The Americas during the Cold War (1945–1991)

A US strategy to stop the spread of communism without a full war — using aid, alliances, and pressure rather than invading communist countries directly.

Truman's pledge that the US would support any country resisting communism, first applied to Greece and Turkey — the opening statement of containment.

A wave of accusations (1950-54) led by Senator Joseph McCarthy that communists had infiltrated the US government, ruining careers on little evidence and creating a climate of fear.

A Cold War strategy relying on nuclear weapons (massive retaliation) and covert CIA action instead of expensive conventional armies — cheaper and lower-risk for the US.

President Jacobo Arbenz's land reform threatened the US-owned United Fruit Company; the CIA branded him a communist risk and backed a coup (Operation PBSUCCESS).

Fidel Castro (with Che Guevara), overthrowing US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista on 1 January 1959.

Castro's land reforms and nationalization of US businesses, followed by his alliance with the USSR, suggested revolution could spread and threaten US interests region-wide.

A CIA-trained force of Cuban exiles landed in Cuba to overthrow Castro; it failed within three days, embarrassing President Kennedy and pushing Castro closer to the USSR.

US U-2 spy planes discovered Soviet nuclear missile sites being built in Cuba, able to strike most of the USA within minutes.

Kennedy ordered a naval blockade ('quarantine'); after tense negotiations, Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles in exchange for a US non-invasion pledge and secret removal of US missiles from Turkey.

Cuba was expelled from the Organization of American States (OAS) in 1962; the US launched the Alliance for Progress aid program to prevent other revolutions, while some governments quietly admired Cuba's defiance of the US.

Truman focused mainly on Europe and Asia with less direct Latin American action; Eisenhower's New Look leaned heavily on CIA covert operations (like Guatemala 1954) as a cheaper alternative to open military force.

Kennedy's 1961 plan to give Latin America $20 billion in aid over 10 years, tied to reforms in land, tax, health and education, to prevent communist revolutions.

Local elites who controlled land and taxes blocked reforms; aid often propped up military governments instead; Congress cut funding once Vietnam took priority.

To stop a feared leftist government (linked to Juan Bosch) returning to power after Trujillo's assassination, out of fear of 'another Cuba'.

Over 20,000 US Marines, in April 1965.

War spending drained funds and attention from the Alliance for Progress and his domestic Great Society programme, weakening both.

Anti-communist military governments (e.g. Brazil) often supported the US; Cuba, students and the left across Latin America opposed it as imperialism.

A 1970s secret alliance between South American military regimes (Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and others) to share intelligence and hunt down leftist opponents across borders, with US support.

It trained thousands of Latin American military officers, many of whom later led repressive regimes involved in Operation Condor.

Ordered the CIA to destabilise the economy and undermine elected socialist President Allende, helping create conditions for Pinochet's 1973 coup.

Carter's agreement to hand control of the Panama Canal to Panama by 1999, reflecting his human-rights-focused foreign policy.

Funded and armed the Contra rebels fighting the leftist Sandinista government throughout the 1980s, leading to the Iran-Contra scandal.

For genuine concern: Alliance for Progress and Panama Canal Treaty. For fear-driven: Dominican Republic intervention, Chile, Condor, and the Contras.

A Soviet embassy clerk in Ottawa defected with proof of a Soviet spy ring in Canada, launching Canadian domestic anti-Communism.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command, created 1958, a joint US-Canada air defence system watching for Soviet attack.

He designed the UN peacekeeping force during the 1956 Suez Crisis, giving Canada a reputation as a peacemaking middle power.

Founding NATO member (1949) and full partner in NORAD (1958), sharing joint radar lines across the Arctic.

Diefenbaker delayed raising Canada's military alert during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, angering Washington.

The Rio Pact (1947) was a mutual-defence treaty; the OAS (1948) was a body promoting regional cooperation and anti-Communism across the Americas.

Chile's president from 1970, the world's first freely elected Marxist head of state, who nationalised US-owned industries.

General Pinochet led a military coup that overthrew Allende, who died in the attack; Pinochet then ruled as dictator until 1990.

The CIA funded opposition groups and strikes, and the US applied economic pressure to destabilise Chile's economy before the 1973 coup.

A secret US-backed alliance of South American dictatorships (from 1975) that hunted down left-wing exiles across borders.

Canada balanced alliance loyalty with independent choices (Vietnam refusal, Missile Crisis delay); Chile's democracy was violently overthrown due to Cold War pressures.

Ties collapsed almost entirely under Pinochet, who realigned Chile firmly with the US-led anti-Communist bloc.