ShmoopTube

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[ musical flourish ]

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And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by containment,

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Tupperware's tried and true corporate strategy.

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All right, first up, the excerpt.

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[ mumbles ]

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[ mumbles ] And now the question:

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How did the United States choose containment

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over the National Security Council Report

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in Latin America? And here are your potential answers.

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What exactly is this question asking?

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The goal of the National Security Council Report

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was to ensure that the basic rights of people were secure.

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But in Latin America, the United States was

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so focused on containing and overthrowing communist leaders,

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that the NSC's noble intentions often fell by the wayside.

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So we need to figure out which answer best explains

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how the U.S. went about this less-than-noble course of action.

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Did the U.S. choose containment over the National Security

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Council Report A - by using force when basic rights

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were not being threatened?

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Well, the U.S. certainly believed it was intervening

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only when basic rights were being threatened.

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Even if those rights belonged more to wealthy landowners than

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poorer segments of the population. So that eliminates A.

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Would the U.S. have chosen containment over the NSC Report

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C - by declaring war when the necessity

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of action was unclear?

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Well, because the U.S. was already sending

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foreign aid to nations threatened by communism,

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they made the decision to declare war only when they felt that

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financial support was no longer enough.

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So that strikes out C and D.

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Which means that the U.S. chose containment

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over the National Security Council Report in Latin America

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B - by supporting non-communist

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leaders regardless of their concern for democracy.

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The U.S. was so focused on overthrowing

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communist leaders that they often replaced them with corrupt

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military dictators

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who had little to no regard for the human rights

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the NSC Report supported in the first place.

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So the answer is B. Overthrowing these Latin American leaders

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is kind of like wiping chocolate off your face by smearing it with mud.

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The chocolate's gone, but you're just as dirty as you were before.

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