Framing Foreign Policy

After the defeat of the Axis powers, the Allies developed a range of strategies to rebuild and revitalize the territories they now occupied. The U.S. pursued very different approaches for the reconstruction of Japan and Western Europe; over time, an even greater difference emerged between the policies of the Western Allies and the U.S.S.R. toward the zones they controlled.

Watch this video to learn more about the way U.S. foreign policy evolved in the years following World War II and how relations with the U.S.S.R. became increasingly strained.

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Take Notes

Summarize U.S. strategies toward rebuilding Japan and Western Europe. What new elements of foreign policy emerged as the American philosophy of freedom clashed with an increasing mistrust of the U.S.S.R. and communism?