An Analysis Of The Reasons Why The U.S. Readjusted Its Foreign Policy In Early Post-war Period

As an important turning point of human history, W.W.II completely destroyed the structure centeredin Europe, stepped up the comparative change of international political power, changed the global powersetup, marking the bipolar U.S-Soviet conflicting regime of international relations had taken place. One ofthe direct results of W.W.II is that the United States, based on its New Deal and wartime economicexpansion, spurred to be a doubtless political, economic and military power. Such an advantage providedsolid material basis and essential power security for the United States to reshape the world order accordingto its own system pattern and policy criteria. Another direct result of W.W.II is that the Soviet Unionsuddenly became a new force in world politics, economy and military field. The great political and militarypower of the Soviet Union became an essentially considerable problem for the U.S. to build its hegemony.The change of many factors in international relations ultimately resulted in the collapse of the formermulti-polar system and formed a bipolar regime of the Western Camp centered in the U.S. on one side andthe Eastern Camp centered in the Soviet Union on the other side. In such a case, the strategy of globalexpansion of the U.S. dealt a head-on collision with the Soviet limited expansion to ensure its nationalsecurity, and the Cold War took place inevitably. In the early postwar years, the foreign policy decisivelychanged direction. The background of such a change is complicated, including international background,the US internal political factors, distant and immediate causes, direct and indirect causes. That’s why theacademic fields both at home and abroad have been interested and the reason I choose this issue to be mydissertation.Structurally, this paper is composed of the introduction, the main body and the concluding remarks.The introduction outlines the reasons for selecting such an issue to study, the academic and practicalsignificances of such a study, the current research status quo, trace of thinking and methods, new trails andreference material sources. The main body is divided into four parts. The last part is put to draw aconclusion.Part One of the main body mainly concerns the coming out of the symbolic events of Truman Doctrineand the policy of containment in early1947when American foreign policy decisively changed direction. Truman Doctrine and the policy of containment are important steps for the U.S. to carry out its postwarglobal hegemony, important manifestations for the U.S. to indulge into world affairs more actively, thesymbols of the American foreign policy to develop in a reverse direction, the symbols marking the U.S.stepping onto the peak of capitalism, and the declaration and “starting pistol” of the U.S. to launch ColdWar against the Soviet Union.Part Two analyses in detail the complicated international background under which the U.S. readjustedits foreign policy, including the evolution of international structure, the change of American status on worldstage, and its conceptions as well as desires to dominate the world.Part Three lays an emphasis on Soviet factors that lead to the readjustment of American foreign policy,including Stalin’s philosophy on world system and the dual character of Soviet foreign policy. My view isthat the difficulty for the wartime US-Soviet alliance to follow up and why the U.S. violently attacked theSoviet Union and Communism is ultimately due to the fundamental conflict between two social systems,two ideologies and two values. With the increasing ambition of the U.S. to dominate the postwar world, theSoviet Union became an obstacle for the U.S. to realize its set strategic goal. And thus it’s inevitable for thetwo big powers to mutually attack and confront.Part Four is mainly about the other factors that lead to the readjustment of American foreign policy,including Truman and his team’s deep-rooted anti-Communism nostalgia, Stalin’s February Two Address,and Churchill’s Iron Curtain Address. I’m of the opinion that the readjustment of American foreign policyin early postwar period is actually the result of the mutual policy reactions when the U.S. and the SovietUnion dealt with international relations.