By: Lauren Patton, Katrina Hess, and Samantha Gustafson President Harry S. Truman brought to the job convictions as to now expanding nations should be treated. His thinking on foreign policy was dominated by political considerations. It included a theory of power that emphasized both the importance of power and the limits on it. He was determined to avoid what he regarded as the errors of the American past: military weakness and a reluctance to get involved in international problems. Thus, Truman could be expected to protest Soviet expansion in eastern Europe. He did so, soon adopting a policy of "toughness" in his dealings with Moscow. He found it impossible, however, to do more than protest, because the United States military power was declining rapidly under the pressures for demobilization, and neither he nor anyone else was eager to provoke another war.
President Harry S. Truman brought to the job convictions as to now expanding nations should be treated. His thinking on foreign policy was dominated by political considerations. It included a theory of power that emphasized both the importance of power and the limits on it. He was determined to avoid what he regarded as the errors of the American past: military weakness and a reluctance to get involved in international problems. Thus, Truman could be expected to protest Soviet expansion in eastern Europe. He did so, soon adopting a policy of "toughness" in his dealings with Moscow. He found it impossible, however, to do more than protest, because the United States military power was declining rapidly under the pressures for demobilization, and neither he nor anyone else was eager to provoke another war.