Assignment 1 SOC 450

Note the Following:

(1) There is no abstract.

(2) The paper is at least six pages long (for honors sections) and four pages long (for regular classes) with good citations and written in 12 point font with one-inch margins all the way around.

(3) The entire paper is double-spaced with no extra spacing between paragraphs or sections.

(4) Each question in the assignment MUST be numbered and at least one page in length.

(5) You will use the Strayer Writing Standards for citations and do not include dictionaries, encyclopedias or Wikipedia. See end of paper for how these citations should look. Note that you can list your citations in one of two forms: either as (1), (2), (3) etc. and then you list them as endnotes as you see at the end of this sample paper, or as footnotes in Word, which look like [footnoteRef:1] and [footnoteRef:2] and so on [footnoteRef:3] in the text. (See the end of the paper for an example.) To do this, you simply go to ‘References’ at the top of the page in the breadcrumbs and then click on ‘Insert Footnote.’ They will be numbered automatically at the bottom of each page as you see at the bottom of this page. [1: Full source in 10 point font] [2: Full source in 10 point font] [3: Full source in 10 point font]

(6) You want to avoid the use of the first person singular, so do not use phrases like ‘I think that . . . ‘ or ‘In my opinion . . . ‘ or ‘I feel that . . . ‘

(7) The sentences are not short and choppy, but rather are complete and grammatically correct with proper spelling.

(8) Get right to the essence of each question without any long, drawn out discussion of any one country’s geography, exports economy, political system. Address exactly what each question asks for.

The Truman Doctrine

World War II had just ended and the United States and the Soviet Union, previously allies in the war, suddenly found themselves as competing superpowers in the world. The United States disapproved of communism and the tyranny that Joseph Stalin ruled by.

The Results of the Doctrine

As a result of the Truman Doctrine and resulting a program known as the Marshall Plan, which helped Europe recover economically. This was good for America, even while the biggest gains were seen by the Europeans countries and their citizens. (1) The improvements to infrastructure and finances relaxed the region quite a bit, allowing self-serving countries to start working together. The effects of the Marshall plan were much better than anyone initially expected. (2)

The Domino Theory

Another concept created by the Truman Doctrine was the idea of ‘domino theory’: “the idea that sudden change in the leadership of one nation can set off a chain reaction in its neighbors, transforming an entire region.” (3) This concept was easily understood and quickly accepted not only by American citizens but also our Government officials. This was given the connotation of the ‘Red Scare’ and was a real and noticeable thing during the 1950s. (4)

NATO

But cooler heads did prevail to some extent. Countries of the free world recognized that threats such as Hitler’s regime, and now the communism of the Soviets, could be better defended through cooperation. The United States’ entrance into WWII and the rebuilding efforts of the Marshall Plan had proven this was the case. (5) Truman showed, through military aid, how working together can benefit everyone. This was known as the Military Assistance Program in the United States but expanded to include many other countries. Today, known as the “North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO includes 12 Western nations that pool their resources for the combined protection of each other.” (6)

Warsaw Pact

But not all responses to the Truman Doctrine were by the United States. It also created responses from the Soviet Union. In response to NATO, Eastern Europe created the Warsaw Pact in 1955. “The Warsaw Pact came to be seen as quite a potential militaristic threat, as a sign of Communist dominance, and a definite opponent to American capitalism.” (7)

Policy of Containment

Truman established his plan in an effort to help other countries; in an effort to help ourselves. (8) The methods he used to accomplish this created a policy of containment against the Soviets that could not be ignored. In fact, the term containment was coined by George F. Kennan during this time. He later wrote an article for Foreign Affairs quarterly explaining his stance. “U.S. strategy should be a policy of firm containment, designed to confront the Russians with unalterable counter-force at every point where they show signs of encroaching upon the interests of a peaceful and stable world.” (9) This set up a divide across the world, a ‘you versus us’ mentality. Neither country wanted to determine this outcome militarily, as mutual destruction was the likely result, but that did not mean that each country would not try to destroy each other in every other way possible.

You could also list your references as explained in note (4) above, and they would look like this:

The world was clearly becoming divided into three main entities; the first was NATO representing the western free world.[footnoteRef:4] The second was the communist collective headed by the Soviet Union. The third was a collection of smaller states that typically wanted to remain neutral in wartime events. While the efforts of Truman we designed to bring the world closer together, it drove the Eastern Bloc further away and heightened tensions between East and West.[footnoteRef:5] [4: John C. Branch, Truman’s Construction of the Iron Curtain, (New York: Patterson Press, 1989), pp. 56-89.] [5: Richard Foote, ‘Dealing With Stalin,’ Newsweek Magazine, Vol. 23, No. 3, November 5, 1948, pp, 13-14. ]

(See References Below)

References Dambacher, N. (n.d.). (n.d. means no publishing date is listed on the document). The Cold War Museum. Retrieved February 16, 2018, from http://www.coldwar.org/articles/50s/TheWarsawPact.asp The Economist, (January 1, 1970), Retrieved February 18, 2018, from http://gcsehistorynotes.blogspot.com/2015/03/cominform-and-comecon.html GCSE. (n.d.). Cominform and Comecon, Retrieved February 16, 2018, from http://www.projectgcse.co.uk/gcse_history/cominform_and_comecon History.com Staff, (2009). The Marshall Plan, Retrieved February 16, 2018, from http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/marshall-plan History.com Staff.], (2010). ‘The Formation of NATO,’ Retrieved February 16, 2018, from http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/formation-of-nato-and-warsaw-pact Lawler, D. J., & E. R. (Eds.), (n.d.). The Truman Doctrine, Retrieved February 15, 2018, from https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/truman-doctrine Tanenhaus, S. (2003, March 22). The World From Vietnam to Iraq: The Rise and Fall and Rise of the Domino Theory, Retrieved February 17, 2018, from http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/23/weekinreview/the-world-from-vietnam-to-iraq-the-rise-and-fall-and-rise-of-the-domino-theory.html Truman, H. S. (n.d.), President Truman’s Address Before a Joint Session of Congress, March 12, 1947, Retrieved February 12, 2018, from http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20thcentury/trudoc.asp Van Schaick, F. (1949), ‘American Aid to Greece,’ Editorial Research Reports 1949 (Vol. I), (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 2009), Retrieved from http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre1949020900