Alrighty, NSC 68, or as it is more officially known, the United States Objectives and Programs for National Security. Now, April 7th is 1950 is when this document was presented to the President of the United States, Harry S. Truman. And in the words of historian Ernest R. May, NSC 68 provided the blueprint for the militarization of the Cold War from 1950 to the collapse of the Soviet Union at the beginning of the 1990s. Now, I give you this quote by Ernest R. May not because I really want you to focus on what he is saying, but because he does a really good job of explaining exactly the significance and importance of NSC.
1968. This is the blueprint for American militarization and foreign policy from this point to the end of the Cold War. It is incredibly important that you understand that, know that, and do not forget it. Now, this policy and this memorandum was drafted by the Department of State and the Department of Defense. The Department of State is going to be the organization that focuses on diplomacy, and the Department of Defense is going to focus on military. During the Cold War and even up until now, they're going to have to really work together to ensure that the United States is protected and their enemies do not have a chance to advance upon them.
This is going to be outlined for U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War. That is why this is so crucial, why this is so important. Again, if you look at that quote by Ernest R. May, he's talking about exactly this.
This is important and it is needing. really to understand this if you want to be successful. The positions outlined in NSC 68 are going to be enhanced by the onset of the Korean War in June of 1950. So just a couple months later, the Korean War is going to start, and the Americans are really going to be kind of set in stone following the objectives in NSC 68. Now, NSC 68 states the belief that the USSR was wanting to expand and dominate the world.
Remember, Stalin is in charge of the USSR at this time. There's been a number of conflicts already between the United States and the USSR just in the last five years between the end of World War II and right now when this document is being presented. So they believe that the USSR wants to dominate the world. We've already seen Stalin pushing himself in his positions in Eastern Europe. The Americans feel that this is going to be expanded farther and that Stalin and communism wants to dominate.
the entire world. So they want to make sure this stops. Now, 8SE68 is going to call for a number of different things, as you can see popping up on your screen right here.
First and foremost, it calls for an expansion of the military budget. The United States could easily be locked in a very hot war very, very soon. So therefore, they need to have the military budget and the military supplies. ready in case that happens.
The only way you could have that and have your military ready to go is that you have increased your budget. Additionally, you're going to increase aid to your allies. Now, this has already been talked about with the Marshall Plan, the United States giving a lot of money to these countries, but the belief really outlined is that the Soviets are wanting to dominate the world.
The best way we can stop them is to get involved first so that they cannot do it. It's going to call for the development of the hydrogen bomb. Remember, in 1949, the Soviets tested successfully their first atomic bomb. So the Soviets now have an atomic bomb.
The Americans also have an atomic bomb, meaning the playing field is leveled. The Americans want to have the upper hand right here. They need to develop a larger weapon, and that is going to be the hydrogen bomb. Additionally, it's going to reject the policy of isolationism, which has really been... a part of American foreign policy since the beginning with George Washington, who called for the Americans to not get involved in European conflicts.
This is going to be a consistent reoccurrence in American politics within the country of whether or not the United States should get involved in the affairs of other countries. Traditionally, the United States had not done that, but here in 1950 with NSC-68, that's really all going to change. The United States is going to play an incredibly active role within NATO, so if something happens with a NATO ally, the United States is going to be there, and the United States is going to be protecting their interests within NATO. It's going to rule out the possibility of a surprise nuclear attack on the USSR, and this is because it is immoral to kill civilians. The United States is kind of transitioning.
from their belief in 1945 when they dropped two atomic bombs on Japan and Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It's now stating we're not going to do that. It's going to be immoral. We will not do this.
And lastly, it is going to favor the policy of rollback with communist countries as opposed to detente and to containment. We're not going to try to work together with them, which is what detente calls for. We're not going to just contain them. We got to kick them out. We got to stop communism and stamp it out altogether.
That is NSC 68. That is what it calls for. Incredibly important document. Make sure you understand this because you will need it in order to be successful when it comes to understanding the Cold War.
Questions, comments, put it down below. Otherwise, good luck.