What theory was used by the United States government to justify intervention in many countries around the world during the Cold War?

Question

Zoe Atkinson · Accepted Answer

The Containment Theory became the intellectual groundwork for US foreign policy in the early 1950s as first Russia and then China were taken over by Communist governments.

Because Communist-led forces were expected to win, the US attempted in vain to support more conservative factions in Russia during the final months of the Russian Revolution. After Russia turned communist and reorganized as the USSR, its early years were devoted to introspection, restructuring its economy, and regaining control over a sizable portion of its territory. The rise of Communist parties in Western society led to a brief "Red Scare" in the US and Western European countries after World War I, but even during the Great Depression, the Communist party's brutality in maintaining power diminished its popularity and threat to the status quo. Members of the US State Department realized they needed to develop a policy to counter the spread of Communism after the USSR withstood the German assault during World War II and used its position to gain power over the Eastern European states on its borders. The West realized the USSR was now firmly in the hands of its Communist leaders and that it had built a strong military force that was capable of expansion. The policy documents that gave the Containment Theory its outline were written in 1946 and 1947 by State Department diplomat George Kennan; they stated that the US and its allies needed to "contain" the Communist threat within its existing borders and to apply resistance whenever and wherever Communism seemed in danger of expanding. The policy documents were discussed for the next few years within foreign policy circles. The American political fallout from the 1949 overthrow of the Nationalist government in China by Communist forces led to the adoption of "Containment" as a nearly universal policy mandate for the next 35 years, as well as the subsequent military intervention around the world.

Ryan Austin · Answer

undefined The theory used by the United States government to justify intervention in many countries around the world during the Cold War was the "Domino Theory."