• This document is a transcript of a conversation between Dwight Eisenhower, US President in 1954, and an American reporter, Robert Richards.
  
• Eisenhower was a highly respected President, and was formerly the Supreme Commander of Allied forces during the Second World War.
  
• The Domino Theory originated from the late 1940s when Stalin managed to install Communist rulers in many Eastern European states. The US President at the time was Truman, who developed the policy of Containment.
  
• Containment meant that the USA would do all it could to try to stop the spread of Communism to any new states. The Domino Theory made it clear that if Communism was not stopped, other states would follow.
  
• This policy was the guiding view behind President Kennedy's policies almost ten years later, when he increased US involvement in Vietnam.
  
• Robert McNamara was one of Kennedy's top advisers. He was interviewed much later and said that neither he nor the President or any other US politician questioned the policy until well after the war finally ended. They just assumed it was right.