Quote Originally Posted by Bob's World View Post
We got on this boat in about 1950 when we modified containment from one of realist blocking of Soviet expansion into western Europe to one of moralist containing of communist ideology within the Sino-Soviet bloc.
It was more complicated than that. During the first Eisenhower administration there was talk of rolling back Communism, but that ended when Soviet tanks entered Budapest in 1954. It's one thing to encourage dissent with propaganda and empty promises but quite another thing to start World War III.