All of the following committed the United States to the containment of communism except

Analyzing Documents

Created by the National Archives

About this Activity

• Historical Era:Postwar United States (1945 to early 1970s)
• Thinking Skill:Historical Analysis & Interpretation
• Bloom's Taxonomy:Analyzing
• Grade Level:Middle School

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In this activity, students will analyze a press release by President Truman announcing that he was committing American forces to a combined United Nations military effort in Korea at the beginning of the Korean War. Students will reflect on the language used in Truman's statement to the American people, compare it with Soviet views of events in Korea, and identify how Truman's words reflect the US policy of containment during the Cold War.

https://www.docsteach.org/activities/student/the-presidents-plan-for-action

Suggested Teaching Instructions

This activity can be used during a unit on the Cold War when covering the concept of containment and the Korean War. For grades 7-12. Approximate time needed is 25-30 minutes.

Direct students to begin the document-analysis activity individually or in pairs. They will learn that the document is a statement by the President about an important military matter, but will need to answer the questions to figure out which President (Truman) and what the military matter is (sending forces to Korea at the beginning of the Korean War).

Students should spend a minute or two looking at the document unassisted. Then they should proceed to answer the questions that follow, which will guide them through the process of document analysis:

• Meet the document.
• Observe its parts.
• Try to make sense of it.
• Use it as historical evidence.

If necessary, check in with your students at each step in the process and model analysis as needed.

Once students have finished the questions, discuss their answers as a class. They should gather that there was a conflict in Korea and that the President – President Harry Truman – told the American people that he was sending troops to fight against the North Koreans. If students have trouble with the following questions, discuss them specifically:

• What was happening at the time in history this document was created? — During the Cold War, the US government feared communism would spread around the world and adopted a policy of "containment."
• What did the President mean by "subversion" when he said "Communism has passed beyond the use of subversion to conquer independent nations"? — The United States had been worried about communists infiltrating the US government.
• The President mentions North Korea and China, but what other country do you think he was referring to without naming when he talked about "Communism"? — the Soviet Union
• What other places does the President mention? Why? — Truman pledged to defend Formosa (Taiwan) from attack by Communist China, to strengthen US forces in the Philippines, and to support French forces in Indochina – a conflict that would eventually escalate into the Vietnam War. These plans demonstrate the US policy of containment of communism.

After completing and discussing the analysis questions, direct students to "When You're Done."  They will be presented with an excerpt from the Soviet newspaper Pravda presenting the Soviet viewpoint of events in Korea:

Truman's statement and actions, unprecedented in the international relations of the post-war period, are just one more indication that the American ruling circles no longer limit themselves to preparation for aggression, but have gone over to direct acts of aggression… As is known, neither the United Nations nor any other international organ empowered the government of the USA to take those actions related to Korea and China that Truman announced yesterday. Undertaking their open aggressive act, the American government apparently intended to present the United Nations with a fait accompli.

Students will be presented with the following additional background information and asked to respond to the questions below to prepare for a class discussion:

Fait accompli means a done deed – something that is already done and can't be changed. This refers to the fact that the President's statement was released in the morning, before he attended a meeting of the United Nations later that afternoon. At the meeting he proposed a resolution condemning the "breach of the peace" and urging all UN member countries to give assistance to South Korea, which the UN adopted.

1. How does the Soviet view of what is going in Korea differ from that of the President?
2. How would you describe the language used both by the American President and by the Soviets? What emotions do you think this language was meant to stir up? Give examples.
3. What does the President's statement tell you about how the United States was responding to communism around the world?

Provide additional contextual information if required:

The United States and the Soviet Union agreed to temporarily divide Korea in half and oversee the removal of Japanese forces at the end of World War II. The division along the 38th parallel, a latitudinal line that bisected the country, avoided a long-term decision regarding Korea's future.

In 1946, Kim Il Sung organized a communist government in the north – the Democratic People's Republic. Shortly after, nationalist exile Syngman Rhee returned to Korea and set up a rival government in the south – the Republic of Korea (ROK). Each government hoped to reunify the country under its own rule.

On June 25, 1950, North Korean troops coordinated an attack at several strategic points along the 28th parallel and headed south toward Seoul. The United Nations Security Council voted 9-0 to adopt a resolution condemning the invasion as a "breach of the peace." The Security Council did not have a Soviet delegate, since six months prior, the Soviet Union had left to protest the UN's refusal to seat a delegate from China.

President Truman committed American forces to a combined UN military effort. Fifteen other nations also sent troops. Truman did not seek a formal declaration of war from Congress; officially, America's presence in Korea amounted to no more than a "police action."

The decision to intervene in Korea grew out of the tense atmosphere that characterized Cold War politics. The Soviet Union had exploded an atomic bomb in 1949, ending the United States' monopoly on the weapon. In Europe, Soviet intervention in Greece and Turkey had given rise to the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan, which funneled aid to war-torn Europe in the hopes of warding off communist political victories. In early 1950, President Truman directed the National Security Council (NSC) to conduct an analysis of Soviet and American military capabilities. The Council recommended heavy increases in military funding to help contain the Soviets.

Events in Asia also contributed to an increased sense of insecurity. Mao Zedong and his Communist party came into power in China in 1949. The nationalists, led by Chiang Kai-Shek, retreated to the island of Formosa (Taiwan) while they continued their war with mainland China. Mao allied himself with the Soviet Union.

The Truman administration also faced internal criticism regarding its commitment to anti-communism at home. Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin had recently begun his infamous hunt for communists within the US Government. Truman and his advisors found themselves under increased domestic pressure not to appear "soft" on communism abroad.

When North Korean troops invaded the South, the Truman administration seized the opportunity to defend a non-communist government from invasion by communist troops. Determined not to "lose" another country to communism, the Truman administration found itself defending a nation a world away from US soil.

Truman's statement was released to newspaper reporters. It suggests that he believed the attack by North Korea had been part of a larger plan by communist China and, by extension, the Soviet Union.

Although the United States took the lead in the Korean action, it did so under the rubric of the United Nations. That afternoon, Truman attended a UN meeting to propose a resolution urging all members of the United Nations to give assistance to South Korea. The meeting had been originally planned for the morning but was postponed to accommodate one of its members. Secretary of State Dean Acheson later reflected that the Soviets liked to point out that since the UN meeting occurred after the President's statement, Truman could not truthfully claim that his decision to commit forces was influenced by the wishes of the United Nations. When it did meet later that day, the UN passed his resolution, although a handful of dissenting countries abstained.

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