Henry Kissinger Diplomacy

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Henry Kissinger Diplomacy

• Chapter 17
• The Beginning of the Cold War

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1. How were Roosevelts and Trumans
personalities different?
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2. What were some challenges faced by Truman when
he assumed the presidency?
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3. How does Kissinger summarize Trumans foreign
policy accomplishments?
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4. What is the significance of Trumans answer to
the question, for which foreign policy decision
he most wanted to be remembered?
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5. How did Truman differ from Roosevelt in his
regards for the Soviet Union?
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6. To what did Truman attribute Soviet
belligerence? What do you suppose the
consequences of such an assumption would be?
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Realpolitik foreign policy based on calculations
of power and the national interest
7. Which countrys foreign policy was based on
realpolitik? What guided the other?
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8. Give evidence of each super power
misunderstanding the foreign policies of other
nations.
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1.    9. Discuss the significance of the
following events prior to the Potsdam
Conference a.      Travel itinerary of
Truman b.      Appointment of Harry Hopkins as
envoy to Moscow c.      Appointment of Joseph
Davies as envoy to London d.      Withdraw of US
forces in the Soviet sector of Germany
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10. What are spheres of influence, and why would
they be perceived as a future cause of conflict?
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1.   11. Summarize the agenda of the Potsdam
Conference? How did it change?
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12. Why did Stalin have the upper hand in
negotiating the subject of Poland at the Potsdam
Conference?
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13. What was accomplished at Potsdam? What was
left unanswered?
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1.  14. Why can the Potsdam Conference be called
the beginning of the Cold War?
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15. What was the Berlin Airlift? According to
Gromyko, why did Stalin risk such a confrontation
so soon after WW II?
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16. Explain the meaning of the following
statement, Paradoxically, the drift towards the
Cold War was accelerated by Stalins knowledge of
how weak his country was.
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17. Assess Kissingers assertion (p. 441) that
Stalin never meant to establish satellite
nations.
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18. What are the consequences of believing that
the atom bomb did not significantly alter the
conduct of war or international relations?
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19. Who wrote the Long Telegram? What was its
main idea?