U.S. Response to Decolonization (College Board AP® US History): Study Guide

Timeline

Summary

Dozens of colonial empires collapsed in the years following World War II. This almost always left a vacuum of power that the United States and the USSR were eager to fill with either democratic capitalism or authoritarian communism. The United States involved itself in regime changes in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East to promote democracy and, often, its own economic interests.

At home, politicians and citizens debated the pros and cons of the growing nuclear arms race with the USSR, while President Dwight Eisenhower cautioned against policymaking via the military‒industrial complex.

Latin America

• The United States had a vested interest in keeping communism out of Latin America because it was so close to home

  • This often led to the U.S. supporting corrupt and/or dangerous dictators

  • In 1954, the CIA helped overthrow Guatemala’s socialist-leaning government that threatened U.S. business interests

  • In April 1961, U.S. President John F. Kennedy authorized the invasion of communist Cuba by CIA-trained Cuban exiles

    • The Bay of Pigs invasion was a failure

    • Castro had the Soviets build underground missile launchers aimed toward the United States

    • This resulted in the Cuban Missile Crisis

  • President Lyndon Johnson was more concerned about whether nations were against communism than whether they were committed to democracy

    • In 1964, the U.S. supported a military coup against communist leadership in Brazil

  • In 1965, Johnson sent troops into the Dominican Republic to prevent a communist overthrow of the government

Africa and the Middle East

• Thirty-seven new nations emerged from formerly colonized lands in Africa and the Middle East between 1947and 1960

• These new countries lacked political and economic stability

  • The United States referred to these as “Third World” countries

• As in Latin America, the United States and the USSR tried to persuade these new countries to adopt democracy or communism

  • The United States promoted democracy through foreign aid

    • Until 1952, most foreign aid went to Europe. By 1960, 90% of foreign aid was sent to Third World nations

The Eisenhower Doctrine

• In 1957, President Dwight Eisenhower pledged that the United States would provide economic and military support to any Middle Eastern country threatened by communism

  • This later became known as the Eisenhower Doctrine

  • Eisenhower made this proclamation in response to the USSR’s growing influence in Egypt and Syria

• Some countries, such as India and Egypt, refused to choose democracy or communism (even if they accepted foreign aid)

  • They followed a nonalignment policy

Reaction to U.S. intervention

• In 1960, the United States helped the United Nations stop a civil war in the Congo, where it was feared that communists were about to take control of the government

• U.S. intervention caused resentment among many African nationalists

  • They saw U.S. involvement as another example of white colonialism

  • For many years, anti-communist groups in Africa were segregationists

  • The United States cut its ties with these groups after Richard Nixon’s presidency