Teacher professional development and classroom resources across the curriculum
Teacher professional development and classroom resources across the curriculum
Wood, Peter, Jacqueline Jones, Thomas Borstelmann, Elaine Tyler May, and Vicki Ruiz. NSC-68 [excerpted] (2003) 825. Created Equal: A Social and Political History of the United States. New York: Pearson Education Inc., 2003. Reprinted by permission of Pearson Education, Inc.
| Creator | National Security Council |
| Context | In reaction to the Soviet Union's detonation of a nuclear bomb, the president's National Security Council formulated a re-evaluation of American foreign policy through a top-secret document called the National Security Council document 68 (NSC-68). |
| Audience | President Truman and his advisors |
| Purpose | NSC-68 established the idea of a national security state in which U.S. government military expenditures would focus on military power, foreign relations, and greater defense spending. |
NSC-68 maintained that the United States had entered a time of crisis due to the spread of communism. This document set forth that the U.S. government must counter revolutions or radical change throughout the world in order to safeguard American interests. It furthered covert operations and centralized power under the federal government, and was the beginning of the military-industrial complex that Eisenhower warned about in his farewell address. American businesses and communities came to rely on these government expenditures as a military welfare state developed. When the Cold War ended in the 1990s, these communities suffered the effects of decreased military expenditures.
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