The Function of the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan in Preventing the Spread of Communism During the Cold War

The Truman Doctrine affected the Cold War by stopping Communists from destroying Europe any further. History.state.gov states, “President Harry S. Truman established that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces.” In his speech, he asked Congress to give support to the Greek government and go against the Communists. If the U.S. government failed to help the Greek government, the Communists would continue to damage Europe. The Truman Doctrine affected the Cold War, and another policy that affected the Cold

1947: Truman Doctrine: The Truman Doctrine was one of the policies under President Truman’s “Containment Policy.” In the Doctrine, he requested $400 million to bolster forces in eastern Europe to defend against Communism. Congress agrees and passes the doctrine. Dean Acheson, who was the Secretary of State at the time, argued that the fall of a Communist country will have a “domino” effect on the neighboring countries, and they need to be properly prepared for such a situation. As result of this policy, the US became the “global

Throughout the Cold War, America’s foreign policy made a great difference and was very effective. Document A states that the policy towards the Soviet Union must be long-term, which America did just that. It says to keep the Soviets more of a rival than a partner, which they did very effectively. The Truman Doctrine stated that America would help other countries fight communism both politically and physically. This was very effective because it prevented the spread of communism. The Doctrine was clearly shown in Document B, where the U.S. assisted South Korea from communist North Korea.

The Truman Doctrine was a major cause for NATO because of its financial support to different countries. It was established on March 12, 1947, after president Truman told Congress “It must be the policy of the United States of America to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities, or by outside pressure” (NATO Information Service, 1976, p.17). After Truman said that, the Congress of the United States gave $400 million to help Greece and Turkey after the Soviet Union had got to them (NATO Information Service, 1976, p.17). The Truman Doctrine was specifically made to help Greece and Turkey but Western Europe needed just as much help. Western Europe still had shortages from the war and the economy was not good at all. Once General George C. Marshall saw this on June 5, 1927, he decided the United States should make a program to help Europeans recover. Marshall thought all the European countries should have to agree on the program. He wanted the program to be efficient in helping all the European countries and not just some of them. When Marshall talks about the program he states “directed not against any country or doctrine but against, hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos” (NATO Information Service, 1976, p.17). Marshall is implying that the bigger picture is not about the different countries, but that none of them should have to deal with hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos. The Truman Doctrine was not made to help just one person or

The Truman Doctrine was presented to Congress by President Truman. It was a request to send aid to Greece and Turkey because they were so close to Russia. Russia looked at their neighbors and ports as a gold mine. Truman wanted a strong American presence there so the Soviet would not further move toward Greece and Turkey. The Truman doctrine was also a policy of the United States that would support free people resisting communism.

Truman’s policy of containment was the idea of containing communism in areas where it was expanding. Truman asked Congress to give a helping hand to Greece and Turkey because they were starting to spiral into communism. After a while the threat was gone so good on Harry Truman. An economical aspect of this policy would be the fact we gave Greece and Turkey in total 400 million dollars which economically assisted them. A political aspect of this policy would be the fact we ended the spread of communism in these two countries. A cultural aspect of this was the fact Turkey and Greece hadn’t been completely switched over to communism.

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.

Throughout the Cold War, Korean War, and Vietnam War the main problem was communism. Although the United States and the Soviet Union were allies in World War Two, during the Cold War the United States and the Soviet Union were known as enemies. The Soviet leaders bragged to other nations that communism would “scrape apart” free-enterprise systems around the world. This attitude angered the capitalists which led into the fifty year Cold War. The United States tried creating many tactics and strategies to contain the “bleeding” of communism, but during the cold war, communism spread faster then it could be restrained. The United States used the Marshall Plan , the Trueman Doctrine, and the Berlin Airlift to help lead people to a

1. Truman’s Policy of Containment was that the U.S. would work to stop the spread of communism by providing political, economic, and military assistance to all democratic nations under the threat of communism or any external authoritarian forces. The political aspect of this policy was the alliances made during the Cold War. NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was a defensive alliance among the U.S. and other European countries against the Soviet Union. This alliance still exists today. The Warsaw Pact was a defensive alliance that included the Soviet Union and its satellite governments in Eastern Europe. These alliances assured that if one country was attacked, then the others must react by coming to the defense.

Turkey was a concern because it was on the border of the Soviet Union and had previously been a target for expansion. After Britain had informed the United States that it could not afford to give Greece and Turkey financial aid, Truman was determined to persuade Congress to allocate funds to fight the spread of communism into Greece and Turkey. 2. How

In the early 1940’s, the United States was monitoring the countries of Greece and Turkey as both were experiencing economic and political turmoil. Turkey was faced with a weak government that faced Soviet pressure to share control of the strategic Dardanelle Straits. Control of this area would provide for travel to the Black Sea. The government of Greece was facing the rise of the Communist-led insurgency known as the National Liberation Front, while it was also experiencing crumbling political and economic conditions. Greece was one of the few countries in Eastern Europe that had not turned communist, and this was made possible because of their help from the British Army.

The Cold War began when Joseph Stalin, leader of the Communist Party, used the Red Army to take control of most of the countries of Eastern Europe. The United States as well as Western European countries were greatly concerned. In response to Stalin 's military movements, President Harry Truman issued the Truman Doctrine in 1947. In his address to Congress, President Truman decided that “the United States would aid any country that asked for help in resisting communism” (Browne 263). The Truman Doctrine became known as the basis for containment, the policy to keep communism from spreading to other countries. According to White House documents online, after the Truman Doctrine, George Catlett Marshall, Secretary of State, proposed the Marshall Plan, the European Recovery Program through which the United States provided aid to Western Europe after World War II, in June 1947. The Marshall Plan was offered to all European countries, but Stalin would not allow the countries his military was occupying to take part. “In April 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed” (Browne 263). The countries involved in this pact were the United States, Britain, France, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Portugal.

In February 1947 the British government announced that it could no longer provide the military and economic assistance to Greece and Turkey that it had been providing since the end of the Second World War. On 12 March 1947 President Truman spoke to congress and what he said later became known as the ‘Truman Doctrine.’ His speech on March 12 marked a new era in the USA’s attitude to world politics and in his speech Truman stated that Greece and Turkey were “threatened by the terrorist activities of several thousand armed men, led by communists.” Truman requested $400 million in assistance for the two nations and two months later, congress approved his request. The doctrine marked the beginning of the containment policy to stop Soviet expansion.

Within theories and finding, The Truman Doctrine was established and on March 12th, 1947. Truman speech pledged “American support for free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures” (Simkin, n.d.) Congress also agreed to give economic aid to the military to help fight Greece against communism as he felt that the political stability was threatened. With Greece in trouble Truman as concerned the other countries would fall into Communism and was known as the ‘domino theory’. If it was not for Truman then Greece and Turkey could no longer afford to fight the rebels. “Truman said that the Cold War was a choice between freedom and oppression; Therefore, Americans would have to abandon their decisions not to get involved in European affairs; America was OBLIGED to get involved” (Clare, n.d.). The Truman Doctrine was an American challenge not only to Soviet ambitions but also through a policy of containment.

The beginning of the Cold War took place on January 1 of 1947. The Cold War was a period of global political tension that occurred after World War II. Because of regional differences, territorial disputes, and domestic problems occurring after World War II, there was bound to be conflict after the war. In 1947, President of the United States, Harry Truman, created the Truman Doctrine. The Truman Doctrine was a foreign policy put in place by the United States to counter Soviet expansion during the Cold War. It called for military aid to Greece and Turkey in order to block Communist expansion into the Mediterranean. This general plan was applied to Western Europe. The Marshall Plan was also able to help in the recovery of Western Europe. In Southeast Asia, the Association of South East Asian Nations was able to help Asia to increase the cooperation between nations. During the Cold War, both Western Europe and Southeast Asia were negatively and positively impacted and they also both shared similarities and differences of how the Cold War effected their nations.