AP® United States History · Unit 8 · Topic 8.7
Covert Action and the Third World
Instead of fighting the Soviet Union directly, the United States waged the Cold War through covert operations in developing nations, toppling governments it saw as threats while denying any involvement.
After 1945, dozens of new or newly independent nations in Latin America, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia became the real battleground of the Cold War. Neither superpower wanted a direct war that risked nuclear weapons, so both competed instead for influence over these countries, often called the Third World because they were aligned with neither the American nor Soviet bloc. A government that nationalized American-owned property, flirted with Soviet aid, or simply refused to take sides could be labeled a communist threat, giving Washington a reason to act.
Covert action was the tool of choice because it delivered results without the political cost of open war. In Iran in 1953, the CIA helped engineer a coup against Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh after he nationalized the British-controlled oil industry, restoring the Shah to full power. In Guatemala in 1954, the CIA backed a coup against President Jacobo Arbenz after his land reform threatened the American-owned United Fruit Company. Both operations followed the same pattern: a popular or elected leader challenging foreign economic interests, a secret CIA role, and a friendlier, often more authoritarian government installed in its place, all while the United States publicly denied involvement.
The Suez Crisis of 1956 showed the edges of this system. When Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, Britain, France, and Israel invaded, but the United States forced them to withdraw, proving that old European empires could no longer act without American consent, while the Soviet Union's threats showed it could not simply dictate outcomes either. By 1961, the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba, an open secret rather than a true covert success, embarrassed Kennedy and pushed Fidel Castro toward Moscow, teaching policymakers to be warier of direct paramilitary schemes even as Cold War tensions kept escalating.
Key terms
- Covert action
- Secret operations, often run by the CIA, designed to influence foreign governments while allowing official denial of involvement.
- Third World
- Cold War term for developing nations in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East not formally aligned with the US or Soviet bloc.
- Nationalization
- A government taking private or foreign-owned industry, such as oil or land, under state control.
- Bay of Pigs invasion
- A failed 1961 CIA-backed attempt by Cuban exiles to overthrow Fidel Castro, which embarrassed Kennedy and pushed Cuba toward the Soviet Union.
- Suez Crisis
- The 1956 confrontation sparked by Egypt's nationalization of the Suez Canal, which showed American power could override old European empires.
Watch it explained
- How it worksWalk me through the pattern of a covert intervention using Iran in 1953 and Guatemala in 1954.
- How it worksHow does the Suez crisis of 1956 reveal the limits of both empires at once?
- Worked exampleDraw a map of American interventions and alliances in the Middle East and Latin America to 1980.
- Going furtherWhat changes about American policy after the Bay of Pigs failure?
Check yourself
End of topic.