During the Cold War, America's fundamental policy was that of "containment" of the Soviet Union. The containment policy was based on several principles. First, the Soviet Union wanted to extend socialism to all regions of the world. However, it was felt that the leaders of the Soviet Union did not feel particularly rushed to achieve their goal. "The Kremlin is under no ideological constraints to accomplish its goals in haste. Like the Church, it relies on ideological concepts valid in the long term and it can afford to be patient. (Hook and Spanier , 42). In other words, Soviet leaders believed that because their ideas were the right ones, they would ultimately prevail and therefore direct confrontation would not be necessary. The second idea behind the containment policy was that there were 5 major industrial centers in the world, namely the United States, Great Britain, West Germany, Japan and the Soviet Union. Since four of these five nations were capitalist and allied nations, containment meant “confining the Soviet Union to that one (Hook and Spanier, 42).” Simply, the basic policy of the United States during the Cold War was not to defeat the Soviet Union by force, but simply to prevent it from expanding. The main force that changed U.S. containment policy was fear of Soviet expansion into developing countries. . During the 1950s and 1960s, many countries in Africa and Southeast Asia, previously controlled by European powers, were liberated and became independent nations. The Soviets saw this as “proof that the international capitalist order was disintegrating (Hook and Spanier, 82).” The Soviets then had the opportunity to attempt to expand their policy...... middle of paper ...... a government and protesters at this time are not positive events, the net effect at Long term is that the nation is more informed and more conscientious about its effects on the world. On a global scale, the lockdown was ultimately a success. Although it withdrew from Vietnam without forcing communist forces to withdraw, the United States was ultimately victorious. The USSR collapsed and the Warsaw Pact countries broke up, and Russia is now a capitalist country. Despite the setbacks encountered along the way, the best measure of this policy is its results, which constitute a clear victory for the United States and capitalism. Moreover, the policy of containing communism, instead of actively trying to destroy it, meant that capitalism's victory over communism occurred without the need for massive war, nuclear or conventional, between the United States and the USSR..