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DOMINO THEORY

DOMINO THEORY. For many years the domino theory was a key ideological component of America's Cold War foreign policy. The theory was first advanced during Harry S. Truman's presidency to justify an American aid package to Greece and Turkey, and President Dwight Eisenhower later applied it to Vietnam in 1954. Worried about the consequences of a communist victory there, Eisenhower said: "You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. So you could have a beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound influences."

Policymakers in the John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson administrations added another dimension to the domino theory that embraced the notion of credibility. From their perspective the need to contain communist expansion in Vietnam had taken on a symbolic and global dimension in the fight against wars of national liberation. Thus the domino theory had been incorporated into a more sweeping doctrine, shaped by the need to appear strong and resolute in the face of any possible Chinese or Russian geopolitical challenge to American global interests.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Herring, George. America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950–1975. 3d ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1996.

Hess, Gary R. Presidential Decisions for War: Korea, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001.

William C. Berman

See also Cold War.