The US was successful in preventing the spread of communism in many ways between the time period of 1945 and 1970. Most of the actions taken by the US were all necessary on the path to the containment and or destruction of communism while some were not quite successful. At the conclusion of WWII the US became aware of the evils of communism and realized that the spread of it could lead to the end of democracy. Senator McCarthy was key in exposing communism for what it is and he also made the US aware of communists in our own country. Because of people like McCarthy and others the US's new international policy was to end communism not matter what.
In 1945, Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt met at the Yalta Conference to discuss what was to be done with the war torn Europe. Decisions were made about what to do with the defeated Axis powers. Plans were also laid out to attack Japan and the Soviet Union decided to enter the war at last minute. While not much was accomplished at the conference, it gave the three leaders a chance to test each other's reactions. However, the Yalta conference was still an important step in the stop of communism. The Yalta conference also helped to preserve peoples rights to choose their government and to return those rights to those they has been taken from as stated in the Atlantic Charter (doc a).
The passing of the Truman Doctrine was another major step in fighting communism. In 1947 president Truman stated that it is the policy of the US to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures (doc c). This new doctrine was designed to give countries that were under the threat of communist takeover the economic and financial aid they need in order to resist being taken over. Millions of dollars were sent to countries such as Greece and Turkey so they could resist attack. This doctrine was very helpful in containing communism because it provided help to any country no matter how poor with help in defeating communism.
