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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?

Language:
English Language

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 ]

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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