| A reform movement, called the Prague Spring by the West, was broken out in Czechoslovakia in January,1968. But in the same year, it was destroyed by the Soviets on August 20. This incident just occurred at the time of the last year when President Jonhson was in office. How were the attitudes of Mr. President and his staff from the beginning to the end of the Prague Spring? What policies did they adopt? After the Soviets'invasion, what measures else did they take? What were the factors influencing their decision-making? All these issues above remains to be further explored. Through studying the historical materials of Foreign Relations of the United States during Johnson's years uncovered on the web of the department of the United States, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, and Central Intelligence Agency's Reports etc. and referring to the latest works of the West, this paper tries to further explore the US policies towards the Prague Spring, which mainly consists of four parts.The first part reviews the post-war American governments' policies towards Czechoslovakia before the Prague Spring. Since the Americans didn't pay much attention to the post-war politics in Czechoslovakia, the latter finally turned to the Soviets. After the February Event, the Czechs adopted hostile foreign policy towards the West, while the US government labeled it one of the satellites of the Soviet Union and contained. And the relationships between the US and Czechoslovakia had remained cool. In the duration of the Johnson Administration, American government strived for bridge-building to the Czechs, but the latter had still been indifferent as before. The second part studies the Johnson Administration's policies towards the reform movement of the Prague Spring. From the beginning of the Prague Spring to the eve of Soviet invading, the Johnson Administration's attitude changed from waiting and seeing cautiously when the reform movement began to keeping calm towards the situation in Czechoslovakia and to react insouciantly to the Soviet's military movement, accompanying with the policy of noninterference during that period of time.The third part discusses the Johnson Administration's policies after the Soviet's invasion. President Johnson acted insouciantly when Dobrynin informed him the Soviet's invasion, which confirmed that the President had been unconcerned with the Prague Spring. After the invasion, the US government set out to consider that how to take the advantage of the influence which came from the invasion and was anxious about the possibilities of the extension of military operations while responding to the invasion itself with a strong whiff of empty ritual.The fourth part analyzes the causes of the US noninterference. In the last year when President Johnson was in office, the US government regarded US-Soviet detente and Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) as its core tasks. And because of the influence of the Vietnam War and the aspiration that the President had for the great accomplishment in his political career, the Johnson Administration strived hard for the US-Soviet cooperation all the more so. Moreover, haunted by the concept of sphere of influence, Mr. President and his staff believed that the United States could not and had no ways to help Czechoslovakia, and the Czechs themselves had remained cool to the Americans as before. Due to all these factors mentioning above, the Johnson Administration attached much more importance to the US-Soviet cooperation rather than a small and unfriendly country located in Eastern Europe. |
