De Oppresso Liber – To Free the Oppressed – What’s in a Motto?

Origins

U.S. Army Special Forces was created in 1952 under the auspices of the Army Psychological Warfare office as a discreet response to contain Soviet expansionism and counter communist inspired insurgencies in eastern Europe and Asia. U.S. leaders believed left unabated Marxist-Leninist ideology would expand and wield the Soviet Union greater influence and power at the United States expense. In 1962, President John F. Kennedy recognized the U.S. military would need forces able to combat communist guerrilla forces, insurgency, and subversion.   

During the Cold War (1945 – 1991) the Soviet Union was firmly entrenched in Eastern Europe, most noticeably demonstrated through the Warsaw Pact member-states . In Asia, the Soviet Union strengthened its relations with Mao Zedong, Kim Il-sung, and Ho Chi Minh. During this bipolar period, the United States and the Soviet Union's policies and ideologies, respectively, often played out through proxies. These proxy wars were a consequence of the domino theory , i.e., if one country fell to communism, its neighbors were likely to follow suit. The Soviet Union and China supported North Korea in its invasion of South Korea in 1950 and backed Ho Chi Minh in his conquest to unite North and South Vietnam. In response, America fought alongside South Korean and the South Vietnamese troops. U.S. and Soviet involvement played out not only in the Indo-Pacific and Eastern Europe, but also in Africa, the Middle East, and Central and South America. It is in these proxy wars that Army Special Forces honed their skills as force multipliers.