Franklin D. Roosevelt was president of the United States up until April 1945 and was then succeeded by Harry S. Truman. The change in leadership altered the foreign policy and the attitude the US had towards the Soviets. One reason why the grand alliance occurred and lasted, is due to Roosevelt’s appeasement to Stalin. Roosevelt’s main goal was to preserve the United Nations declaration and to sustain the wartime alliance during the peace, despite the fact that Stalin was making it difficult to minimize tensions during Yalta. However, when Truman became president on April 12, 1945, US foreign policy changed drastically. Truman was blunt and eager to halt the expansion of communism, one of his reasons being that “Russia may well outrank… the …show more content…
Stalin’s attitude towards Poland can be justified as Russia had already been invaded twice before through Poland, by Hitler, Kaiser Wilhelm and Napoleon. He saw Poland as “a country that was perpetually scheming against Russia”, which meant that Poland had been an entry to western countries to attack Russia, but also an opening for western influence. His obstinate stance on the question of Poland was a “question of life and death”, justifying his foreign policy towards Poland. Russia was also virtually bankrupt by the end of WWII and had suffered an immense amount of losses, leaving it extremely weak, suggesting that Russia is acting purely with defensive motives. Furthermore, Nikolai Novikov, a Soviet ambassador to the US, sent a telegram to Stalin in response the ‘long telegram’, in September 1946 discussing the US foreign policy. He viewed Truman as a right-wing extremist and accused the US of planning for world domination. He also informs Stalin that America is increasing military potential as it prepares for a “war against the Soviet Union, which in the eyes of American imperialists is the chief obstacle… to world domination”, in order to implement American political, military and economic policies world-wide. The aggressive US foreign policy suggested that their goal was to end the Soviets, so it can be argued that Russia was simply defending itself and grew hostile as the tensions and mistrust rose between both
The alliance formed between the US and USSR during the second world war was not strong enough to overcome the decades of uneasiness which existed between the two ideologically polar opposite countries. With their German enemy defeated, the two emerging nuclear superpowers no longer had any common ground on which to base a political, economical, or any other type of relationship. Tensions ran high as the USSR sought to expand Soviet influence throughout Europe while the US and other Western European nations made their opposition to such actions well known. The Eastern countries already under Soviet rule yearned for their independence, while the Western countries were willing to go to great lengths to limit Soviet expansion. "Containment of 'world revolution' became the watchword of American foreign policy throughout the 1950s a...
President Truman took the time to talk to Stalin about the Manhattan Project. Truman only told Stalin a few things about the Manhattan project at the Potsdam Conference. As he breaks the news of the Manhattan project to Stalin, in Truman Tells Stalin, July 24, 1945, Truman considers telling Stalin about the Manhattan project in a few words "a new weapon of unusual destructive force." This conference between Truman and Stalin was seen by different observers, the observers in Truman Tells Stalin, July 24, 1945 write “each describes the same event, but the event appears in a different light to each observer”.
There are few words in the English language that are difficult to define. Successful is one of those words considering everyone has their own definition of what it truly means to be successful in life. The word successful becomes even harder to define when paired with the word President. Every President had different qualities that made them successful during their terms. These qualities would be necessary in both times of peril and in times of peace. Americans tend to have a hard time trying to find the few genuinely successful presidents among the masses. Two Presidents that were truly successful were Thomas Jefferson and Harry S. Truman. These men had such an impact on politics on both the national and global levels. Jefferson and Truman
Eisenhower’s foreign policy was about containment and trying to discourage other countries from joining it by giving them financial and military aid. When he realized that containment itself was not enough to stop the Soviet expansion, he adopted a policy which he called massive retaliation whereby the U.S. was prepared to use atomic weapons if they were to be attacked. He tried diplomacy to develop relation with the Soviets even agreeing to join other leaders in Geneva Switzerland with the intention to calm the temperatures between the two nations. When diplomacy didn’t work, he signed a bill that allowed countries to request economic and military help from the U.S. if they are being attacked by a communist nation. Cold War did not end until after Ronald Reagan’s time as president when he challenged the leader of the Soviet to take down the Berlin wall which was the most recognizable symbol of the Cold War. At this time, the Soviet Union was disintegrating and its influence in Eastern Europe was waning fast bringing the war to an
After the war, the United States and the Soviet Union had very different ideas on how to rebuild. The United States, led by President Truman, wanted to form democracies in Europe and create a capitalistic society to build economically strong nations that would compliment the American economy through trade. In contrast, the Soviet Union, led by Joseph Stalin, wanted to rebuild itself and spread communism through Europe and Asia. In a desperate attempt to rebuild, many countries devastated by war fell under soviet influence and resorted to communism. The Soviet Union called these nations Satellite nations and hoped that they would serve as ?buffer? nations, preventing invasion from the west .In its efforts to defend democracy, the U.S. created the policy of containment. In this new policy, the United States would try to block Soviet influence by making alliances and supporting weaker nations. Winston Churchill described this strategy as an ?iron curtain?, which became and invisible line separating the communist from the capitalist countries in Europe. To help enforce the ideas of containment, President Truman create...
The foreign and domestic policies during the Cold War lead to both the separation of world powers and the fear of political and social systems throughout the world. After World War 2 had ended, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union heighted. The agreements made at the Yalta Conference between Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt , were not being followed by the Soviets. The Soviet Union kept the land they reconquered in Eastern Europe and did not enforce a democratic government in those countries, as they promised. Instead, the Soviet Union decided to continue spreading communism in their reconquered lands. The United States’ feared the spread of communism and attempted to do anything in its power to stop it. Before the United
There are many opinions surrounding the question: Was the decision by Truman to drop the atomic bomb ultimately the right or wrong decision? Not only can this question be answered in many different ways, it can be interpreted in many different ways as well. Overall, Truman ultimately made the right decision to drop the atomic bomb. This can be supported by the fact that the atomic bomb helped prevent the deaths of American troops, saved the lives of foreign citizens, and in comparison the atomic bomb was not as destructive as the firebombing in Tokyo.
The Soviet Union began to view the United States as a threat to communism, and the United States began to view the Soviet Union as a threat to democracy. On March 12, 1947, Truman gave a speech in which he argued that the United States should support nations trying to resist Soviet imperialism. Truman and his advisors created a foreign policy that consisted of giving reconstruction aid to Europe, and preventing Russian expansionism. These foreign policy decisions, as well as his involvement in the usage of the atomic bomb, raise the question of whether or not the Cold War can be blamed on Truman. Supporting the view that Truman was responsible for the Cold War, Arnold Offner argues that Truman’s parochialism and nationalism caused him to make contrary foreign policy decisions without regard to other nations, which caused the intense standoff between the Soviet Union and America that became the Cold War (Offner 291)....
Stalin did not trust the West, Britain and USA. because he remembered they had invaded Russia in 1919 and had ignored Stalin's appeal for a second front. Stalin was convinced they wanted the USSR to destroy itself when fighting Germany. At the end of the war, the Allies met at Yalta and later Potsdam.... ...
There have been many dictators through out history that have shaped the way we look at them now. Sometimes it’s the way that dictators came to power that people judge them on. Sometimes it’s how long they stayed in power, but it’s not just how long they stayed in power. It’s what they did to stay in power. These two men are some of the most infamous dictators for those reasons alone. These men are Joseph Stalin and Fidel Castro, and they played a huge part in shaping the way we look at dictators today.
As evidenced by their correspondence and FDR’s actions, some historians argued that Stalin and FDR’s relationship was genuine during the war. To further support this, Roosevelt had been working to build relations with the USSR and Stalin years before the US ever entered the war. In 1933, Roosevelt recognized the Soviet Union, an action that had not been done by the United States government since 1917. This action marked the beginning of Roosevelt’s efforts to strengthen his relationship with the Stalin. Roosevelt also appointed multiple ambassadors to the Soviet Union, such as Joseph Davies, and instructed them to pursue a Good Neighbor policy. This meant that most of what Stalin requested of the ambassadors was fulfilled as swiftly as possible.
Josef Stalin, a politician from the earliest beginnings of his life, strove to achieve a national sense of power during his reign over the citizens of Russia. Adolf Hitler, however, a born high school dropout somewhat longed for a place in life. He rather fell into his role as a politician, after his brief shortcomings in arts and sciences. These two individuals developed varying ideas to put their controlling minds to work to lead their political parties in the direction of total domination of the state.
A comparison of these two are Both leaders saw that changes were essential, they knew that without reforms, the Soviet Union would grow weaker and weaker. Khrushchev’s and Gorbachev’s reforms were wide and touched almost all important aspects of the government. One important aspect is how Khrushchev and Gorbachev saw the past and future. When Khrushchev came to power he had a big problem how to replace Stalin and how to rule the country after him. Stalin ruled through a cult of personality and many people thought that he was irreplaceable. At “the Twentieth Congress of the Khrushchev attacks Stalinism and the Cult of Personality in the secret speech, he denounced Stalin and the terror of his regime, everything Stalin did or said was incorrect,
Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower shared many similarities yet still many differences when it came to Cold War foreign policies. Truman’s foreign policies revolved around the Truman Doctrine, which stated that the United States would financially support Greece and Turkey . Despite Truman’s and Eisenhower’s differing political parties, the foreign policies of the presidents shared several similarities. The main differences between the two presidents can be attributed to differing circumstances during their years in office. Both Truman and Eisenhower sought to eliminate communism and support civil rights, but Truman emphasized international relations and the American economy while Eisenhower dealt more with domestic issues around civil rights.
This essay will concentrate on the comparison and analysis of two communist figures: Mao Zedong, leader of the Communist Party in China, and Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union. The main focus of this paper will be to explore each figure’s world view in depth and then compare and contrast by showing their differences and similarities.