The main objectives of the containment policy were:
- To prevent further expansion of the Soviet Union and communism beyond their existing boundaries.
- To weaken the Soviet Union and its satellite states by political and economic means.
- To help anti-communist movements and governments around the world.
- To maintain a balance of power in Europe and other parts of the world to deter Soviet aggression.
The US pursued this policy through various means, including:
- The Truman Doctrine (1947), which provided economic and military aid to Greece and Turkey to help resist communist insurgencies.
- The Marshall Plan (1948), which provided massive economic aid to Western European countries to help rebuild after the war and strengthen their economies against communist influence.
- The Berlin Airlift (1948-1949), in which the US supplied food and other necessities to West Berlin during a Soviet blockade.
- The formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949, a military alliance between the US, Canada, and Western European countries to deter Soviet aggression.
Containment served as a driving force behind US foreign policy during the Cold War era. However, with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the end of the Cold War, the containment policy became less relevant, and American foreign policy shifted towards new priorities.