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Attempts to Contain Communism Videos 5 videos
AP U.S. History Diagnostic 24. How did the United States choose containment over the National Security Council Report in Latin America?
AP U.S. History Diagnostic 22. Which established foreign policy was the National Security Council Report used to solidify?
In this AP U.S. History question read the excerpt and determine how it reflects on conceptual shifts in American Foreign Policy. AP U.S. His...
AP U.S. History Diagnostic 24 208 Views
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AP U.S. History Diagnostic 24. How did the United States choose containment over the National Security Council Report in Latin America?
Transcript
- 00:00
[ musical flourish ]
- 00:03
And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by containment,
- 00:07
Tupperware's tried and true corporate strategy.
- 00:10
All right, first up, the excerpt.
- 00:11
[ mumbles ]
Full Transcript
- 00:18
[ mumbles ] And now the question:
- 00:20
How did the United States choose containment
- 00:23
over the National Security Council Report
- 00:25
in Latin America? And here are your potential answers.
- 00:28
[ musical tones ]
- 00:31
What exactly is this question asking?
- 00:33
The goal of the National Security Council Report
- 00:36
was to ensure that the basic rights of people were secure.
- 00:40
But in Latin America, the United States was
- 00:42
so focused on containing and overthrowing communist leaders,
- 00:45
that the NSC's noble intentions often fell by the wayside.
- 00:49
So we need to figure out which answer best explains
- 00:51
how the U.S. went about this less-than-noble course of action.
- 00:54
Did the U.S. choose containment over the National Security
- 00:57
Council Report A - by using force when basic rights
- 01:01
were not being threatened?
- 01:02
Well, the U.S. certainly believed it was intervening
- 01:05
only when basic rights were being threatened.
- 01:07
Even if those rights belonged more to wealthy landowners than
- 01:10
poorer segments of the population. So that eliminates A.
- 01:14
Would the U.S. have chosen containment over the NSC Report
- 01:16
C - by declaring war when the necessity
- 01:20
of action was unclear?
- 01:22
Well, because the U.S. was already sending
- 01:24
foreign aid to nations threatened by communism,
- 01:26
they made the decision to declare war only when they felt that
- 01:29
financial support was no longer enough.
- 01:31
So that strikes out C and D.
- 01:33
Which means that the U.S. chose containment
- 01:35
over the National Security Council Report in Latin America
- 01:38
B - by supporting non-communist
- 01:40
leaders regardless of their concern for democracy.
- 01:44
The U.S. was so focused on overthrowing
- 01:46
communist leaders that they often replaced them with corrupt
- 01:49
military dictators
- 01:50
who had little to no regard for the human rights
- 01:53
the NSC Report supported in the first place.
- 01:56
So the answer is B. Overthrowing these Latin American leaders
- 01:58
is kind of like wiping chocolate off your face by smearing it with mud.
- 02:02
The chocolate's gone, but you're just as dirty as you were before.
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