Key Idea: After 1945, the US decided Latin America and Canada both had to stay firmly anti-communist. In Latin America it mostly got its way through fear, money and the CIA — Guatemala, Cuba, Chile, the Contras. In Canada it got cooperation, but never total obedience. That contrast between control and pushback is the heart of this whole topic.
How this topic is tested
You write two essays from this regional study, each a 'To what extent do you agree...' claim-evaluation question worth 15 marks. You do NOT need historiography for top marks. You need: a clear thesis that takes a position, specific named evidence (dates, people, events) on both sides, and a final judgement that directly answers 'to what extent'. Never just describe events in order — always argue a case.
Every micro in this topic feeds one big argument: did fear of communism explain US action, or was it real strategic and economic interest? And did smaller states like Canada and Chile have any real choice of their own? Keep both questions in mind as you revise.
Must-know facts from every micro
| Micro | Focus | Key names, dates, events |
|---|---|---|
| 11.9.1 §1–2 | Containment comes home, then goes covert | Truman Doctrine (1947) — US aid to any anti-communist government; McCarthyism (1950–54) shows domestic panic; Eisenhower's 'New Look' (nuclear threat + CIA covert action); CIA's Operation PBSUCCESS overthrows elected Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz (1954) after his land reform threatened the United Fruit Company |
| 11.9.1 §3 | The Cuban Revolution | Castro and Che Guevara topple dictator Batista (1 Jan 1959); failed CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion (April 1961) humiliates Kennedy; Cuban Missile Crisis (October 1962) — Soviet missiles found, US naval quarantine, missiles removed in exchange for US missiles out of Turkey and a no-invade pledge; Cuba expelled from the OAS (1962) |
| 11.9.2 §1 | Kennedy's Alliance for Progress | Alliance for Progress (1961) — Kennedy's $20 billion reform-aid plan tied to land reform, tax reform, health and education; blocked by local elites and underfunded once Vietnam absorbed US money — a 'Marshall Plan for Latin America' that mostly failed |
| 11.9.2 §2 | Dominican Republic + Vietnam's drag on policy | Johnson sends 20,000+ Marines into the Dominican Republic (1965) fearing 'another Cuba' — the Johnson Doctrine; Vietnam War drains funding and attention from the Alliance for Progress and Johnson's Great Society, and ends his re-election hopes |
| 11.9.2 §3 | Nixon to Reagan: covert and hard-line | School of the Americas trains anti-communist Latin American officers; Operation Condor (1970s) — Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Bolivia share intelligence to hunt leftists, with US support; Nixon's CIA destabilises Allende's Chile (1970–73); Carter's Panama Canal Treaty (1977) breaks with realpolitik; Reagan funds the Contras against Nicaragua's Sandinistas, leading to the Iran-Contra affair (1986) |
| 11.9.3 §1–2 | Canada's Cold War | Gouzenko affair (1945) — Soviet spy scandal starts Canadian anti-communism; Canada co-founds NATO (1949) and joins NORAD (1958) with the US; Lester Pearson invents UN peacekeeping at Suez (1956); but Canada refuses Vietnam combat troops, PM Diefenbaker delays the alert during the 1962 Missile Crisis, and PM Trudeau visits Moscow (1971) — cooperation with real limits |
| 11.9.3 §3 | Chile's Cold War rupture | Chile joins the Rio Pact and OAS; Salvador Allende elected the world's first freely elected Marxist president (1970), nationalises US-owned copper mines; General Pinochet's coup (11 September 1973) kills Allende and begins 17 years of dictatorship using the secret police (DINA); Chile joins Operation Condor from 1975 |
Exam-style practice
fear of communism, more than any genuine security threat, explains US intervention in Latin America between 1945 and 1973?
🔒 Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Important: Do not write a narrative that just retells events in date order. Examiners want you to argue a position on the claim itself. Every paragraph should either support, challenge or qualify the claim in the question — and your conclusion must say clearly how far you agree, not just summarise what happened.
What was the Truman Doctrine (1947)? The promise that the US would help any country resisting communism — it began with Greece and Turkey but set the pattern for US watchfulness over Latin America.
Why did the CIA overthrow Arbenz in Guatemala (1954)? Arbenz's land reform redistributed unused farmland, including land owned by the US-based United Fruit Company. The US branded him a communist threat and the CIA's Operation PBSUCCESS removed him within weeks, even though Guatemala's Communist Party was small and Arbenz was not a Soviet ally.
What happened at the Bay of Pigs (April 1961)? About 1,400 CIA-trained Cuban exiles landed in Cuba expecting a popular uprising against Castro. It never came — Castro's forces defeated the invasion in three days, humiliating Kennedy and pushing Castro closer to the USSR.
How was the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) resolved? Kennedy ordered a naval quarantine instead of an air strike. After thirteen tense days, the USSR agreed to remove its missiles from Cuba, while the US secretly agreed to remove its own missiles from Turkey and pledged not to invade Cuba.
Why did the Alliance for Progress (1961) largely fail? Kennedy pledged $20 billion in aid tied to land and tax reform, but the local elites who controlled land and taxes were often the very people expected to reform themselves, and funding dried up once Vietnam absorbed US attention.
What was Operation Condor? A secret 1970s alliance of South American military dictatorships — including Pinochet's Chile — that shared intelligence to track, kidnap, torture and kill left-wing opponents across borders, with US intelligence support.
How did Canada's Cold War differ from Chile's? Canada balanced NATO and NORAD alliance loyalty against its own independence — refusing Vietnam combat troops and delaying the 1962 alert. Chile's Cold War tore its democracy apart: an elected Marxist president overthrown by a US-backed military coup in 1973, followed by 17 years of dictatorship.
Learn the chain of US presidents in order — Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Reagan — and one signature Latin America policy for each. Always pair a 'fear of communism' argument with a counter-argument (economic interest, or a genuine strategic threat) so your essay never feels one-sided. And always finish with a one-sentence verdict that answers 'to what extent' directly.