gave money to French
 Small Asian state defeated large/rich European state

 Geneva Accords 1954 July 20th

→ Vietnam split - 17th parallel between North (Ho Chi Minh) & South Vietnam
(Ngo Dinh Diem)
→ Elections promised → BUT Ngo Dinh Diem + Eisenhower don’t allow
elections to happen - how country would be re-unified (Domino Theory -
feared Communist takeover)

JFK involvement
• Sent 16,300 advisers

• Gave massive support to Diem

• Allowed coup against Diem

• Created Green Berets for jungle warfare

• Many believe he would have pulled out by 1965 had he not been assassinated.
Gulf of Tonkin Incident, August 1964
 North Vietnamese patrol boats fire on US ships in Gulf of Tonkin
 US congress pass Gulf of Tonkin resolution: ‘Take all necessary measures to
prevent further aggression and achieve peace and security’
ie. LBJ could launch full-scale war with Vietnam if necessary
→ Allows LBJ to increase involvement
→ Escalates war
→ No declaration of war → just sends more men, planes, boats, cash

→8th March 1965 - 3500 US marines and combat troops came ashore at Da
Nang
→ USA at war with Vietnam

Why was the US involved in Vietnam?

 Containment: Truman Doctrine
 Cold War victory over Communism → Capitalism = best ideology
 Lost China 1949 (Communist) → Don’t want to let Vietnam (and SE Asia) follow
suit
 Domino Theory: Vietnam would lead to fall of Thailand →Laos →Cambodia
→Burma (→India → Australia → Japan → USA - Ridiculous)
 Diem’s failure to condemn Viet Cong → Needs US help
→ Dragged in by Diem losing control (As a catholic - burning shrines → has
many enemies)
→ US think that Diem’s enemies are Communists
 Protect Diem + South Vietnam
→ Supporting French with weapons + aid
→ 17th parallel → 1954 Geneva Accords
→ US supporting Diem + South against Ho Chi Minh
 Believed it was an Easy victory
 Money: Military industrial complex push for war → Huge investment in Vietnam
needs to be defended (Diem)
 Truman ‘lost China’ - “weak democrat”
→ JFK + LBJ don’t want to look like “weak democrats” → Personal Reputation
 French fail to control colony - communism rising → French ask for help

Why was there increasing US involvement in the Vietnam War?

 Ideological: stop spread of Communism: Truman Doctrine/Domino Theory
 Helping French, then Diem drags US in as French lose/Diem assassinated
 Moral obligation to help South as they set it up
 As situation gets worse, US send more aid/help/ground troops
 Cold War! Defeat friends of China/USSR
→ Eisenhower sent no soldiers - few advisors
→ JFK → much more support ie. 16,000 advisors
→ LBJ → full scale ground troops/air support
→ Nixon → promising to get out
The Tet Offensive, 1968
 Communists launched offensive during Tet New Year holiday
 Viet Cong fighters attacked over 100 cities + other military targets
 One unit → US Embassy in Saigon→ US forces fight to regain control (room by
room)
 4500 Viet Cong Vs. Much larger US + S. Vietnamese forces - 2 days
→ Disaster for Communists: S. Vietnam didn’t rise up to join + Viet Cong lost
10,000 fighters
→ Public opinion about USA (due to media)
 $20 billion/year is spent + 500,000 troops → Why were US forces
surprised?
 How did the Viet Cong get to S. Vietnam? (didn’t understand nature
of war - thought US in South, Viet Cong in North)
 Moral issues - Civilians killed + eg. Ancient city of Hue was
destroyed

My Lai Massacre
 16th March 1968 - Charlie company (Unit of US soldiers) start Search & Destroy
mission
 In Quang Ngai region of S. Vietnam
 Told that in My Lai area: Viet Cong Headquarters + 200 VC + villagers at market
 Ordered to destroy houses and belongings - Some thought = Kill everyone
 300-400 civilians killed - Only 3 weapons found
 Success at the time
 12 months later, letter from Ronald Ridenhour (US soldier) to 30 politicians in
Washington
→ Evidence of something bad happening in My Lai → ask Congress to
investigate
→ Soon media publishes photos in magazine
→ Investigation → Trial for mass murder - Lieutenant William Calley
→ September 1969 - charged with murder of 109 people + 10 other
members of company
→ Army blamed everything on Calley - his orders
→ March 1971 Calley guilty of 22 deaths - 20 years → Nov 1974 released
→

My Lai → Nov 1969 - 700,000 people: anti-war protest, Washington DC

Increasing Involvement in the Vietnam War

 EISENHOWER, 1953-1960
→ Funds French → Dien Bien Phu (French defeated)
→ Geneva Accords 1954: slit Vietnam (17th parallel) + promise elections
→ Money & Limited advisors (less than 800)
 JOHN F. KENNEDY, 1960-1963
→ More money
→ Green Berets
→ Diem is his friend
→ By the end: 16,000 advisors
  LYNDON B. JOHNSON, 1963-1969
→ Gulf of Tonkin Incident
→ Allows massive increase in troops/money
→ Vietnam bombed
→ By 1968, more than 500,000 US soldiers
→ Operation Rolling Thunder
→ Bomb the North
 RICHARD NIXON, 1969-1973
→ Vietnamisation: train South Vietnamese up to do job ie. Fight Communism
→ US leave in 1973
 By 1975 Communists have taken control of the whole of Vietnam→ Unified
Communist Vietnam

The fall of Saigon

 Congress doesn’t allow Nixon to continue financial aid/military support to
Vietnam
 Nixon in trouble with Watergate Scandal
 1974 Nixon forced to resign
 New president, Gerald Ford, can’t send US air power/military back-up
 December 1974 - North Vietnam launch major military offensive Vs South
Vietnam
 April 1975 - Saigon fell to Communists

Whose fault was it that US lost?

US Other
 US bad tactics  Good Guerrilla tactics by VC
→ Public opinion  Cost
 Poor soldiery  Terrain → US not used to it
 Supply lines too far  MEDIA in USA → turned people
 Didn’t invade North against Vietnam war
 Vietnamisation  Poor ARVN
 Relied on firepower: costly  No help from Allies
 Aid from China/USSR
 Vietnamese people determined to
fight for freedom again

Why did the US lose the Vietnam War?

 Good Guerrilla tactics of the Viet Cong
→ Ho Chi Minh trail
→ Tunnels
→ Traps
→ Hard to find
→ (NVA – North Vietnamese Army)
 US bad tactics
→ Operation Rolling Thunder 1965
→ Bombing the North
→ Napalm + other chemical weapons: Agent Orange
→ Search & Destroy missions (My Lai Massacre → public opinion)
→ Reliance on technology + bombs
→ Never invaded north Vietnam
 Supply Lines of USA → Far away
  MEDIA → Public opinion
→ Force US to withdraw/ US turn against war offer
→ My Lai massacre/TV coverage of napalmed children/1968 live shooting of
Viet Cong
→ Make Tet Offensive look like a defeat
→ First televised war
→ People knew what was going on → knew they were losing
→ Rumours of drug addiction
→ Cost
 Vietnamisation
→ Nixon’s idea to equip and train the South Vietnamese to do the job/fight →
US forces could leave
→ But South Vietnamese poor soldiers + some Viet Cong joined for money
and left
 NEVER INVADED THE NORTH! → North can still operate
 Poor US Soldiery
→ Average age: 19!
→ 1 year tours for Lieutenants/Soldiers → No experience!
→ ‘Draft Dodge’ in the US
 Cost! → $400,000 to kill one Viet Cong
 Terrain - US not used to it
 (Limited) Aid from China/USSR
 Poor ARVN - South Vietnamese Army
 No help from UN + Few allies

How successful was US foreign policy towards Korea, Cuba and Vietnam?

SUCCESSFUL NOT SUCCESSFUL

 Defended S.Korea in line with  Rollback attack on N.Korea big
containment failure.
 Supported UN action in S.Korea  China defeated them in N.Korea, so
 Avoided nuclear war over Cuba they look weak
 Stopped USSR having missiles in  Cuba & Vietnam Communist
Cuba  Vietnam war: terrible → turned
 Delayed Communist takeover in communist – against USA
Vietnam temporarily  US weak – can’t even stop
Communism in smaller/weaker
countries
 Communist takeover in Cambodia +
Laos too