American foreign policy during the cold war

Required Resources
Read/review the following resources for this activity:

• Textbook: Sections 28.2, 29.1, 30.3, 31.3
• Lesson
• Minimum of 1 scholarly source (in addition to the textbook)

Initial Post Instructions
Pick three (3) of the following American Foreign policies:

• Marshall Plan
• Berlin Airlift
• Containment
• Anti-Communist Freedom Fighters
• Vietnam (conflict) War
• Détente’
• SALT I & SALT II
• Camp David Accords
• Strategic Defense Initiative (nicknamed “Star Wars”)

Then, address the following for your selections:

• Explain how each of your choices was an effective policy to thwart international communist expansion.
• Based on your selections, analyze if the United States should have feared international communist subversion during the Cold War era (1945-1991).

Professor’s comment:

Welcome to this discussion concerning the Cold War (beginning Oct. 14), as we investigate political realms during these years. Some of you all have lived through the end of this era. For me as a child, I don’t remember being psychologically scared of an atomic bomb, but my wife does. When high flying jets would fly overhead, she would be afraid. Even red lights.

There were various cues around that reminded you of the Cold War. You would see the evacuation signs on various buildings, showing a safe shelter. You would see advertisements in magazines for underground shelters you could build in your own yard!

President Kennedy started an initiative for fallout shelters in 1961, so that by 1963, there were 17,000 places just around New York City located that could offer shelter in case of nuclear disaster, or the like (Buck, 2017).

And of course, on television they would have the test, an eerie, scratchy test for about 15 seconds, followed by the statement that in the event of a national emergency, they would be able to use this channel.

These are just a few samples of what was going on in society. Let’s enjoy this conversation about the Cold War, and hope that it never visits us again.

You’ll be initially selecting three of the following to interact with:

Marshall Plan

Berlin Airlift

Containment

Anti-Communist Freedom Fighters

Vietnam (conflict) War

Détente’

SALT I & SALT II

Camp David Accords

Strategic Defense Initiative (nicknamed “Star Wars”)

Thanks very much!

Reference

Buck, S. (2017, April 18). What the government didn’t mention about fallout shelters. Timeline. Retrieved from https://timeline.com/fallout-shelter-psychology-f04085f41654