Volume III – Number 2
Wayne Sigler
Abstract: After World War II, the United States encountered the international issue of Communism. This article addresses how the United States responded to the Communist Challenge by analyzing the Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy Administrations. The way in which America responded to this challenge was by creating the policy of containment. The Truman Administration created this policy and used it to check the expansion of communism by creating a balance of power to deter further Russian attempts to expand. The Eisenhower Administration, however, recognized some flaws with the policy of containment and decided to update it by creating military alliances. Under this Administration, the Strategic Air Command’s nuclear weapons were used to deter communist aggression by the threat of total annihilation, which was a component of containment. President Kennedy, finally, believed that the containment policy should balance the range of weapons, and he responded to communism in a successful way. President Kennedy pledged to give the United States more options than the choice between nuclear annihilation or surrendering in the face of communism.
Keywords: Kennedy Administration, Eisenhower Administration, Truman Administration, Communist Challenge, Containment, Strategic Air Command, World War Two.
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