Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Memorandum on the US policy on the Cold War

Memorandum on the US policy on the Cold War 
To: President Truman 
From: Elif Okan 
Date: September 10, 1947 
Subject: Containment of the Soviet Union in the Cold War      
World War II recently ended, and now another war may start between the Soviet Union and us. The United States and the Soviet Union were allies during World War II, but our alliance is starting to fray after we helped to defeated Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan. The United States want to spread democracy while the Soviet Union wants to spread communism. We can not let the Soviet Union spread communism to the rest of the world so we can no longer be there allies and should stop what little may remain. The best way to deal with the Soviet Union is though containment which has worked pretty well so far.  
Currently, we are the world's superpower and are the least hurt from War World II since the war took place away from our home. We are stronger than the Soviet Union currently so we can afford to use containment and wait it out. With the current state the Soviet Union is in, it will not take long for them to fall on their own which may seem crazy to us as of now but it is possible. There is no need to send in troops to the Soviet Union and fight a real war with them. The best thing we can do is use containment to stop the spread of communism from the Soviet Union to the other countries that the Soviet Union may or may not be trying to affect and change. If we do nothing to stop the Soviet Union's spread of communism than the Domino Theory may come true. Like dominos after the Soviet Union has successfully stayed communism and spread communism to another country like China as an example turning them into communists as well then they will spread to another country like Korea and keep going until the whole world ends up being turned into communists. If one country falls and becomes communists like the Soviet Union, then the whole world can. 
The Soviet Union's aggression and the way they keep trying to expand shows that they should be contained before something bad like the Domino Theory happens or something worse happens. We have to contain our enemies so they cannot do anything bad to us or the rest of the world since everyone looks to us as a leading example. Even though we may have more than one enemy at a time and other countries may be trying to become communists like China, we have to look at our worst enemy and deal with them first instead of trying to deal with more than one at a time which can make us weaker. The Soviet Union is the second strongest country after us which is why we need to focus a lot of our energy to contain them and to make it so they cannot spread communism. If the Soviet Union fails and stops being communists than other smaller countries like China would also fail and most likely cease to be Communists.   
It is important to keep in mind that we dropped the nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. It is important because it means that we currently have nuclear weapons. If the Soviet Union got nuclear bombs or any nuclear weapons as well and we both used them it would be terrible not just for the Soviet Union and us but the rest of the world as well. The nuclear weapons could destroy the world so they should never be used again, especially not over something like our fight with the Soviet Union. On top of the containment of the Soviet Union, we as the United States and the world's super power that everyone looks to as an example should give aid to European countries. We should give the European countries aid since the European economy is in shambles right now because of World War II. Giving them aid is not just because it is the right thing to do or because we are the world's superpower but also because our sphere of influence would largely increase and it would give us access to the market as well as military bases. Not only would this make the European countries like us more but it will most likely keep the other European countries from turning to the Soviet Union and communism to find relief from their current state.  
Overall we should look to contain the Soviet Union to stop them from spreading communism and look into helping the European countries that need it since we can afford to and it would greatly benefit us.  

4 comments:

  1. Overall I found your argument for containment to be very compelling and well thought out. You included all of the aspects of the post World War 2 political landscape and worked each of them into your argument for a containment strategy.

    While I did find the memo to be convincing I would have recommended that you include a bit more on why the containment strategy worked. You did say that the USSR is unstable and would eventually collapse but I think a bit more detail would have gone a long way.

    I found your memo to be a good defense of containment with various well thought out reasons for each point.

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  2. Elif your memo was strong,

    I think your use of stating the domino theory was a very good point and how the spread of communism relates to it exactly which is why containment is needed! Your argument and evidence is strong and flow nicely together throughout the memo!

    You could have possibly mentioned how we would help other European countries. I like how you said helping European countries at the end but maybe suggest how to with what kind of aid. Through money, supporting anti-communist groups, or promoting democracy?

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  3. Hi Elif,

    I really liked your post. This was a convincing argument that the Soviet Union and communism is a threat to the United States. I also wrote my post on the Cold War. I think you have many great points here but they could have been developed a little bit further. Overall great job!

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  4. Elif,

    I thought your memo was very convincing and you gave multiple different necessary topics plenty of focus. Discussing nuclear weapons, containment, and domino theory as well as other things is important to analyze the era and you did a good job of covering all of it. Giving more analysis and reasons for implementing the policy of containment would have made the memo a little more influential but overall I thought it was well organized and written.

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