All this time, the only American strategy, militarily and diplomatic, was total retaliation for provocation. Feeling the danger of this approach in the newly arrived nuclear age, the U.S. began to try to step down a little from this all or nothing approach to one that was more flexible, yet something that would not allow the Soviets to trample Europe (and later, the rest of the world). The name for this new strategy was containment, and it focused now not so much now on the U.S.S.R. as the nations throughout the world, in particular the third world, which might become ruled by communists or sympathize with the communists.

Containment was not only a military strategy, but also a political and economic one. Its main focus was to prevent the communist ideology from spreading beyond Eastern Europe and Asia. Countries that might be "vulnerable" to communist philosophy were those, of course, where the majority of the population was very poorly situated and dissatisfied with their governments. It might be appropriate to add here that, as one of the most affluent and powerful countries in the world, the United States was probably never really susceptible to the communist philosophy, except in small circles. So, the only legitimate

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