8.7 Foreign Policy

Can He Block It

Truman

"I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way. I believe that our help should be primarily through economic and financial aid..."

-Harry Truman

Subjugation: to conquer, bring under control

July 19, 1950

Korea is a small country, thousands of miles away, but what is happening there is important to every American.

On Sunday, June 25th, Communist forces attacked the Republic of Korea.

This attack has made it clear, beyond all doubt, that the international Communist movement is willing to use armed invitation to conquer independent nations. An act of aggression such as this creates a very real danger to the security of all free nations.

The attack upon Korea was an outright breach (violation) of the peace and a violation of the Charter of the United Nations. By their actions in Korea, Communist leaders have demonstrated (shown) their contempt (disrespect) for the basic moral principles (values) on which the United Nations is founded. This is a direct challenge to the efforts of the free nations to build the kind of world in which men can live in freedom and peace...

Furthermore, the fact that Communist forces have invaded Korea is a warning that there may be similar acts of aggression in other parts of the world. The free nations must be on their guard, more than ever before, against this kind of sneak attack...

Source: President Harry Truman, Radio and Television Address to the American People on the Situation in Korea, July 19, 1950

Deployment Graph - Document 1 & Document 2

Document 1:

Source: Tim Kane, Heritage Foundation, 2006 (adapted)

Document 2:

...Within a year of the start of the international conflict in Korea, the number of people serving in America’s armed forces more than doubled to over 3.2 million; army divisions went from ten to eighteen; the Air Force went from forty-two to seventy-two wing groups; and the Navy expanded its number of ships from 600 to over 1,000. The pace of military build-up at this point exceeded that set by America when it first entered the Second World War. The bureaucracy of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) also mushroomed. In 1949 the CIA’s Office of Policy Coordination had 302 personnel in its offices. By 1952 it had about 6,000. CIA stations in foreign countries increased from seven in 1951 to forty-seven in early 1953....

Source: Steven Hugh Lee, The Korean War, Pearson Education Limited, 2001 (adapted)

Peace Without Conquest

"...Why are these realities our concern? What are we in South Viet-Nam?

We are there because we have a promise to keep. Since 1954 every American President has offered support to the people of South Viet-Nam. WE have helped to build, and we have helped to defend. Thus, over many years, we have made a national pledge to help South Viet-Nam defend its independence.

And I intend to keep that promise.

To dishonor that pledge, to abandon this small and brave nation to its enemies, and to the terror that must follow, would be an unforgivable wrong.

We are also there to strengthen world order. Around the globe, from Berlin to Thailand, are people whose well-being rests, in part, on the belief that they can count on us if they are attacked. To leave Viet-Nam to its fate would shake the confidence of all these people in the value of an American commitment and in the value of America's word. The result would be increased unrest and instability, and even wider war..."

Source: "Peace Without Conquest," President Lyndon B. Johnson, Address at Johns Hopkins University April 7, 1965

…We will stay because in Asia and around the world are countries whose independence rests, in large measure, on confidence in America’s word and in America’s protection. To yield (give in) to force in Vietnam would weaken that confidence, would undermine (threaten) the independence of many lands… We would have to fight in one land, and then we would have to fight in another - or abandon much of Asia to the domination (take over) of communists…

Source: President Lyndon B. Johnson, State of the Union Address, January 12, 1966

Pact

How to let go

DOCUMENT 1

DOCUMENT 2

CLARK M. CLIFFORD

815 Connecticut Avenue

Washington, D.C. 20006

May 17, 1965

The President The White House Dear Mr. President:

... I believe our ground forces in South Vietnam should be kept to a minimum, consistent with the protection of our installations and property in that country. My concern is that a substantial buildup of U.S. ground troops would be construed by the Communists, and by the world, as a determination on our part to win the war on the ground.

This could be a quagmire. It could turn into an open-end commitment on our part that would take more and more ground troops, without a realistic hope of ultimate victory. I do not think the situation is comparable to Korea. The political posture of the parties involved, and the physical conditions, including terrain, are entirely different.

... Respectfully yours, Clark

Walker Pub

On September 2, 1958, less than a year after the launching of Sputnik, President Dwight Eisenhower signed into law the National Defense Education Act (NDEA).

...Between 1958 and 1968, NDEA also provided loan money for more than 1.5 million individual college students - fellowships directly responsible for producing 15,000 Ph.D.s a year. NDEA allocated approximately $1 billion to support research and education in the sciences over four years; federal support for science-related research and education increased between 21 and 33 percent per year through 1964, representing a tripling of science research and education expenditures over five years. States were given money to strengthen schools on a fifty-fifty matching basis, thousands of teachers were sent to NDEA-sponsored summer schools, and the National Science Foundation sponsored no fewer than fifty-three curriculum development projects. By the time of the lunar landing in 1969, NDEA alone had pumped $3 billion into American education....

Source: Paul Dickson, Sputnik: The Shock of the Century, Walker Publishing Company, 2001

Don't forget

Not Watering

Cuban Missile Crisis

Reagan

"...There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!..."

-President Ronald Reagan, June 12, 1987