The Pros And Cons Of The Truman Doctrine

At this time period of time, President Harry Truman needs to take into account that the Japanese are unlikely to surrender without some heavy persuasion. The Japanese have already attacked at Pearl Harbor, and there is no sign that they will stop anytime soon. Japan is attempting to create more allies to form a strong and dangerous coalition that will threaten the United States and its allies. Fortunately, scientists in the United States have been working on an atomic bomb and now would be the perfect opportunity to utilize it to end the Japanese empire. Rather than authorizing a ground invasion of Japan or negotiating the Japanese terms of surrender, President Truman should use the atomic bomb against Japan to cause a swift surrender of the Japanese empire for the purposes of maintaining global power and preserving the lives of as many American soldiers as possible.

In addition to fighting communism overseas, the United States battled communism within its own government. Pressured by the republicans, President Truman created a loyalty Review Board in which government employees where investigated for their loyalty. Of the 3 million who where testified, only 212 where dismissed as security risks. This method was often ineffective because individuals who had been accused of disloyalty where not allowed to see the evidence against them. Another program aimed at eliminating communist influence was HUAC, or the House Un-American Activity Committee. In 1947, HUAC questioned 43 Hollywood actors about their loyalty to the government.

In 1946, George Kennan sent a “long telegram to the Us State department depicting the Soviets as driven to expand Communism. The following month, Churchill gave his “Iron Curtain” speech, further instilling fears of the spread of Communism (632). Throughout 1946 and 1947 the Soviets backed multiple Communist takeovers in Europe, justifying American concerns of Soviet militance (632). President Truman issued the Truman Doctrine to assure free nations economic support to resist Communist attacks. Shortly after, the Marshall plan was signed to further instill US economic aid in Europe, expanding US influence. In order to oppose the strong American moves, the Soviets cut off all traffic into Berlin. The allies responded by airlifting supplies to help those in need within the blockade (633). As tensions rose with the Berlin Blockade, the US enacted the National Security Act which created the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council. Along with other legislation, the NSA contributed to a large push for defense of democracy (633). The US, along with Canada and ten other European Nations, signed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949 to create a strong alliance of democratic nations. The

Some policies that affected the Cold War include the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, and the Internal Security Act.

In August of 1945, the world’s first atomic bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima in

Citizens of Europe were living in shambles (See Fig 2). Politically, Americans knew spreading capitalistic ways in Europe would gain support from the Europeans, giving the United States trade partners. During the Cold War, Germany became the center of all the tensions between Capitalism and Communism. Germany was the ideal gateway between East and West Europe. Its location made it a suitable place for these political struggles to occur. This angered the Soviets because they too wanted to influence their ways on Europe. The Marshall Plan, following the Truman Doctrine-- which supplied $400 million to countries under totalitarian regimes (Turkey and Greece), appeared to be another anti-communist move made by the United States. However, the United States still successfully achieved the goal of making Europe economically stable.

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

In 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and in the act of “revenge”, we bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, devastating the Japanese people. Harry Truman was not justified in his decision to use the atomic bombs against the Japanese and caused them to be victims. For, the Japanese already accepted that they were defeated and ready to surrender, Truman's goal of ending the war did not happen and instead started another war while horror swept the entire world, and it was very inhumane, many innocent Japanese lives were taken.

The United States obtained the general policy of containment from George Kennan. He sent what is known as the Long telegram. This is where the United States got the idea of containing Soviet expansion of communism. The United States policy of containment was present in the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, the Korean War, and the Berlin Airlift. Each event had a different version or practice of containing.

They put into effect containment and the Truman Doctrine because they knew that if he took over enough countries, that the rest would give up or would easily be taken over by him and his demand for power. The U.S feared that Stalin would soon take over Eastern Europe so they decided that they would do anything they could to put an end to him, which they called containment. “Is a belief that this peninsula is an extremely strategic spot and that if it “went” communist all Southeast Asia and beyond would turn Red,” (Doc.6) One example of containment is when North Korea, endorsed by the Soviet Union, invaded South Korea. The U.S sent in troops to fight with South Korea so that Stalin wouldn’t be able to take it over. After 3 years of combat, the Korean War ended with both countries inhabiting the same land they both started with. Another way the U.S took action against the Soviet Union to support their position was the Truman Doctorian. In 1947 Truman decided to give peoples taxes to Greece and Turkey. (Doc. 2) Truman knew that if the Soviet Union took over Greece and Turkey, that the rest of eastern europe would rapidly turn communist. So the U.S sent over around $400 million in support for military and economic aid in both countries. Since the Truman Doctrine helped Greece and Turkey grow stronger, the U.S expanded the Truman Doctrine into the Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan sent billions of dollars to countries all over Western Europe to fortify their economies so they would be able to fight the U.S.S.R. In return Stalin would not be able to take over as many countries, people, or land. Thanks to the U.S, the Truman Doctrine and containment helped hundreds of countries from being taken over and pulverized by Stalin and the U.S.S.R in there attempt to come to

During the late 1940’s and throughout the 1950’s, there was a great fear of Communism in America and abroad. The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) was created in 1938 as a means to investigate and weed out Communists and Communist supporters from American society. Its first major attack was on the Hollywood film industry. Blacklisting of Hollywood writers, actors, producers, directors and others suspected of Communist affiliations began with the committee's hearings in October of 1947, and flourished throughout the 1950s. Senator Joseph

The United States responded to the “Hawks”, President Harry S. Trueman still wanted and continued to keep communism “bottled up”. In result the Marshall Plan was created (Doc. 2). World War Two had left Europe in pieces, and the United States wanted to gain support from them. The plan was to help Europe rebuild. Between 1948 and 1952, the United States provided more than twelve billion dollars in aid. The United States helped reduce the spread of communism in Western Europe. The Trueman Doctrine basically “bribed” Greece and Turkey to think again about communist expansionism. The United States provided them with four hundred million dollars in military and economic aid. The Berlin Airlift also stopped west Berlin from falling into the Soviets arms. The United States and Britain provided helicopters and planes to drop food, fuel, and other supplies to about two million Berliners everyday. Little children would call these planes “chocolate bombers”.

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.

The foreign policy of the United States during the Cold War fully supported the growth of democratic nations. The USSR, however, wanted countries to become communist like them. These opposing views led to tension between the two nations. As a result, in 1947, President Truman issued the Truman Doctrine which stated that the United States would supply aid to any country as long as they pledged to be democratic. The Marshall plan was enacted in 1948 and it was similar to the Truman Doctrine except it provided financial aid to these countries. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the United States used its foreign policy to help countries resist communist influence.

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.