Historical Circumstances Surrounding the Carter Doctrine

We must contain communism!!! Remember the Truman Doctrine? I hope so. In 1947, President Truman delivered a speech that became known as the Truman Doctrine – a policy meant to block Communist expansion (also known as containment). The goal of containment was to contain, or limit, Soviet expansion. The Cold War was not simply a struggle (ideological battle) between the United States and the Soviet Union. Each country did what they could to protect its economic and political interests abroad. Sometimes that meant doing not so good things as you shall soon see.

To what lengths was America willing to go to contain communism? 1950-1953 fCommunist North Korean army has invaded South Korea. American troops must go there to contain communism! Korea Harry S. Truman

1953 To what lengths was America willing to go to contain communism? Under the Eisenhower administration, the CIA helped stage a military coup to overthrow the Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh. Iran The policy of containment easily slid over into opposition to any government, whether communist or not, that seemed to threaten American strategic or economic interests. Mohammad Mosaddegh nationalized the Ango-Iranian Oil Company, whose refinery in Iran was Britain’s largest remaining overseas asset. Mohammad Mosaddegh Dwight D. Eisenhower

1954 To what lengths was America willing to go to contain communism? I love the U.S. and hate communism! I think socialism to some extent is not bad. Guatemala Carlos Castillo Jacobo Arbenz Like Mossadegh, Guzman was determined to reduce foreign corporations’ control over his country’s economy. Guzman embarked on a sweeping land-reform policy that threatened the domination of Guatemala’s economy by the American-owned United Fruit Company. Under the Eisenhower administration, the CIA also organized a military coup to overthrow President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Unsuccessful Bay of Pigs Invasion To what lengths was America willing to go to contain communism? X 1961 Unsuccessful Bay of Pigs Invasion Cuba Fearful that Castro would allow the Soviet Union to place missile site in Cuba and afraid of his move to nationalize American landholdings, Kennedy authorized the CIA to train anti-Castro exiles for an invasion of Cuba (Bay of Pigs). John F. Kennedy

To what lengths was America willing to go to contain communism? 1964-1973 fCommunist North Vietnam and communists living in the South are trying to take over the entire country! And, they just attacked us in the Gulf of Tonkin! We must declare war! Vietnam Lyndon B. Johnson

1968 Richard Nixon and Détente Nixon hoped to ease or relax tensions between the U.S. and its two major Communist rivals the Soviet Union and China. Richard Nixon won the Presidential election in 1968. Nixon would later resign as President after a political scandal (known as the Watergate scandal – let me know if you want to know more about this affair). Nixon’s did do some good things. His greatest success was in foreign affairs. Through his policy of détente – or an easing of tensions with Communist power – he helped to take the edge off the Cold War. 1968

Too much work for so little food! Nixon traveled to Beijing, China sparking an increase in trade between China and the U.S. Too much work for so little food! Nixon’s most surprising foreign policy move was to open contacts between the United States and Communist China.

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I) Nixon met with the leader of the Soviet Union to “talk” about armament control. Nixon also pursued détente with the other great Communist power, the Soviet Union. Several months after visiting China, Nixon went to Moscow. He and Soviet leaders signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT). SALT restricted the number and type of nuclear warheads and missiles that each nation could build. While it did not end the arms race, SALT showed that the Soviets and Americans were willing to work together to relax tensions.

To what lengths was America willing to go to contain communism? In 1970, Chile elected socialist Salvador Allende. In 1973, the CIA helped stage a military coup and installing a bloody dictatorship under General Augusto Pinochet. 1970 Salvador Allende P. W. Botha Chile S. Africa 1973 However, Nixon, like his predecessors policy of attempting to undermine governments deemed dangerous to American strategic or economic interests. Nixon also provided money and weapons to dictatorial regimes in South Africa. Augusto Pinochet Richard Nixon

1976 Carter and Human Rights Commitment to helping non-governmental agencies like Amnesty International expose human rights violations. President Jimmy Carter entered office in 1976 with high hopes. 1976

Carter brought the leaders of Egypt and Israel to presidential retreat at Camp David (Camp David Accords) In 1979, Carter brought the leaders of Egypt and Israel to presidential retreat at Camp David.

Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavī To what lengths was America willing to go to contain communism? IRAN 1978-79 1979 1979 EXILED In 1978, Carter cut off aid to the brutal military dictatorship governing Argentina (America previously had turned a blind-eye to). Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavī Argentina Ruhollah Khomeini However, the American connection with the shah of Iran, whose secret police regularly jailed and tortured political opponents proved to be Carter’s undoing. The U.S. long supported Iran’s monarch, the shah because Iran was a major oil supplier and a buffer against Soviet expansion. The shah had grown increasing unpopular in Iran due to his repressive rule and westernizing reforms – the Islamic clergy opposed the shah’s reforms. In January 1979, protestors forced him to flee. An Islamic republic was then declared. 1978 Jorge Rafael Videla Shah is given refuge in U.S. Jimmy Carter

Revolutionaries stormed the American embassy in Tehran and took 52 Americans hostage (444 days in captivity) Remember, the shah, who was overthrown by the Iranian public, was a brutal dictator. And yet, in 1979, Carter allowed the deposed shah to seek medical treatment in the United States. In November 1979, revolutionaries/Khomeini’s follower’s who were upset by Carter’s decision stormed the American embassy in Tehran, Iran and took 52 Americans hostages –the hostages spent 444 days in captivity (You will see a reenactment of the Iran Hostage Crisis from the film Argo soon).

1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan Another crisis that began in 1979 undermined American relations with Moscow (the Soviet Union). At the end of that year, the Soviet Union sent thousands of troops into Afghanistan to support a friendly government threated by Islamic rebellion. In April 1978 Afghanistan’s centrist government, headed by Pres. Mohammad Daud Khan, was overthrown by left-wing military officers led by Nur Mohammad Taraki. Power was thereafter shared by two Marxist-Leninist political groups, the People’s (Khalq) Party and the Banner (Parcham) Party—which had earlier emerged from a single organization, the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan—and had reunited in an uneasy coalition shortly before the coup. The new government, which had little popular support, forged close ties with the Soviet Union, launched ruthless purges of all domestic opposition, and began extensive land and social reforms that were bitterly resented by the devoutly Muslim and largely anticommunist population. Insurgencies arose against the government among both tribal and urban groups, and all of these—known collectively as the mujahideen (Arabic mujāhidūn, “those who engage in jihad”)—were Islamic in orientation.

It’s AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY TIME!!!