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<p>[QUOTE="CoinSwede, post: 47394, member: 1770"]Historically, the United States has long taken pride in its democratic principles and its promotion of freedom. Yet, during the 1920s, American leaders developed the logic and rational for the United States to support right-wing dictators that contradicted the avowed rectitude of their public positions. In response to the revolutionary upheavals in Russia, China and Mexico, a persistent concern for order and stability merged with anti-communism and the desire to create an international trading system built on free trade. Beginning with such governments as Benito Mussolini's in Italy, Anastasio Somoza's in Nicaragua, and Fulgencio Batista's in Cuba, the United States came to support authoritarian governments that promised stability, anti-bolshevism and, most important, protection of American trade and investments.</p><p><br /></p><p>World War II led to a temporary abandonment of this policy, but with the emergence of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, once more, expediency overcame the American commitment to democracy, and the United States accepted and encouraged friendly, albeit brutal and corrupt allies who provided stability, support for American policies and a favorable atmosphere for American business. The belief that dictators were better than the communist regimes that usually replaced them (for U.S. reasons, at least) was the view of most politicians during this era.</p><p><br /></p><p>These views were supported by social scientists in the postwar years. Proponents of nation building and the moving of Third World nations through the "stages of economic growth" argued that stability and strong rule were a necessary stage of development. In 1959, the State Department concluded that "our experience with the more highly developed Latin American states indicates that authoritarianism is required to lead backward societies through their socio-economic revolutions," and that this would remain the case "for a long period."</p><p><br /></p><p>While this policy did provide for short-term gains and benefits for the United States, it created long-term instability and a political backlash against the United States. Right-wing dictators consistently resisted reforms urged upon them by the United States and created politically polarized societies that destroyed the political center. Eventually, the citizens of these societies created radical political movements and revolutions that brought to power, in nations such as Cuba, Vietnam, Nicaragua and Iran, the type of regimes the United States most opposed.</p><p><br /></p><p>One such revolution resulted in the fall of the Shah of Iran in 1979 to the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, bringing down one of the United States' longest standing allies, and placing in power in Tehran a fanatically anti-American Islamic republic. Instead of seeing this disaster as the result of its own selfish, misplaced actions, the United States compounded the problem by returning to its old habits. As a means of countering Khomeini's regime, the United States began supporting Iran's enemy Iraq, without considering what the results might be.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="CoinSwede, post: 47394, member: 1770"]Historically, the United States has long taken pride in its democratic principles and its promotion of freedom. Yet, during the 1920s, American leaders developed the logic and rational for the United States to support right-wing dictators that contradicted the avowed rectitude of their public positions. In response to the revolutionary upheavals in Russia, China and Mexico, a persistent concern for order and stability merged with anti-communism and the desire to create an international trading system built on free trade. Beginning with such governments as Benito Mussolini's in Italy, Anastasio Somoza's in Nicaragua, and Fulgencio Batista's in Cuba, the United States came to support authoritarian governments that promised stability, anti-bolshevism and, most important, protection of American trade and investments. World War II led to a temporary abandonment of this policy, but with the emergence of the Cold War with the Soviet Union, once more, expediency overcame the American commitment to democracy, and the United States accepted and encouraged friendly, albeit brutal and corrupt allies who provided stability, support for American policies and a favorable atmosphere for American business. The belief that dictators were better than the communist regimes that usually replaced them (for U.S. reasons, at least) was the view of most politicians during this era. These views were supported by social scientists in the postwar years. Proponents of nation building and the moving of Third World nations through the "stages of economic growth" argued that stability and strong rule were a necessary stage of development. In 1959, the State Department concluded that "our experience with the more highly developed Latin American states indicates that authoritarianism is required to lead backward societies through their socio-economic revolutions," and that this would remain the case "for a long period." While this policy did provide for short-term gains and benefits for the United States, it created long-term instability and a political backlash against the United States. Right-wing dictators consistently resisted reforms urged upon them by the United States and created politically polarized societies that destroyed the political center. Eventually, the citizens of these societies created radical political movements and revolutions that brought to power, in nations such as Cuba, Vietnam, Nicaragua and Iran, the type of regimes the United States most opposed. One such revolution resulted in the fall of the Shah of Iran in 1979 to the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, bringing down one of the United States' longest standing allies, and placing in power in Tehran a fanatically anti-American Islamic republic. Instead of seeing this disaster as the result of its own selfish, misplaced actions, the United States compounded the problem by returning to its old habits. As a means of countering Khomeini's regime, the United States began supporting Iran's enemy Iraq, without considering what the results might be.[/QUOTE]
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