The Containment Policy

This article discusses the Containment Policy and its role in the Cold War. It explores the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, and Berlin Airlift as key strategies in preventing the spread of communism. The effectiveness of the policy is debated, but it is clear that containment played a significant role in shaping the events of the time.

Running head: THE CONTAINMENT POLICY
The Containment Policy
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Table of Contents
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................2
Discussion:.................................................................................................................................2
The policy...............................................................................................................................2
The Marshall Plan..................................................................................................................3
The Truman Doctrine:............................................................................................................4
The Berlin Airlift:..................................................................................................................5
Conclusion:................................................................................................................................6
References:.................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction:
Since the year 1947, the main foreign policy of the government of United States has
always been Containment. Containment is a policy of creating situations of strength that
would prevent the extension of the Communist power and influence in the world was first
introduced in Truman Doctrine. When the battleship Missouri first visited Turkey in the year
1946, this policy was proclaimed by George F. Kennan (Unger, 2015). He was an American
diplomat living in the Moscow City. It is to note that Containment refers to the blocking the
attempts of the other nation in spreading its influence.
In between the late 1940s and the early 1950s, Containment policy was used by the
United States (U.S) against the Soviets. The U.S. sought for taking proper measures in order
to prevent the spread of the rule of communist to the other nations. Such a conflicting aims of
Soviet and U.S in the Eastern European region has resulted in the Cold War. The formation
of the NATO, the famous Berlin Crisis of 1958-63, the Marshall Plan, the Korean War as
well as the Truman Doctrine are all related to the Containment policy.
Discussion:
The policy
The containment policy of Truman was the first major policy of the Cold War and
was also used in many strategies for preventing the extension of the communism in other
countries. There are several historians who have long been debated on the subject of- the
effectiveness of the American Containment (Duckett et al., 2015). They have even questioned
on its influence upon the net result of the Cold War. However, this debate is absolutely one-
sided because there is absence of definite objective evidence that shows that the containment
was not effective. On the other hand, containment was tested before implementing in

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effective and forceful way by making use of direct tactics. One of the most influential of all
the tactics were the Truman Doctrine, the entry of America in the Korean War and the
Marshall Plan.
After the Second World War, it was the Americans who watched as the communists
took over the eastern European nation one after other and at the same time, also watched how
China gradually became the communist. With the same, Josef Stalin (the leader of Soviet
Union) made it clear that he sought for communists to rule the entire world (Sick, 2018). The
fear of the communism of Truman had triggered him for building his alliances and also,
influence the other nations as well. It was with the help of Marshall Plan that Truman was
successful in doing this.
The Marshall Plan
It is to note that the Marshall Plan was an American initiative taken in the year 1948
for aiding the Western Europe, in which U.S. had given 20 billion dollars in the economic
contribution in order to help the Western European nations in rebuilding themselves after the
ending of the World War (Christenson & Christenson, 2018). His intention behind this was to
gain himself a powerful allies and most importantly, to fight the expansion of the
communism in the eastern regions. However, in the month of April of 1948 when United
States put forth the Marshall Plan, it became clear that they were aimed at spreading their
capitalist ideologies and thinking to the European regions. It is a widely known fact that the
communism is dependent on the ideas and principles which says that “each and every
individual is equal and has the same amount of wealth”. Hence, for Truman for creating an
upward mobility in the European countries by providing economic aids, he was directly
fighting back against the issue of communism. Both Truman and Stalin was well aware of the
fact that communism can never survive in absence of a complete alternative income (Bayne,
2016). In most of the ways, the Marshall Plan was one among the clever ideas of Truman

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because it was the one to allow him fighting the battle against the communism and that too, in
absence of actually “fighting the battle”. By making use of the Marshall Plan, he very
successfully implemented the containment policy and completely suppressed the communism
in the eastern region. With the same, he was also successful at doing this without even losing
a single life in America. No one had to sacrifice their life in this process. Just like the military
aids of the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan was literally using the booming economy of
America as a strong and important weapon for fighting the battle with Stalin.
The Truman Doctrine:
In the year 1947, the Truman Doctrine was authorised by President Harry S. Truman.
The Truman Doctrine was one of the foreign policy of America which was implemented for
stopping the Soviet imperialism at the time of Cold War (Spalding, 2017). In Truman
Doctrine, it was pledged by Truman that he would contain the Soviet threats or challenges to
the Turkey and Greece by means of offering both the countries with military support and
military aids. This doctrine was a clearly displayed the fight back of the United States against
the communism. Notwithstanding this fact, just like the execution of Marshall Plan, it was
Truman Doctrine that opened up a path that was indirectly leading to victory. Rather than
fighting with Stalin directly, the United States easily sat on the side lines and at the same
time, they directly funded the other nations for fighting the war. It is also to note that the
Truman Doctrine saved thousands of lives of Americans while fighting with Stalin
(Underhill, 2017). One of the most highlight events of the Cold War was the stories of the
war in between the Soviet Union and the United States. With the same, it was the reason
behind why Cold War is actually named so. Moreover, it is also to state that Truman was also
knowing that he could even threaten everyone and say what he wanted from them, but in the
end, he could not take the actions on the threats as of the fact that if he do so, he would no
longer be able to uphold the morals of the democratic ideology of the western parts of the

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world. All these simply meant that the containment policy of Truman was to fight for holding
its credibility. This is due to the fact that the Stalin was aimed at taking over the nations and
rule the entire world. Moreover, it is also to conclude that the containment policy of Truman
was at its extreme disadvantage yet, Truman managed to lead the United States towards
victory. Furthermore, rather than imposing the ideology of capitalism in the European nations
by taking them out by force or forcefully, he had democratically diverted the nations from the
communism by making use of different tactics like the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall
Plan.
The Berlin Airlift:
During the end of the World War II, the U.S., the Soviet military forces and the
British, all divided and started occupying Germany. Berlin was also divided into different
occupation areas at that time. In response to Soviet blockade of the land ways into the West
Berlin, the U.S. started a huge airlift of water, medicine and food to the citizens of the Berlin
city (O’Connell, 2017). Near about for a whole one year, the supplies from the planes of
America were sustained about more than two million people of the Western Berlin.
Furthermore, in the year 1948, all the rail travels and the roads that were bridging the gap in
between West Berlin and the other parts were blocked by the Soviet Union. This action was a
part of response from the parts of Soviet Union to the refusal of the British and American
officials for allowing the Russians more say in the economic future of the German nation.
The government of United States was completely shocked by this move and some in the
administration of Truman called for direct military response. However, Truman did not seek
for causing the Third World War. Instead of this, he ordered for a huge airlift of the supplies
into the West Berlin. In the year 1948, the very first plane took off from England as well as
from the Western Germany and they landed in the West Berlin. It was a really tough task.
Providing clothing, food, medicine and water for the two million citizens of the city was not

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that easy. More than two lakhs American planes were carried in above 1 ½ million tons of the
supplies (Ellis, 2015).
The Soviet Unions persisted with the very blockade until the month of May of 1949.
However, by then, every people was concerned that the very blockade had a diplomatic fiasco
for the Russia. All around the world, Soviets were successfully portrayed as the international
or global bullies, holding the men, women and the children hostage in the Western Berlin and
forcefully leading them to starvation. It also backfired against the Russians by means of
showcasing the technological superiority of U.S. When the Soviets ended the blockade,
Western Germany have by then become a different and independent country and the failure
of Russia was complete.
Conclusion:
From the above analysis it is to conclude that it is undeniable that the Containment
policy was always been the most significant elements in the Cold War. Right from the
creation of the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan to the Korean War, it was
containment that always proved itself to be the driving force behind all the crucial decisions
and events during those times. Although the construction of the Marshall Plan, the Berlin
Airlift and the Truman Doctrine suggest that U.S. had a specific concern regarding the
expansion of communism in Europe, the policy of Containment of America was extended to
Asia also. With the same, Asia have in fact proved to be the home continent to the first ever
major battle that was waged in the name of containment, which is, the Korean War. Also,
there is much to say regarding the choice of America in taking such one direction approach
towards anticommunism. Truman was well aware of the fact that Stalin was aimed at uniting
the whole world one day under one communist rule. He also knew that the ideology of
communism did not take issue with such type of goals, if anything it actually promoted was

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the widely domination of the communism. However, one of the most interesting part of all is
the the ideas, beliefs or ideologies of America have prevented them from taking such a
radical approach against their rival. Lastly, it is to state that the Containment Policy was a
feat of brilliance by Truman in true sense. It was carried out very effectively.

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References:
Bayne, N. (2016). The New Partnership for Africa's Development and the G8's Africa Action
Plan: A Marshall Plan for Africa?. In Sustaining Global Growth and
Development (pp. 141-154). Routledge.
Christenson, L., & Christenson, E. (2018). The Marshall Plan:“A Short Time to Change the
World”. In Politics and Cultures of Liberation (pp. 344-359). BRILL.
Duckett, D., Wynne, B., Christley, R. M., Heathwaite, A. L., Mort, M., Austin, Z., ... &
Haygarth, P. (2015). Can Policy Be Risk‐Based? The Cultural Theory of Risk and the
Case of Livestock Disease Containment. Sociologia Ruralis, 55(4), 379-399.
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Airlift. Air Power History, 62(2), 58.
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https://www.warhistoryonline.com/napoleon/napoleonic-wars-cost-many-lives.html
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Airlift. Food and Foodways, 25(2), 142-159.

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