Curbing Communism

The main objectives of this study are to identify what processes have contributed towards military intervention in Indonesia and how these processes are represented in Dutch newspapers. The US decision to intervene militarily in Indonesia was influenced by Cold War imperatives. US policymakers saw the growth of the communist party in Indonesia as a security threat. As Eisenhower’s terms progressed the administration found it increasingly difficult to form strong diplomatic bonds with Indonesia. Personal diplomacy with Indonesia’s president Sukarno failed and so did US’ economical aid policies in Indonesia. The US administration did not manage to draw Indonesia closer to the US sphere of influence, Indonesia kept a steadfast neutral course on the world stage. Also the West New Guinea conflict proved to be continuously straining US-Indonesian relations. Following these processes are qualitatively and quantitatively researched in a wide array of digitalized Dutch newspapers. Regarding this subject Dutch newspapers have not been investigated yet and therefore add to the body of knowledge on the subject. Also this thesis incorporates a quantitative element. This novel tool quantifies the amount of entered keywords in newspapers articles and presents the findings in a histogram. The Dutch newspapers reveal that they make different analyses, and hold different views on the processes that have contributed towards US intervention than the US administration. These differences in views are most apparent in the assessment of the communist threat in Indonesia.