History both discussions

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Discussion 2

The end of the second world war also ended the alliance of the Soviet Union and the United States . Tensions quickly arose after the west realized that Stalin had no intention to relinquish control of the states of eastern Europe . The emergence of China as a communist nation in 1949 and North Korea 's attack on South Korea was compelling evidence that communism was committed to world domination . Combine these threats with the probability that nuclear weapons would be used in any major

br conflict with the Soviet Union and it is understandable why America 's foreign policy developed as it did after WWII . American foreign policy during the cold war can be summarized with one word : fear

George Kennan , an American diplomat stationed in Moscow , sent president Truman an assessment of the Soviet Union 's intentions and his suggestions on how to deal with the Soviets without provoking an all out war (Boyer , 622 . Kennan 's opinion that the best response was a firm long-term resistance to Soviet expansionism fit perfectly with Truman 's resolve to not yield to Soviet aggression . Winston Churchill gave his famous Iron Curtain ' speech as a wake-up call for all Americans about the threat of Soviet expansionism . The victory of Mao Zedong 's communist forces in China and the detonation of a Soviet nuclear bomb in 1949 resulted in near panic of the American public (Boyer ,627 . Any doubts about intentions of Red China and the Soviet Union were...