Question

What was the policy of containment?

Answer 1

Containment was a United States policy using numerous strategies to prevent the spread of communism abroad. A component of the Cold War, this policy was a response to a series of moves by the Soviet Union to enlarge its communist sphere of influence in Eastern Europe, China, Korea, and Vietnam.

Answer 2

Answer: Under its foreign policy of containment, the United States aimed to keep communism from expanding. That meant trying to stop communist aggression in places like Korea and Vietnam.

Explanation/context:

The policy of containment focused on keeping communism and the Soviet Union's influence limited. It influenced US foreign policy by prompting intervention in places like Korea and Vietnam to stop the spread of communism.

George F. Kennan recommended the policy of containment which set the tone for US involvement in world relations following World War II. Kennan was an American diplomat in Moscow after World War II. In 1946, he sent what became known as "the long telegram" of his advice about what the USA needed to do about the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the threat of communism. He recommended not confronting the USSR directly but simply trying to keep communism contained to where it already had taken hold.