containment, policy of

Cultural  

1. A United States foreign policy doctrine adopted by the Harry S. Truman administration in 1947, operating on the principle that communist governments will eventually fall apart as long as they are prevented from expanding their influence.

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The policy of containment was used to justify American involvement in the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

Example Sentences

The cyberspace commission was modeled on work done in the Eisenhower administration, the original Project Solarium, which ultimately shored up the containment policy of the Cold War and focused the military on building a broad deterrence policy around nuclear weapons.

From New York Times

Hamad does not endorse Washington's "dual containment" policy of isolating Iraq and Iran.

From Time Magazine Archive

At his various stops he again complained of lack of congressional support for his attempt to oppose Soviet intervention in Angola, not because he wants to revive the old containment policy of the cold war but because he is seeking through tough talk to offset what he considers a damaging U.S. policy failure.

From Time Magazine Archive

Though there is a near consensus in Washington that the U.S. can no longer afford the failed containment policy of the past decade, which consisted of sanctions, no-fly zones in the north and south and periodic bombings, there is no real agreement on how or how quickly to achieve "regime change" in Iraq.

From Time Magazine Archive