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AP U.S. History Exam 1.45 169 Views


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AP U.S. History Exam 1.45. How did the United States both follow and violate the Truman Doctrine with its Cold War actions in Latin America?

Language:
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Transcript

00:00

[ musical flourish ]

00:04

And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by overthrow,

00:07

the underestimation of one's outer strength.

00:12

All right, give this excerpt a read.

00:13

[ mumbles ] Truman Doctrine.

00:17

All right, and the question:

00:19

How did the United States both follow and violate the Truman Doctrine

00:22

with its Cold War actions in Latin America?

00:24

And here are your potential answers.

00:26

[ mumbles ]

00:31

All right, well, during the Cold War, the U.S. made some

00:33

pretty, uh, interesting choices in how it dealt with

00:36

political instability in Latin America.

00:38

So let's see how the U.S. managed to simultaneously

00:41

play by and break the rules of the Truman Doctrine

00:44

in their adventures south of the border.

00:47

During the Cold War in Latin America did A -

00:49

the United States offer economic support to countries not

00:53

threatened by outside forces?

00:55

Well, actually, the U.S. sent significant financial aid only to

00:58

countries they believed were threatened by outside forces,

01:01

so that knocks out A and D.

01:03

Did the U.S. overstep its mission because B -

01:07

extensive military aid was sent to countries

01:10

fighting off communist threats? Hmm.

01:12

Well, most of the country's military resources were

01:14

pretty tied up in Asia at the time, so our efforts were primarily

01:18

economic ones.

01:19

So that eliminates B.

01:21

Which means that the U.S. both followed and violated the Truman Doctrine

01:24

in Cold War Latin America because C -

01:26

communist leaders were overthrown and replaced by dictators

01:30

in a series of CIA-led coups.

01:33

The main policy of the Truman Doctrine involved

01:35

"supporting free peoples who are resisting

01:38

attempted subjugation."

01:41

But the U.S. often assisted those free peoples

01:43

by overthrowing their country's leadership and installing

01:46

hand-picked dictators. [ chuckles ]

01:48

So C is the right answer.

01:50

Unfortunately, these U.S.-backed leaders sometimes sparked as many problems

01:53

as the leftists who preceded them,

01:55

creating a pretty charged climate

01:57

for those clinging to power. [ groaning ]

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