Johnson Doctrine

Last updated February 03, 2024

The Johnson Doctrine, enunciated by U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson after the United States' 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".^[1] During Johnson's presidency, the United States again began interfering in the 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. government 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.^[2] 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.^[3]

The government of the United States sought to take action against communism prior to declaration of the Johnson Doctrine; although initially opposed to the idea of sending American troops to assist in the Vietnam War, Lyndon B. Johnson was also opposed to allowing democratic East Asian nations to fall to communist takeovers.^[4]

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.^[5] 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.^[6] The affairs of the United States and the Dominican Republic have been closely entangled for much of American history; in 1849, the president of the Dominican Republic requested that the country be annexed by the United States, and during the presidency of Millard Fillmore, the United States president noted the country’s special interest in the affairs of the Dominican Republic as a result of its proximity to the United States.^[7]

Big Stick Ideology

Beginning in 1901 through 1933, the United States used the Roosevelt Corollary and the Platt Amendment as justification for military intervention in Latin American affairs.^[8] 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 United States to intervene in Cuban affairs.^[8] This period, marked by Theodore Roosevelt's declaration that the United States would act as the international police power of the west, reduced the influence of European powers in the Caribbean, Central and South America and in turn, increased the influence of the United States in the regions.^[8]

World War II and the Cold War Era

These interventions were temporarily ended by Franklin D. Roosevelt's Good Neighbor policy.^[8] The Good Neighbor Policy served as a termination of American interventionism, albeit temporary. However, the Good Neighbor Policy did require Latin American nations to accept the leadership of the United States.^[8]

Following World War II and the onset of the Cold War, the United States began to view Latin America through a new lens; the potential for the Soviet Union to establish communism in Central and South America was seen as a serious concern.^[8] As a result the United States intervened in several countries, including the Dominican Republic, in an effort to prevent the spread of communism. The nature of these interventions was different from prior interventions. In 1948, the Organization of American States was created. This organization, along with the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance of 1947, meant that the United States could still intervene but needed clear justification to do so.^[9]

Dominican Intervention of 1965

Prior to the intervention in the Dominican Republic that led to the proclamation of the Johnson Doctrine, the United States had engaged with the Dominican Republic in several ways; these included implementing sanctions, threatening military force, and ensuring free elections to promote democracy.^[7] In 1965, the United States intervened in the Dominican Republic again when the possibility of a Communist takeover seemed possible. In that year, a leftist group supporting the overthrown, democratically elected Juan Bosch seemed poised to place Bosch back in power.^[9]

A group of Dominican Communists were involved in the revolt, and the United States deemed the threat of a Communist takeover to be too serious to be left alone.^[9] Moreover, when Bosch was first elected, the United States government was concerned that despite being democratically elected, he may lead the nation into a Communist government.^[4] In an attempt to prevent this, the United States sent in military forces, a departure from the previous decades of Good Neighbor philosophy.^[9]

The United States justified their actions in the Dominican Republic (as they had justified the interventions in Cuba in the years prior) as a violation of the principles of the Monroe Doctrine; legislators also resolved to extend the Monroe doctrine specifically to allow intervention if tensions in the Dominican Republic escalated.^[10]

The Doctrine

The Johnson Doctrine reinforced the United States government's existing doctrines against socialist expansion. In his May 2 address, Johnson specifically states that the American countries, will not permit the establishment of another "communist government" in the Western Hemisphere.^[1] Johnson contextualized the proclamation through the lens of the revolution in the Dominican Republic, citing the various factions of the revolution.^[11] Johnson continued to praise the government of the Dominican Republic and explain that his intention was domestic defense.^[11]

The Johnson Doctrine builds off of the Kennedy and Eisenhower doctrines in that it opposes communism in the Western Hemisphere. It also parallels the Monroe Doctrine, with an emphasis on denouncing non-US (in this case socialist) interference in the Americas.

Moscow Strategic Doctrine

The Johnson Doctrine having been built off of the Kennedy and Eisenhower doctrines in that it opposes communism in the Western Hemisphere that doctrine being the Moscow Strategic Doctrine. The Moscow Strategic Doctrine has been studied by Dr. Thomas B. Larson and Alexander J. Dallin and from their findings found that the doctrine faces more upon Soviet Arms control policies during the Khrushchev era.^[12] 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.^[12] The Soviet Union has sense 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 Soviets.^[12]

Eisenhower Doctrine: Example in the Middle East

The Eisenhower Doctrine is a build off for what the Johnson Doctrine is and has its own way of dealing with communism. An example of the Eisenhower Doctrine in effect would be in the Middle East in 1957 when the United States declared that they would distribute economical and military aid, and if necessary use military force to drive out communism.^[13] In securing the Middle East Eisenhower applied his doctrine in 1957-1958 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.^[13] The doctrine showed a major commitment and a new resolve for the United States in securing stability in the Middle East and their influence in international affairs, thus Eisenhower raised the prospects of the U.S. fighting in the Middle East and taking responsibility over it for decades to come.^[13]

The Johnson Doctrine: Latin America

In Latin America the Johnson Doctrine takes after the Eisenhower Doctrine in a way of how it was to deal with communism. In 1965 President Lyndon B. Johnson had sent over 20,000 troops to the Dominican Republic under the idea that America and its nations will not allow a communist government to foster in the Western hemisphere.^[6] 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.^[6] However, by acting unilaterally and through Johnson's "Johnson Doctrine" the United States had violated the OAS prohibition on any American state from intervention of any kind on any other state for any reason.^[6] This action also violated the nonintervention pledge that had been a key part in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Good Neighbor Policy.^[6]

The Monroe Doctrine: Cuba and The Dominican Republic

The Johnson Doctrine follows the same precepts of the Monroe Doctrine in protecting Latin American owned territories, which was set up in 1823, in how it revived it as well as bring controversy with. The Cuban Economic Independence with the Soviet Union, the discovery and removal of Soviet missiles, and the Cuban infiltration of Latin America recently the Dominican prompted the debate over the controversy and status of the Monroe Doctrine.^[14] One thought that was maintained is the Premier Castro and the Soviet Union both defied and violated the Monroe Doctrine and that the doctrine should be invoked upon Cuba.^[14] It was also contended that the doctrine needed to be revived and restored before this.^[14] An example of this would be during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis which formulate a committee for the doctrine of conservatives dissatisfied with the President's policy.^[14] This committee's major objective was to get Congress to pass a joint resolution to reaffirm the doctrine, in 1963 the House of Representatives presented a resolution that Soviet troops in Cuba violated the doctrine.^[14] Two years later Congressman Daniel J. Flood would request for House support "to extend" the doctrine fearing things might erupt in the Caribbean, Congressman Armistead I. Selden proposed a resolution that gave the United States unilateral force in Latin America against communism which violated "the principles" of the doctrine.^[14]

Legacy

Following the implementation of the Johnson Doctrine, the United States has continued to intervene in international affairs. In Latin America, the United States intervened to prevent perceived threats from leftist forces; some confirmed interventions included Operation Condor in the 1970s, support of the Contras in Nicaragua and the invasion of Grenada in 1983.^[5]

United States interventions have also included involvement in regime changes, military support, and invasions of countries outside of the Western Hemisphere; for example, the United States has lent support to Ukraine following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Furthermore, the United States maintains a military presence in countries around the world^[15] in addition to providing foreign aid to support American interests.

Related Research Articles

The domino theory is a geopolitical theory which posits that increases or decreases in democracy in one country tend to spread to neighboring countries in a domino effect. It was prominent in the United States from the 1950s to the 1980s in the context of the Cold War, suggesting that if one country in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow. It was used by successive United States administrations during the Cold War as justification for American intervention around the world. Former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower described the theory during a news conference on April 7, 1954, when referring to communism in Indochina as follows:

Finally, you have broader considerations that might follow what you would call the "falling domino" principle. 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.

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This section of the timeline of United States history concerns events from 1950 to 1969.

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The Good Neighbor policy was the foreign policy of the administration of United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt towards Latin America. Although the policy was implemented by the Roosevelt administration, President Woodrow Wilson had previously used the term, but subsequently went on to justify U.S. involvement in the Mexican Revolution and occupation of Haiti. Senator Henry Clay had coined the term Good Neighbor in the previous century. President Herbert Hoover turned against interventionism and developed policies that Roosevelt perfected.

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At the 1939 New York World's Fair, the Good Neighbor policy was developed by encouraging cultural exchange between the United States and Latin American countries by cooperation in presenting the event. The policy was the foreign policy of the administration of United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt towards Latin America.

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The Mission of the Representative of the Secretary-General in the Dominican Republic (DOMREP) was a peacekeeping operation established in 1965 by the UN to observe the ceasefire agreement between the two de facto authorities in the Dominican Republic during the Dominican Civil War. DOMREP was instructed to report any breaches of the agreements between the Constitutionalists led by Juan Bosch and Francisco Caamaño, and Loyalists commanded by Elías Wessin y Wessin and backed by the United States. Once the new Dominican constitutional government was formed, DOMREP withdrew.

References

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