ShmoopTube

00:03

President Truman was all about containing Soviet influence.

00:08

No spreading out from that limited area to infect the rest of the world. Let those [Truman next to world map]

00:12

crazy Soviets be communists, whatever floats their Balalaikas. Well this

00:17

policy of containment was called the Truman Doctrine what it breaks down to

00:20

the U.S. giving money and/or military aid to any nation fighting communism,

00:25

whether it was an external Soviet invasion or an internal rebellion by

00:30

communist groups. For example when the USSR supported communist rebels in

00:34

Greece and Turkey, Truman asked Congress to send money and military aid to help [Greece and Turkey appear over USSR flag]

00:38

Turkey and Greece beat the commies down. In return he got some Baklava! Another

00:43

thing the U.S. did was to create NATO - the North Atlantic Treaty Organization

00:48

in April 1949. No doubt NATO had a full plate, it was supposed to

00:53

keep its Western European member nations safe from Soviet invasion. It had to make

00:59

sure that fascist nationalism was stamped out in those nations and... it [Boot stand on 'fascism' and crushes it]

01:04

wanted to build unity amongst member nations. Of course Europe wasn't the only

01:08

place in the world that the U.S. was stressing out about, East and Southeast

01:11

Asia were both still kind of a mess after World War II. The Japanese

01:15

invasions of China the Philippines and Thailand hadn't done those nations any

01:19

favors. After the war China resumed the civil war between communists and

01:23

nationalists that had been going on before World War two started, and former [Footage of Mai Zedong]

01:28

colonies like French Indochina which we know today as Vietnam demanded their

01:32

freedom. So the superpowers took sides all over Asia, when Korea was divided after

01:37

the war the Soviet Union had control of the north while the U.S. had control of

01:41

the South. The Soviet Union supported the Chinese Communist led by Mao Zedong

01:45

while the U.S. supported the Chinese nationalists led by Chiang Kai-Shek and [USSR flag next to Mao and American flag next to Chiang]

01:50

the Soviets supported the communist Viet Minh in North Vietnam while the U.S.

01:55

installed a democratic government in South Vietnam. The U.S. decided in 1954

02:01

to make an Asian version of NATO which they called SEATO - The Southeast Asia

02:06

Treaty Organization. Well along with Britain and France and Pacific allies [SEATO logo]

02:10

Australia and New Zealand the U.S. included the Philippines, Thailand

02:14

and Pakistan as founding members. (Coughs) notice that there are only two Southeast

02:20

Asian members in that list.. Anyway the Philippines and Thailand joined because

02:25

they were worried about communism expanding out from China and North

02:28

Vietnam into their own nations. Pakistan joined mostly get cozy with the US which [Red circle depicting communism expands from China and covers the Philippines and Thailand]

02:32

it hoped would help in its order fights with India. The US and its Western Allies

02:37

as well as the Democratic powers in the region hoped that SEATO membership would [SEATO members stood together]

02:42

increase as other Southeast Asian Nations saw how sweet things were when

02:46

you sided with the U.S. but as Mick Jagger said you can't always get what you

02:51

want.. and Mick Jagger also said "where are me pants, I've gotta get on stage" [Mick Jagger with no clothes]

02:55

but that has nothing to do with this...

Full Transcript