Containment Containment was a United States policy 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 communist influence in Eastern Europe , China , Korea , Africa , and Vietnam . It represented a middle - ground position between appeasement and rollback . The basis of the doctrine was articulated in a 1946 cable by U . S . diplomat George F . Kennan . As a description of U . S . foreign policy , the word originated in a report Kennan submitted to U . S . Defense Secretary James Forrestal in 1947 , a report that was later used in a magazine article . It is a translation of the French " cordon sanitaire , " used to describe Western policy toward the Soviet Union in the 1920s . The word " containment " is associated most strongly with the policies of U . S . President Harry Truman ( 1945 – 53 ) , including the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO ) , a mutual defense pact . Although President Dwight Eisenhower ( 1953 – 61 ) toyed with the rival doctrine of rollback , he refused to intervene in the Hungarian Uprising of 1956 . President Lyndon Johnson ( 1963 – 69 ) cited containment as a justification for his policies in Vietnam . President Richard Nixon ( 1969 – 74 ) , working with advisor Henry Kissinger , followed a policy called détente , or relaxation of tensions . This involved expanded trade and cultural contacts , as well as the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks . President Jimmy Carter ( 1977 – 81 ) at first emphasized human rights rather than anti - communism . He dropped this stance and returned to containment when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979 . President Ronald Reagan ( 1981 – 89 ) , denouncing the Soviet state as an " evil empire " , escalated the Cold War and promoted rollback in Nicaragua and Afghanistan . Central programs begun under containment , including NATO and nuclear deterrence , remained in effect even after the end of the cold war . History . Background . Without using the term , the new Republican Party in the Northern United States in the 1850s proposed a system of containing slavery , once it gained control of the national government . Historian James Oakes explains the strategy : Following the 1917 communist revolution in Russia , there were calls by Western leaders to isolate the Bolshevik government , which seemed intent on promoting worldwide revolution . In March 1919 , French Premier Georges Clemenceau called for a " cordon sanitaire " , or ring of non - communist states , to isolate the Soviet Union . Translating this phrase , U . S . President Woodrow Wilson called for a " quarantine . " Both phrases compare communism to a contagious disease . The U . S . refused to recognize the Soviet Union , but President Franklin D . Roosevelt reversed the policy in 1933 , hoping to expand American export markets . The Munich Agreement of 1938 was an attempt to contain Nazi expansion in Europe ; it failed . The U . S . tried to contain Japanese expansion in Asia in 1937 - 41 , and Japan reacted with its attack on Pearl Harbor . After Germany invaded the USSR in 1941 during the World War II , the U . S . and the Soviet Union found themselves allied in opposition to Germany . The policy was rollback to destroy Germany and Japan . Origin ( 1944 – 1947 ) . Key State Department personnel grew increasingly frustrated with and suspicious of the Soviets as the war drew to a close . Averell Harriman , U . S . ambassador in Moscow , once a " confirmed optimist " regarding U . S . - Soviet relations , was disillusioned by what he saw as the Soviet betrayal of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising as well as by violations of the February 1945 Yalta Agreement concerning Poland . Harriman would later have a significant influence in forming Truman ' s views on the Soviet Union . In February 1946 , the U . S . State Department asked George F . Kennan , then at the U . S . Embassy in Moscow , why the Russians opposed the creation of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund . He responded with a wide - ranging analysis of Russian policy now called the " Long Telegram " : According to Kennan : Kennan ' s cable was hailed in the State Department as " the appreciation of the situation that had long been needed . " Kennan himself attributed the enthusiastic reception to timing : " Six months earlier the message would probably have been received in the State Department with raised eyebrows and lips pursed in disapproval . Six months later , it would probably have sounded redundant . " Clark Clifford and George Elsey produced a report elaborating on the " Long Telegram " and proposing concrete policy recommendations based on its analysis . This report , which recommended " restraining and confining " Soviet influence , was presented to Truman on September 24 , 1946 . In January 1947 , Kennan drafted an essay entitled " The Sources of Soviet Conduct . " Navy Secretary James V . Forrestal gave permission for the report to be published in the journal " Foreign Affairs " under the pseudonym " X . " Biographer Douglas Brinkley has dubbed Forrestal " godfather of containment " on account of his work in distributing Kennan ' s writing . The use of the word " containment " originates from this so - called " X Article " : " In these circumstances it is clear that the main element of any United States policy toward the Soviet Union must be that of long - term , patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies . " Kennan later turned against the containment policy and noted several deficiencies in his X Article . He later said he that by containment he meant not the containment of Soviet Power " by military means of a military threat , but the political containment of a political threat . " Second , Kennan admitted a failure in the article to specify the geographical scope of " containment " , and that containment was not something he believed the United States could necessarily achieve everywhere successfully . Harry Truman ( 1945 – 53 ) . After Republicans gained control of Congress in the 1946 elections , President Truman , a Democrat , made a dramatic speech that is often used to mark the beginning of the Cold War . In March 1947 , he requested that Congress appropriate $ 400 million in aid to the Greek and Turkish governments , then fighting Communist subversion . Truman pledged to , " support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures . " This pledge became known as the Truman Doctrine . Portraying the issue as a mighty clash between " totalitarian regimes " and " free peoples , " the speech marks the adoption of containment as official U . S . policy . Congress appropriated the money . Truman ' s motives on this occasion have been the subject of considerable scholarship and several schools of interpretation . In the orthodox explanation of Herbert Feis , a series of aggressive Soviet actions in 1945 – 47 in Poland , Iran , Turkey and elsewhere awakened the American public to this new danger to freedom and Truman responded . In the revisionist view of William Appleman Williams , Truman ' s speech was an expression of longstanding American expansionism . In the realpolitik view of Lynn Davis , Truman was a naive idealist who unnecessarily provoked the Soviets by couching disputes in terms like democracy and freedom that were alien to the Communist vision . According to psychological analysis by Deborah Larson , Truman felt a need to prove his decisiveness and feared that aides would make unfavorable comparisons between him and his predecessor , Franklin Roosevelt . " I am here to make decisions , and whether they prove right or wrong I am going to take them , " he once said . The drama surrounding the announcement of the Truman Doctrine catered to president ' s self - image of a strong and decisive leader , but his real decision - making process was more complex and gradual . The timing of the speech was not a response to any Soviet action , but rather to the fact that the Republican Party had just gained control of Congress . Truman was little involved in drafting the speech and did not himself adopt the hard - line attitude it suggested until several months later . The British , with their own position weakened by economic distress , urgently called on the U . S . to take over the traditional British role in Greece . Undersecretary of State Dean Acheson took the lead in Washington , warning congressional leaders in late February 1947 that if the United States did not take over from the British , the result most probably would be a " Soviet breakthrough " that " might open three continents to Soviet penetration . " Truman was explicit about the challenge of Communism taking control of Greece . He won wide support from both parties as well as experts in foreign policy inside and outside the government . It was strongly opposed by the Left , as represented by former Vice President Henry A . Wallace , who ran against Truman in the 1948 presidential campaign . Truman , under the guidance of Dean Acheson , followed up his speech with a series of measures to contain Soviet influence in Europe , including the Marshall Plan , or European Recovery Program , and NATO , a military alliance between the U . S . and Western European nations created in 1949 . Because containment required detailed information about Communist moves , the government relied increasingly on the Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) . Established by the National Security Act of 1947 , the CIA conducted espionage in foreign lands , some of it visible , more of it secret . Truman approved a classified statement of containment policy called NSC 20 / 4 in November 1948 , the first comprehensive statement of security policy ever created by the United States . The Soviet Union ' s first nuclear test in 1949 prompted the National Security Council to formulate a revised security doctrine . Completed in April 1950 , it became known as NSC 68 . It concluded that a massive military buildup was necessary to the deal with the Soviet threat . According to the report , drafted by Paul Nitze and others : Alternative strategies . There were three alternative policies to containment under discussion in the late 1940s . The first was a return to isolationism – minimizing American involvement with the rest of the world . This policy was favored by conservative Republicans , especially from the Midwest , including former President Herbert Hoover and Senator Robert A . Taft . However many Republicans , led by Oregon Senator Arthur H . Vandenberg said that policy has led to World War II , and was too dangerous to revive . A second policy was continuation of the détente policies of friendly relationships , especially trade , with the Soviet Union . Roosevelt himself and been the champion of détente , but he was dead , and most of his inner circle had left the government by 1946 . The chief proponent of détente was Henry A . Wallace , former vice president and currently the Secretary of Commerce under Truman . Wallace ' s position was supported by Far Left elements of the CIO , but they were themselves purges in 1947 - 48 . Wallace ran against Truman on the Progressive Party ticket in 1948 , but his campaign was increasingly dominated by Communists and détente was discredited . The third policy was rollback — an aggressive effort to undercut or destroy the Soviet Union itself . Military rollback against the Soviet Union was proposed by James Burnham and other conservative strategists in the late 1940s . After 1954 , Burnham and like - minded strategists became editors and regular contributors to William F . Buckley ' s magazine , the " National Review . " Truman himself adopted a rollback strategy in the Korean War after the success of the Inchon landings in September 1950 , only to reverse himself after the Chinese counterattack two months later . Under President Eisenhower , there was much discussion whether the U . S . should pursue a rollback strategy against Communism in Eastern Europe in 1953 - 56 ; the decision was not to . The main argument against rollback was that the Soviets might well respond with World War III — and in 1950 they were known to have nuclear weapons . Korea . The U . S . entered the Korean War to defend South Korea from a communist invasion , that is , following containment doctrine . However , the success of the Inchon landing inspired the U . S . and the United Nations to adopt a rollback strategy to overthrow the Communist North Korean regime , thus allowing nationwide elections under U . N . auspices . General Douglas MacArthur then advanced across the 38th parallel into North Korea . The Chinese then sent in a large army and defeated the U . N . forces , pushing them below the 38th parallel . Although the Chinese had been planning to intervene for months , this action was interpreted by Truman ' s supporters as a response to U . S . forces crossing the 38th parallel . This interpretation allowed the episode to be used to confirm the wisdom of containment doctrine as opposed to rollback . The Communists were later pushed back , to around the original border . Truman blamed MacArthur ' s focus on victory and adopted a " limited war " policy . His focus shifted to negotiating a settlement , which was finally reached in 1953 . For his part , MacArthur denounced Truman ' s " No - win policy . " Dulles . Many Republicans , including John Foster Dulles , concluded that Truman had been too timid . In 1952 , Dulles called for rollback and the eventual " liberation " of eastern Europe . Dulles was named secretary of state by incoming President Dwight Eisenhower , but Eisenhower ' s decision not to intervene during the Hungarian Uprising of 1956 made containment a bipartisan doctrine . President Eisenhower relied on clandestine CIA actions to undermine hostile governments and used economic and military foreign aid to strengthen governments supporting the American position in the Cold War . Vietnam . Senator Barry Goldwater , the Republican candidate for president in 1964 , challenged containment and asked , " Why not victory ? " President Johnson , the Democratic nominee , answered that rollback risked nuclear war . Johnson explained containment doctrine by quoting the Bible : " Hitherto shalt thou come , but not further . " Goldwater lost to Johnson in the general election by a wide margin . Johnson adhered closely to containment during the Vietnam War . Rejecting proposals by General William Westmoreland that U . S . ground forces advance into Laos and cut communist supply lines , Johnson gathered a group of elder statesmen called The Wise Men . This group included Kennan , Acheson and other former Truman advisors . Rallies in support of the troops were discouraged for fear that a patriotic response would lead to demands for victory and rollback . Military responsibility was divided among three generals so that no powerful theater commander could emerge to challenge Johnson as MacArthur had challenged Truman . Nixon , who replaced Johnson in 1969 , referred to his foreign policy as détente , or a relaxation of tension . Although it continued to aim at restraining the Soviet Union , it was based on political realism , or thinking in terms of national interest , as opposed to crusades against communism or for democracy . Emphasis was placed on talks with the Soviet Union concerning nuclear weapons called the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks . Nixon reduced U . S . military presence in Vietnam to the minimum required to contain communist advances , a policy called Vietnamization . As the war continued , it grew less popular . A Democratic Congress forced Nixon , a Republican , to abandon this policy in 1973 by enacting the Case - Church Amendment . This law ended U . S . military involvement in Vietnam and led to violent communist takeovers of South Vietnam , Laos and Cambodia . President Jimmy Carter ( 1977 – 81 ) came to office committed to a foreign policy that emphasized human right s . But in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan , containment was again made a priority . The wording of the Carter Doctrine ( 1980 ) intentionally echoes that of the Truman Doctrine . Ronald Reagan ( 1981 – 89 ) . Following the communist victory in Vietnam , Democrats began to view further communist advance as inevitable while Republicans returned to rollback doctrine . Ronald Reagan , a long - time advocate of rollback , was elected U . S . president in 1980 . Reagan took a more aggressive approach to dealings with the USSR , believing that détente was misguided and peaceful coexistence was tantamount to surrender . When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979 , American policy makers worried that the Soviets were making a run for control of the Persian Gulf . Throughout the 1980s , under a policy that came to be known as the Reagan Doctrine , the United States provided technical and economic assistance to the Afghan guerrillas fighting against the Soviet army . By sending military aid to anti - communist insurgents in Afghanistan , Angola , Cambodia , and Nicaragua , he confronted existing communist governments and went beyond the limits of containment doctrine . He deployed the Pershing II missile in Europe and promoted research on a Strategic Defense Initiative , which critics called " Star Wars " , to shoot down missiles fired at the United States . Reagan ' s aim was to defeat the Soviets through an expensive arms buildup the Soviets could not match . However , Reagan continued to follow containment doctrine in several key areas . He pursued a comprehensive nuclear disarmament initiative called START I and policy toward Europe continued to emphasize a NATO - based defensive approach . The end of the Cold War in 1991 marked the official end of U . S . containment policy , though it kept its bases in the areas around Russia , such as ones in Iceland , Germany , and Turkey . Also much of the containment policy helped influenced U . S . foreign policy in later years such as during the War on Terror and dealing with post - Cold War dictators . See also . Non - Cold War :