UNITED STATES HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT - JMap

Anchor Paper – Thematic Essay—Level 4 – A
Throughout the history of the United States, the purpose of the
governments’ foreign policy has been to protect the intrests of the
people in the United States as well as the world. After the world wars
when the United States had attained its position as a super power,
many aspects of our foreign policy were important in keeping not
only Americans but other parts of the world safe. During the Cold War
especially there would be many foreign policies that were successful
and others that were not. These included the response to the Cuban
Missle crisis and the Vietnam War.
During the period after WWII, the United States was in a Cold War
with the Soviet Union. The United States was adament about
containing the spread of communism and keeping the world safe for
democracy. However, things were becoming dangerous because both The
USSR and The U.S were building up their nuclear arms. This arms
race left many Americans feerful that an atomic war would
commence. Fears were at the highest in 1962 when the USSR placed
their atomic missles in nearby Cuba that could easily attack
American cities. President John F. Kennedy responded by ordering a
blockade of naval ships to quarantine Cuba and keep the Soviets from
adding more missiles. This was the closest that the world has come to
nuclear war. After a tense standoff, the Soviets turned around and
didn’t challenge the blockade. Some of Kennedy’s advisors had urged
him to bomb missile sites or invade the island. Either of these choices
might have resulted in war with the Soviet Union. Both countries
realized that they needed to take precautionary measures to reduce the
risk of nuclear war from happening again. A direct phone line was set
up between the president and Nikita Khrushchev, leader of USSR to
U.S. Hist. & Gov. Rating Guide – June ’13 [16] Vol. 1