The Ties That Bind: The Domino Theory in American Foreign Policy, 1947 - 1968.

Abstract

<p>American foreign policy is guided by many interests and ideas. The strongest of these interests is national security, and one of the most persistent ideas of Cold War policy, the domino- theory, is inexorably linked to it. Since World War Two, the United States has intervened in civil wars, revolutions, and political uprisings in nonaligned and Third World nations on the assumption that it has strategic, economic, and ideological interests in these areas. It has frequently used the domino theory to justify these interventions.</p> <p>operating on the assumption that the domino theory was globally applied, this thesis examines the use of the domino theory in three such interventions. Chapter 1 explores the formulation of the Truman Doctrine for Greece and Turkey in 1946; Chapter 2 is an analysis of "Operation PBSUCCESS", the CIA's coup in Guatemala in 1954; and Chapter 3 examines the growing commitment to contain Vietnamese Communism from 1949 to 1968. Within each of these chapters, media reaction to the domino theory, and the effect that this attention may have had on the theory's fortunes is also considered.</p>