Despite the soviet union’s attempts to improve relations, it was the USA continually aggressive foreign policy that was predominantly responsible for the escalation of Cold War tensions between 1950-62?

Following the death of Stalin, and a domestic power struggle, Khrushchev took control of the Soviet Union in 1953. His coming to power quickly became recognised as the ‘Khrushchev Thaw’ as a result of de- Stalinisation reforms, such as the release of prisoners in 1953, 1955 and 1956 as well as the ‘New Course’ an economic policy that looked to improve the standard of living and privatise certain businesses. These policies quickly became known as ‘socialism with a human face’ showing Soviet attempts not only to implore the policy of ‘peaceful coexistence’ but also as to show genuine reforms. Such attempts by the USSR to improve relations can further be seen by the fact that they had founded and funded the World Peace Council, gave up military bases in Finland and admitted 16 new countries into the UN that they had previously vetoed — all in the same year, 1955. Whilst some historians have argued that this was done out of ‘need’ to de-escalate tensions rather than ‘want’ as USSR was more invested in domestic affairs such as Russia’s economic recovery; it nonetheless shows USSR’s reconciliatory gestures towards the US. The pinnacle of Khrushchev’s reforms came in 1956, Russia had abandoned ‘Cominform’ who’s sole purpose was to maintain the orthodoxy of communism within the Eastern bloc as such it showed a move by the USSR towards liberalisation. Khrushchev further gave a ‘secret speech’ that same year at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party in which he denounced the dictatorial regime of Stalin. On the surface, relations seemed to have stabilised between the USSR and the USA due to Khrushchev’s domestic and foreign policies in the period of 1950-1956.Meanwhile the US showed a continued pattern of aggression — Truman’s ‘policy of containment’ was based on the false narrative of an expansionist, ideological USSR. The Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan aimed at containing communism seemed to have only worsened relations between Stalin and Truman, as many interpreted American economic aid as ‘empire by invitation’ or ‘capitalist encirclement’. In America the consensus was that communism could never be embraced willingly and as such the USSR was part of a worldwide communist plot to overthrow democracy everywhere. These domestic pressures saw a complete change in foreign policy to one of ‘roll back’ for the USA, communism was no longer to be tolerated but actively pushed back as seen by the US-UN’s support for invasion past the Yalu River during the Korean War of 1950-1953. Often this came at the cost of supporting anti-communist dictators who terrorised their own people such as the sponsoring of Chiang Kai Shek prior to 1949, Batista in 1952 and Ngo Dinh Diem in Vietnam in 1954 showing not only an aggressive foreign policy but one that looked towards the eradication of communism everywhere. This policy only intensified under Eisenhower who argued that a loss of a country in a given region could lead to a ‘domino effect’ of countries turning to communism. Eisenhower’s most aggressive foreign policy the ‘Good Partner’ included CIA support for a counterrevolutionary forces in Guatemala in 1954 in opposition to the government of Jacobo Árbenz, and his replacement with the Carlos Castillo Armas dictatorship. The ‘Good Partner’ policy also led to the fall of the governments of Getúlio Vargas in Brazil (1954); Juan Domingo Perón in Argentina (1955); and Federico Chaves in Paraguay, which led to Alfredo Stroessner’s dictatorship from 1956-89, evidence that America was playing into the narrative of a hegemonic and imperialist superpower.