The Truman Doctrine Essay

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

As stated before the Truman Doctrine was a pivotal point in United States foreign policy. Such a policy has its advantages and disadvantages. The major advantage of that time was that the United States stepped in and help an economically strapped Europe and not let them fall under the domination of a single, hostile state. With Britain withdrawing aid to Greece and Turkey if the United States did not implement the Truman Doctrine, Stalin could have easily became a communist influence on those countries. Another advantage of the Truman Doctrine was that is transform America from being isolationist. Getting involved in the affairs of other countries to contain communism had a major

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.

After the end of World War II communism became wide-ranging. In hope of making new allies, the Soviet Union wanted to spread communism all across Europe. After the fall of Germany in 1945, moods changed when the United States started getting suspicious of the action led by the Soviet Union. This was thought of as a power move by the Soviet Union to have world domination. The United States formed a new policy calling it Containment in return.

If one was to look at the world post WWII, it would be clear to see that the United States had the upper hand in comparison to the Soviet Union. While the USSR had mass casualties and destruction to deal with, the US only benefited from WWII, with an increased economy, and advantages from being pulled out of the Great Depression. The United States took action during the Cold War to try and restrict the USSR’s power. One of the major steps that the US took was to stop the spread of Communism. To prove this point, President Truman established the Truman Doctrine.

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 order to deal with the postwar tension between the U.S. and Soviet Union, President Truman, who had only recently became president and lacked experience, implemented a new foreign policy to deal with the Soviet Union. (pg. 1006) As illustrated in the primary source titled “The Truman Doctrine,” The Truman Doctrine outlined America’s foreign policy related to the Soviet Union around a declaration of “war on communism, [the Soviet Union’s ideology that clashed against the U.S.’s], everywhere.” (pg. 1006, Truman Doctrine) Truman intended to implement “containment,” in which the spread of communism would be stopped. (pg. 1032) This declaration officially began the Cold War, a conflict that despite involving no actual direct warfare, devastated the relationship between the two countries. (pg. 1001) Many Soviet and American beliefs clashed with each other. (pg. 1022) For instance, American and Soviet views on individual liberties, religious freedom, human rights,

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 forces from the axis powers. The Truman Doctrine completely altered 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 was based from a speech delivered by President Truman on March 12, 1947. The immediate cause for the speech was a recent announcement by the British Government that, as of March 31, it would no longer provide military and economic assistance to the Greek Government in its civil war against the

The Truman Doctrine, effectively change U.S. foreign policy (Woolsey, G. C. 2008). U.S initially adopted the policy to remove themselves from regional conflicts not involving the United States directly, or from possible intervening in distant conflicts.

The Truman Doctrine was the impetus for the change in United States foreign policy, from isolationist to internationalists; thus we were drawn into two wars of containment and into world affairs. The Truman Doctrine led to a major change in U.S. foreign policy from its inception - aid to Turkey and Greece - to its indirect influence in Korea and Vietnam. The aftermath of World War II inspired the U.S.

There was also a fear that Communism would expand and soon take over. This is commonly known as the red scare. After World War ll there was still fighting going on in the world. For example there were civil wars being fought in Greece and Turkey against Communism. Great Britain was worried that their stronghold territory would fall to Communism. So Britain explained their concern to the US. And because Communism is already a sensitive topic in the US Truman is able to explain the severity of the situation and gets the doctrine passed by stating “Should we fail to aid Greece and Turkey in this fateful hour, the effect will be far reaching to the west as well as to the east. We must take Immediate and resolute action.” The doctrine stated that the US will help any country with their fight against communism. The Truman Doctrine was issued on March 12th, 1947. Also taking place during this time was the Marshall Plan. Created by George Marshall, Truman’s secretary of state. This plan was to invest money into Western European to help with reconstruction. “Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos.” Marshall was given 13.5 billion dollars to ensure success in helping the rebuilding of industry and infrastructure of England. This not only help the European nation financially, but also declined the communist rate in Europe. The Soviet Union saw the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine as an act of war. Andrei Vyshinsky stated this by saying “The so-called Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan are particularly glaring example of the way in which the principle of the United Nations are violated of the way in which the organization is ignored.” As seen the US had a long and hard fight against Communism going to any length to assure that Communism remained

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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.

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.