Truman Doctrine

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. 

    Truman soon encountered major problems in Asia, a part of the world the administration regarded as less important than western Europe and less capable of using American aid effectively. He had tried since 1945 to get the Chinese Nationalists and Communists to work together in one government. He hoped thereby that Chiang kai-shek, the Nationalist leader, would find time to deal with China's problems.   Atomic Bombing
 
  The Truman Doctrine was the beginning of the United States' effort to contain Communism from expanding. On March 12, 1947, president Harry S. Truman initiated the policy in an address to congress. In his address he made a speech claiming Communist actions were threatening American security. His action was occasioned by a crisis in Greece involving pressure on the government from Communist led Guerilla forces. President Truman asked congress for $400 million to strengthen the Greek and Turkish governments by helping the military and economy, and by authorizing the sending of American and civilian personnel to supervise the use of the aid.
    Truman maintained that history was now dominated by a struggle between the free and non-free ways of life, and he proposed that the United States should "support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures," and, " assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way." The policy was successful during the Truman years, but the U.S. wasn't capable of accomplishing all that the doctrine implied. Even so, the Greek and Turkish governments successfully resisted the pressure. Containment was extended effectively to western Europe with the Marshall Plan and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and to South Korea with American military intervention in response to an attack by North Korea..
   

   

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