American Anticommunism

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Ashleigh Fielding 11J

Mr. Convine

American Anticommunism

During the Cold War

        

Subsequent to the conclusion of the treacherous Second World War, America prepared itself for a period of peace.  This peacetime was short-lived, as America’s tolerance for communism receded this issue became the forefront for American concern. The United States of America, also referred to as the USA or US, regarded communism as a strategic threat due to its hostility to private property and free markets, policies that many Americans associate directly to political freedom.

         

Throughout the intense period in history identified as the Cold War, America’s attention was, for the most part, politically and economically occupied by the threat of global left wing expansion and methods aimed towards the prevention of such an occurrence.  McCarthyism, the Marshal Plan and the Truman Doctrine are a few of the tactics employed by the USA as a form of resistance against communism.

        The constant fear of communism was largely intensified following the declaration of Chinas political status, the Korean War and the Rosevelt's case.  Julius and Ethel Rosevelt were trialed and convicted of treason to the state in the early nineteen forties.  Author S. M.Harrison confirms that many historians believed that if America was ever to be defeated, it would not be by enemies from without, but enemies from within.  The couple were executed for delivering confidential American nuclear information to the soviets.  The soviet denotation of the possession of atomic power further heightened the USA’s fear of communists.  The capitalist versus communist war in Korea, in 1950, and Chinas communist revolution, were to result in Americas initial revolt to the growing global attraction to left wing politics.

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        Harry S. Truman, through what came to be known as the Truman Doctrine or Containment Policy, announced the United States dominant position in ceasing the spread of communism.  In his speech to congress on the twelfth of March 1947, Truman specifically called for four hundred million dollars in financial aid to be delivered to Greece and Turkey, both of which he suspected were threatened by a possible communist invasion.  Cowie, a well-noted author, considers Truman’s speech to be the trigger for the transition of the Cold War from a temporary state to a permanent quarrel as it directly states ...

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