How Effectively Did the USA Contain the Spread of Communism?

How effectively did the USA contain the spread of communism?

Historians debate how far the USA was able to successfully contain communism.

How was the USA successful at containing communism?

There are 6 main ways the USA was able to contain communism successfully:

• ❖ South Korea remained free from communism.
• ❖ The creation of SEATO made the growth of communism in Asia less likely.
• ❖ Communism would have spread further in Asia if the USA hadn't intervened. For example, Japan, Formosa, Thailand, Burma and Malaysia didn't fall to communism.
• ❖ Cuba no longer posed a significant military threat as Kennedy prevented nuclear missiles being placed there.
• ❖ Early attempts at trying to spread communism into Central and South America failed.
• ❖ Marshall Aid and the Truman Doctrine prevented communism from spreading further in Europe, for example with Greece in 1947.

How did the USA fail to contain communism?

There are 6 main ways the USA was unable to contain communism successfully:

• ❖ They were unable to contain communism to North Vietnam. Vietnam became, and remained, a united communist country.
• ❖ Laos and Cambodia also fell to communism.
• ❖ North Korea remained communist.
• ❖ Cuba remained communist.
• ❖ Some communist ideas spread to Central America.
• ❖ Stalin was able to maintain huge influence over eastern Europe, and many eastern European countries became communist.