What issues motivated the drafting of the NSC-68

Section A: Plan of InvestigationOn April 14th, 1950, during the height of the Cold War, The National Security Council 68 (NSC-68) policy was drafted. During Harry S. Truman’s presidency, this policy was formed to make the movement of Containment of the Communist expansion for a significant amount of events during that time period. To determine what significant events influenced the United States National Security Council to draft this policy, the investigation will examine all Communist activities during the time period, including the expectation that the Soviet Union would steal the American monopoly on the atomic bomb; the ‘loss’ of China to Mao Zedong’s Communists in 1949; and the blockade of Berlin by the Soviets.

Section B: Summary of EvidenceAtomic bombOctober 9, 1941, the atomic bomb is recognized as an essential part of the total war effort by the atomic-energy project, Stimson, Roosevelt, and other members of the "top policy group" Initially scientists feared that the Germans would develop the technology first Roosevelt and Stimson realized that the atomic bomb monopoly gave the U.S. a powerful new military advantage, and wanted to convert it to a diplomatic advantage over the Soviet Union December 1944 Roosevelt and Stimston spoke of using the "secret" of the atomic bomb as a means of obtaining information from the Soviet Union Roosevelt was urged by Churchill to maintain the atomic monopoly as a diplomatic counter against the postwar ambitions of other nations, like the Soviet Union Roosevelt refused to open negotiations with the Soviet Union for international control of atomic energy, and since he hadn’t shown any opposition against using the atomic bomb, it set up Truman in a tight position when the Soviets began to be more in control of the atomic energy ‘Loss’ of China.April 1947, a paper by the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff ranked Japan, China and Korea as the 13th, 14th and 15th most significant states In the early 20th century, China was already in a civil war by the dominant nationalists (led by Chiang Kaishek) and the communists (led by Mao Zedong) United States became very involved in the Chinese economy and a trading partner for raw materials The Americans spend a large amount of money helping Chiang to take down the communists, who used it to fight Mao more than the Japanese 1949, Mao finally got control over China and forced the KMT to flee to Taiwan.Berlin BlockadeJune 24th, 1948, the Soviet Union blocked all of the railways, roads and canal access to the sectors of Berlin controlled by the Allies This was done so that the Allies would have to count on the Soviets giving the Allied section of Berlin supplies, basically giving the Soviet Union control over the entire city In response, the Allies organized the Berlin airlift to carry supplies to people in West Berlin by means of almost all the Western Allies countries’ air forces Spring 1949, the airlift started working better and faster than the railways that were put in place before, and it was delivering more cargo than what the sections essentially needed This success brought embarrassment to the Soviet Union, who thought that the airlifts wouldn’t work. The blockade was lifted in May of 1949 This resulted in the splitting of Berlin into two separate German states: The Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) NSC-68 Policy.

A top-secret report completed and drafted by the United States National Security Council on April 7, 1950 but not declassified until 1975 Drafted, according to the authors, to confront the most pressing issue at the time, which was the hostile actions of the Soviet Union It was declared by the drafting of the report that the best course of action was to respond in a massive build-up of the U.S. military The report specifically stated many possible courses of action, including: the return to isolationism; going to war; negotiating with the Soviet Union on diplomatic terms; or a political, economic and military build-up All of the possible courses of action stated by the NSC-68 policy were denied, save the political, economic and military build-up, and it was decided that the only plausible way to win against the Soviet Union was for Truman to support a military build-up of both standard and nuclear weapons.Section C: Evaluation of SourcesSource A:Origin: This source is useful because it gives you the precise information on the subject of the end of the Cold War and also gives an assessment of the strategies and how they were used. This information is quite reliable because a noted historian who specializes in the Cold War and lived during the Cold War wrote it.

Purpose: The goal of this source is to give an in-depth outlook on the strategies of the Cold War, especially NSC-68, and how they all contributed in the Western Capitalist's victory of the Cold War. Values: The source isn't biased or objective because it doesn't specifically talk about Gaddis' opinion on the events, but more of what happened and how the strategies and the events helped win the Cold War. Limitations: This is a secondary source because Gaddis didn't psychically take part in the events that he describes in the source. Gaddis does insert some opinionated statements that could be interpreted as biased, like in his conclusion when he states that Reagan used a specific strategy more effectively than another American president.Source B:Origin: The source is useful because it gives specific information on the NSC-68 policy and the containment policy, and how these policies differ from each other. Gaddis gives precise information on the NSC-68 and how the policy affected the victory of the Cold War and how the containment policy helped as well.

This information is reliable because it is written by John Lewis Gaddis, who is a noted historian that specializes in the Cold War and who lived during the Cold War. Purpose: The goal of this source is to give the comparison of the two policies and to specifically give information on the NSC-68 policy. Values: Because he is a professional, most of this information would come from factual evidence, and therefore is acceptable for research. Limitations: Gaddis didn't psychically take part in any of the events that are stated, making this a secondary source. The source can be seen as biased or objective because Gaddis gives his opinions during the comparison of the two policies.

Section D:AnalysisThe monopoly on the atomic bomb was huge during the beginning of the Cold War, especially in the 40th century. President Roosevelt was extremely concerned on the topic of the atomic bomb, and he was determined to develop the technology before the Soviet Union so that they could help in the spreading of communism: especially in countries influenced by the Soviet Union. Ultimately, the United States obtained the information and technology necessary to structure the atomic bomb by building up a military alliance with Britain, and Roosevelt felt that they should turn this victory from a military advantage to a diplomatic advantage to counter the Soviet Union’s post-WWII ambitions. Eventually, the American monopoly of the atomic bomb started to fail because, in the event of Roosevelt refusing to share information and to open negotiations with the Soviet Union on atomic energy, President Truman was left with no way to structure an agreement with the Soviet Union to share atomic energy, giving the Soviet Union an advantage over the Western Allies.During the start of the fight against communism in the 20th century, China had a major problem of their own. A major civil war was taking place at the time during World War II and the Cold War, which consisted of an on-going war between the dominant nationalists, led by Chiang Kaishek and the communist party, led by Mao Zedong.

America started being very involved in the Chinese economy and the United States and China formed a trading alliance for raw materials from China, giving China a major advantage economically. America also gave numerous amounts of money to the nationalist cause in China to fight the communist influence, who used it to fight Mao and the communists more than the Japanese, putting the nationalists and Chiang in a tight position. Ultimately, the expense that America put into the nationalist party failed because of the amount of focus put into fighting the communist party and not into fighting the Japanese. This caused Mao Zedong’s total control over China, and the exiling of Western influence in China and the KMT party.Consequently, these Western Allies failures gave the Soviet Union the push to complicate matters.

The Soviet Union had given a huge interest with the other sections of Berlin; Berlin having been split into Western Allied and Soviet Union sections. In the late 40th century, the Soviet Union decided to act on this interest and build a blockade in Berlin, blocking all railways, roads and canals to the Western Allies’ sides of Berlin. This was to ultimately give Soviet Union power over the whole city, as the Soviet Union thought that without any way to give West Berlin supplies, the Western Allies would have to count on the Soviet Union giving those sections supplies for them. However, the Western Allies set up an airlift: using the air forces of all Western Allies nations to bring supplies to West Berlin. The airlift turned out to be so successful that it gave West Berlin more supplies than what they had when they had access to railways.

This led to the embarrassment Soviet Union, and ultimately led to the end of the Cold War in 1991.With the drafting of the NSC-68 report, the United States officially had decided that the Soviet Union was a problem that needed to be solved. The report specifically outlined and stated certain courses of actions that could be easily followed through by the United States government: returning to the ways of isolationism; directly going to war with the Soviet Union; negotiating terms with the Soviet Union by means of diplomacy; or building up the military and economy. It took almost twenty-five years for the authors of the report and the government to come to a consensus, and, by that point, there was no other way to solve the Soviet and communist problem than to build-up the military’s standard and nuclear weapons.

This choice was obviously inevitable, due to the fact that the authors of the report had already previously stated that that would most likely be the best course of action at the time of the drafting of the NSC-68, which was in 1950. By the time that the report was actually declassified, in 1975, there were already significant problems with the Soviet Union and the spread of communism, and the U.S. government finally took into account that the only way to get rid of the Soviet problem and the spread of communism was the build-up of arms.Section E:ConclusionThe Cold War was ultimately the rise and fall of the Soviet Union’s power streak, and was essentially a war that started the on-going war against the spreading of communism around the world. There are numerous reasons for the drafting of NSC-68, but, ultimately, three reasons stand out above the rest: the fall of the American monopoly of the atomic bomb; Mao Zedong’s communist control over China; and the Berlin blockade.

The events in the Cold War eventually pushed the United States and the Western Allies to the point that they knew they wouldn’t be able to control the spread of communism without some kind of action plan: which led to the drafting of the NSC-68.