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The given essay aims at examining the impact of the National Security Council Paper Number 68 (NSC-68) American policy during the early Cold War. The document will also address the role and consequences of the Iran-related events during this period in forming national policy during both the Cold War and the current contexts. The relatively young American society experiences many significant internal and external events influencing the development of their future strategic directions and decisions. Some of these policies and actions, including NSC-68 and those concerning Iran, provoked fierce public and political debates and were even assumed to be unjustified and ineffective, with long-term adverse aftermath.
NSC-68 primarily envisaged the change of the USA policy concerning the containment of the Soviet Union. Namely, since its introduction, the United States began building up military power, including large-scale rearmament, and expanding aid to its main allies against the growth of Communist hazard (Donaldson, 2017). Initially, NSC-68 was rejected because it was considered to be expensive and unaffordable for the US budget. However, the events in South Korea urged President Truman to accept the paper. This required the Truman Administration to triple defense expenditures between 1950 and 1953 ( NSC-68, n.d.). Overall, NSC-68 was a specific reaction to the escalating military power of the Soviet Union, including the USSRs elaboration of the atomic bomb, which generated dubious results.
The decisions and actions adopted in the early period of the Cold War towards Iran also bore a questionable character. As Donaldson (2017) states, the events of the early 1950s, connected with the relationship between the United States and Iran, led to the emergence of a new arch enemy, not a reliable associate. In particular, the US invasion into the Iranian internal affairs because of the massive nationalization campaign undertaken by Mosaddeq adversely contributed to the outbreak of the Iranian Revolution. The Iranian Shah, reinstated by the US, was resented by Iranians and regarded as an American puppet, which was the main reason for his overthrow during the Iranian Revolution. This event also struck the reputation of the United States and encouraged the Shiite government to become closer to the Soviet Union.
References
Donaldson, G. A. (2017). The making of modern America: the nation from 1945 to the present (3rd ed.). Rowman & Littlefield.
NSC-68, 1950. (n.d.). The Office of the Historian. Web.
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