Iron Curtain Speech Analysis

The U.S and the Soviet Union had mistrusted each other from the beginning, which started the Cold War. when the U.S was attacked on December 1941, The Soviet Union had made an alliance with them along with Britain, which soon followed with the U.S supplying their allies with military supplies. During their alliance against the fascist powers, Stalin was suspicious which made “The Soviets believed that the Western Allies had

From the years of 1941 to 1949, there was an increase in suspicion and tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was a Communist country ruled by a dictator while America was a capitalist democracy that valued freedom. Their completely different beliefs and aims caused friction to form between them, which contributed to the creation of the Cold War.

Truman gave the Truman Doctrine. The United States was the only country that could act to keep Russia out of Greece and Turkey, they were in danger of a dictatorial system of government forced on them , as Truman himself said, “...by direct or indirect aggression, [which would] undermine the foundations of international peace and hence the security of the United States.” (Truman) Therefore “... it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressure.” (Truman) This very well explains why it was important for the United States to get involved, and gives the reason for the Truman Doctrine be. Truman wanted to gain congressional approval and public support for supporting Greek and Turkish independence. He thought that the support should be mostly through economic and financial aid, but he wanted to keep costs downs so as not to provoke the Soviets into an aggressive response, so he asked congress to use $400 million to assist them. The money to assist Greece and Turkey was approved by legislation, on 22 May 1947, just two months after the doctrine was given. Dwight P. Griswold was appointed to administer the program of assisting Greece and he was able to stabilise greek affairs by September of 1948. Turkey wasn’t in as bod of an economic crisis, and it was also out of danger by 1948. As Donald McCoy

Turkey, another country that had been dependent on British aid was also being pressured by the Soviets into granting them base and transit rights through the Turkish Straights. Worried about the growth the spread of communism and the growing influence of the Soviets; President Truman appealed to a joint session of congress to authorize $400-million in emergency aid to the Greek and Turkish Governments and the dispatch of American civilian and military personnel to those countries. In his Speech; Truman said “I believe it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures”. This would be known as the Truman Doctrine and it would be the foundation of the post-war American foreign policy throughout the Cold War. The Policy of Containment also sprung from the Truman Doctrine. This new foreign policy stood in stark contrast to the isolationist foreign policy that the United States had held in the past. Instead of avoiding international affairs and conflicts around the world the United States would become more proactive in the affairs of the world to promote its interest and to combat the influence Soviet

Throughout the middle of the twenty-first century, a series of tension and disagreement erupted between the United States of America and the Soviet Union of Russia. Because it was not a violent time of any major skirmishes or death, it was given the name The Cold War. This period lasted for roughly fifty years, from the end of World War II until the end of the century. Though there is much debate regarding when the Cold War officially began, there is strong evidence for all the events that contributed to the build up towards the war

President Truman said in the essence of that the United States would provide many to countries that claimed they were threatened by communist expansion.” (150) President Truman concern was with the expansion of Soviet to the Eastern Mediterranean, it will cause communist to expand their regime and force the Eastern Mediterranean countries fall into the communist regime. This will cause for the Eastern Mediterranean countries like Greece and Turkey to will change politically, economically, and militarily to Soviet Union communist regime. President Truman wants the U.S. to provide aid and support those who are threatened by communist and those who want to be free from suppressor, dictator, and communist regime. As of many other countries was

The Truman Doctrine was a United States foreign policy established by President Harry S. Truman (1945-1953) in 1947. The policy stated that the US would provide military and financial support to Greece and Turkey to prevent them from falling to communism. This started a policy of “containment” which would persist for many years to come. After World War II left most of the world devastated, the US and the Soviet Union emerged as the two global superpowers and despite being allies during the war, the two became adversaries when their goals for Europe after the war conflicted. Greece had been embroiled in a Civil War between it’s standing government and a communist party vying for power, and Great Britain, who had long supported Greece, was unable to support them any further, and asked the US for it’s support. In Turkey, Soviet leader Josef Stalin demanded partial control of the Dardanelles, a strait in Turkey connecting the Black Sea and the Mediterranean which possessed significant strategic value. The policy makers of the Truman Doctrine decided that support must go to both Greece and Turkey, as support given to just one of the two would be futile as if one nation fell, the other would fall soon. This idea of one nation’s fall to communism leading to another’s fall to communism became known as the “Domino Theory”. The Truman Doctrine was a significant change in US foreign policy, and set the tone for US relations in Europe and the rest of the world for most of the Cold War.

Harry S. Truman was well known for The Truman Doctrine that would give aid for Greece and Turkey to quote “The foreign policy and the national security of this country are involved. One aspect of the present situation, which I present to you at this time for your consideration and decision, concerns Greece and Turkey. The United States has received from the Greek Government an urgent appeal for financial and economic assistance. Preliminary reports from the American Economic Mission now in Greece and reports from the American Ambassador in Greece corroborate the statement of the

The Nazis had occupied Greece during World War II. There were two resistance groups in Greece that had been fighting the Nazi regime. One resistance group supported the Greek monarchy, and the other resistance group advocated for communist rule. When Greece had been liberated from the Nazis, disputes surfaced between the two resistance groups. The communist group refused to join a new government and rebelled against the monarchy. The United Kingdom had gotten involved to put down the rebellion. However, these rebellions continued. In 1947, the United Kingdom could no longer afford to provide military and financial support to Greece. The United States was almost certain the Soviet Union had been funding these communist rebellions in Greece. Marshall had believed the United States was the only country able to provide economic aid to Greece seeing as how World War II had damaged the economies of other nations. President Truman would later meet with congressional leaders to explore what ought to be done about Greece. Those he had met with feared Soviet domination would extend into Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. In March of 1947, President Truman had asked Congress for $400 million in economic aid for Greece and Turkey. He would also announce what would be known as the Truman Doctrine. The Truman Doctrine had declared it to be the foreign policy of the United States to assist any country whose stability was threatened by communism.

The Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States was in the early stages during World War II as the Soviets were unhappy that U.S. troops did not arrive to form a second military front against the German army until 1944. This was just the first blip on the radar so to speak in the troubled relations the two countries would have with each other for the next 45 years.

Within the three short speeches demonstrated in the handout provided, a student quickly realized that the relationship between the U.S. and Soviet Union had drastically changed not only throughout the long years of the Cold War, but also throughout the years of the Gorbachev and Reagan’s administration. Within the first speech, one quickly realizes that Reagan demonstrates animosity and resentment towards the Soviet Union. However, as the year marches on between the composition and delivery of the two speeches, Reagan begins to demonstrate love, compassion, and care towards the Soviet Union… leaving them with a soften view over their relationship. Reagan demonstrates this change through two means within his speeches… his delivery and his aspect of the content.

in Hanhimäki & Westad, 2003, p. 106). He detailed the threat of communism, and Congress quickly agreed to allocate the requested $400 million to prevent the fall of Greece and Turkey to the communists (Keylor, 2011, p. 263). Truman also stated, “it must be the policy of the United States to support free people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures” (qtd. in Keylor, 2011, p. 263). The Truman Doctrine effectively reoriented U.S. foreign policy, away from its usual stance of withdrawal from regional conflicts not directly involving the United States, to one of possible intervention in far away conflicts. The Truman Doctrine became the official policy of the United States, and it had far-reaching repercussions. It drove the wedge between the U.S. and the Soviet Union much deeper, thus polarizing the world. Other nations and regions essentially had to choose between supporting the United States or the Soviet Union. The Truman Administration made further attempts to contain the Soviet threat with the Marshall Plan. Much of Western Europe was economically crippled by WWII and showed little hope of recovery. The widespread poverty, soaring unemployment, and limited potential

Following World War II in 1945, many parts of Europe were left in ruins. The economies of warring nations were destroyed, and many civilians suffered terribly. Despite their cooperation during World War II, a tension of beliefs between the United States and the Soviet Union which had begun during the Russian Revolution in 1917, reemerged as World War II came to an end. The Cold War was a non-violent conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union that turned out to last for almost fifty years after the second World War. As World War II drew to a close in 1945, past animosities rose again, as a result of the fact that the United States and the Soviet Union were left as the two of the strongest nations. The Cold War surfaced towards the end of World War II as the communist and capitalist allies met at a series of three conferences in an attempt address the post war future, but the difference of beliefs ultimately created obstacles in the process.

Following World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union distrusted one another. The Soviet Union had a strong army in the field, while the United States had the most powerful weapon, the Atomic Bomb, in the world (Trueman 2). The sense of not knowing how many or what their next plan is created distrust and suspicion for both sides. With distrust already in place, both sought to further their ideological views. In some aspects, the Cold War was simple a fight between communism and capitalism (Cold 1). Overall, the Cold War was a war between two superpowers supporting conflicts around the world, using words and threats of weapons, and simply trying to make the other look imprudent.

The original main idea of the Truman doctrine and the policy of containment were to support Turkey and Greece – who were on the verge of being subjugated to the Soviet Union and communism. They needed the assistance of an outside power to help them fight off this threat . The main point to understand this is that it set the precedent that the USA would help any country that was under threat from the Soviet Union in any way, including a communist government trying to take power.