Johnson Doctrine

250px|thumb|Johnson's 1965 State of the Union

The Johnson Doctrine, enunciated by United States president Lyndon B. Johnson after the country's intervention in the Dominican Republic in 1965, declared that domestic revolution in the Western Hemisphere would no longer be a local matter when the object is the establishment of a "communist dictatorship". During Johnson's presidency, the U.S. again began interfering in the internal affairs of sovereign nations, particularly Latin America (reversing the previous Good Neighbor policy of the decades prior). The Johnson Doctrine is the formal declaration of the intention of the United States to intervene in such affairs. It is an extension of the Eisenhower and Kennedy Doctrines.

Background

Communist opposition in the United States

The U.S. opposed the spread of communism during the Cold War. This opposition to communism led to what is known as a Red Scare; Americans were told they should fear the potential influence of communism. Such anti-communist sentiments were made evident through statements such as the Truman Doctrine, which declared that the United States would provide assistance to nations threatened by authoritarianism.

The U.S. sought to take action against communism prior to declaration of the Johnson Doctrine; although initially opposed to the idea of sending U.S. troops to assist in the Vietnam War, Johnson was also opposed to allowing democratic East Asian nations to fall to communist takeovers.

United States interventionism in Latin America

Prior to the implementation of the Johnson Doctrine, the United States already had a history of intervening in Latin American affairs. However, the more recent interventions in Latin America prior to the implementation of the Johnson Doctrine were more covert such as the Bay of Pigs Invasion.

Big stick ideology

Beginning in 1901 through 1933, the U.S. used the Roosevelt Corollary and the Platt Amendment as justification for military intervention in Latin America. For example, in the Spanish–American War, the United States defeated Spain and secured Cuban independence; however, the United States exerted pressure on Cuba and forced the new government to include the Platt Amendment in their new constitution, guaranteeing the right for the U.S. to intervene in Cuban affairs.  

Dominican intervention of 1965

alt=Photograph of Juan Bosch in 1963|thumb|President of the Dominican Republic [[Juan Bosch (politician)|Juan Bosch, 1963]]

Prior to the intervention in the Dominican Republic that led to the proclamation of the Johnson Doctrine, the U.S. had engaged with the Dominican Republic in several ways; these included implementing sanctions, threatening military force, and ensuring free elections to promote democracy.

Doctrine

The Johnson Doctrine reinforced the U.S. government's existing doctrines against socialist and communist expansion. In his May 2 address, Johnson specifically stated that the American countries would not permit the establishment of another "communist government" in the Western Hemisphere. Johnson continued to praise the Dominican government and explain that his intention was domestic defense. During the time of 1964 to 1965 when Dr. Larson and Mr. Dallin published their findings they came upon the key assumption in this doctrine is that due to an imbalance in strategic weapons favoring the United States, the Soviet Union had since redressed the balance in this category for strategic weapons namely in ICBMs during this time as well as showing negative views on arms limitations and arms control agreements between the U.S. and the Soviets. In securing the Middle East, Eisenhower applied his doctrine in 1957 and 1958 by sending money to the Kingdom of Jordan, encouraging Syrians to hold military operations against it, and deploy U.S. troops to Lebanon to halt any radical changes. Although Johnson's actions were seemingly multilateral it was more unilateral, and its actions were justified through the Organization of American States (OAS) after military action was enacted. One thought that was maintained was that Fidel Castro and the Soviet Union both defied and violated the Monroe Doctrine and that the doctrine should be invoked upon Cuba. in addition to providing foreign aid to support American interests.