As the Cold War heated up in the 1950s, the United States made decisions on foreign policy with the goal of containing communism. To maintain its hegemony in the Western Hemisphere, the U.S. intervened in Guatemala in 1954 and removed its elected president, Jacobo Arbenz, on the premise that he was soft on communism. In 1997, the CIA released files pertaining to the Guatemalan coup that reignited questions about the motivations for U.S. actions in Guatemala. Was the United States concerned with the containment of communism, or was it acting on behalf of the business interests of the United Fruit Company? In this History Lab, students will examine documents, films, photographs, and other primary source materials to analyze U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War.
As the Cold War heated up in the 1950s, the United States made decisions on foreign policy with the goal of containing communism. To maintain its hegemony in the Western Hemisphere, the U.S. intervened in Guatemala in 1954 and removed its elected president, Jacobo Arbenz, on the premise that he was soft on communism.
