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AP U.S. History Diagnostic 24 208 Views
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AP U.S. History Diagnostic 24. How did the United States choose containment over the National Security Council Report in Latin America?
Transcript
- 00:00
[ musical flourish ]
- 00:03
And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by containment,
- 00:07
Tupperware's tried and true corporate strategy.
- 00:10
All right, first up, the excerpt.
- 00:11
[ mumbles ]
Full Transcript
- 00:18
[ mumbles ] And now the question:
- 00:20
How did the United States choose containment
- 00:23
over the National Security Council Report
- 00:25
in Latin America? And here are your potential answers.
- 00:28
[ musical tones ]
- 00:31
What exactly is this question asking?
- 00:33
The goal of the National Security Council Report
- 00:36
was to ensure that the basic rights of people were secure.
- 00:40
But in Latin America, the United States was
- 00:42
so focused on containing and overthrowing communist leaders,
- 00:45
that the NSC's noble intentions often fell by the wayside.
- 00:49
So we need to figure out which answer best explains
- 00:51
how the U.S. went about this less-than-noble course of action.
- 00:54
Did the U.S. choose containment over the National Security
- 00:57
Council Report A - by using force when basic rights
- 01:01
were not being threatened?
- 01:02
Well, the U.S. certainly believed it was intervening
- 01:05
only when basic rights were being threatened.
- 01:07
Even if those rights belonged more to wealthy landowners than
- 01:10
poorer segments of the population. So that eliminates A.
- 01:14
Would the U.S. have chosen containment over the NSC Report
- 01:16
C - by declaring war when the necessity
- 01:20
of action was unclear?
- 01:22
Well, because the U.S. was already sending
- 01:24
foreign aid to nations threatened by communism,
- 01:26
they made the decision to declare war only when they felt that
- 01:29
financial support was no longer enough.
- 01:31
So that strikes out C and D.
- 01:33
Which means that the U.S. chose containment
- 01:35
over the National Security Council Report in Latin America
- 01:38
B - by supporting non-communist
- 01:40
leaders regardless of their concern for democracy.
- 01:44
The U.S. was so focused on overthrowing
- 01:46
communist leaders that they often replaced them with corrupt
- 01:49
military dictators
- 01:50
who had little to no regard for the human rights
- 01:53
the NSC Report supported in the first place.
- 01:56
So the answer is B. Overthrowing these Latin American leaders
- 01:58
is kind of like wiping chocolate off your face by smearing it with mud.
- 02:02
The chocolate's gone, but you're just as dirty as you were before.
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