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Significance Of The Truman Doctrine

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Firstly, I would like to start with the Truman Doctrine. The Truman Doctrine was launched shortly after the end of World War II and the use of atomic bombs against Japan. This doctrine provides the starting point and foundations of US foreign policy towards the Middle East throughout the Cold War. The Truman Doctrine was a foreign policy initiative announced by US President Harry Truman in 1947, making the US a free world leader against communist aggression. The doctrine declared that the United States would provide military and economic assistance to any country threatened by communism and sought to contain the spread of Soviet influence in Europe and other parts of the world. For this, with the Marshall Plan, 13 billion dollars of aid was …show more content…

At the time, the United States was concerned about Soviet expansion in the region and feared that the oil-rich Middle East would become a Soviet domain of influence. Against this threat, the USA provided military aid to countries such as Turkey and Iran and established military bases in the region. Additionally, the Truman Doctrine was a precursor to the Eisenhower Doctrine, which extended US military aid to any Middle Eastern country facing external attack or internal communist destruction. Truman also commented on the following factors affecting the US foreign policy in the Middle East during the Cold War, according to his own period. The first of these factors is the existence of anarchy in the international system. President Truman saw the existence of anarchy in the international system as a threat to the security of the United States and its allies. He believed that the absence of a global authority to regulate the behavior of states and prevent conflict required the US to assert its leadership in the international arena. He felt that the United Nations was too weak to deal with strategic issues involving major …show more content…

In 1945, the Soviet Union was the world's largest defense establishment, and its military strength consisted of 175 divisions, 25,000 frontline tanks, and 19,000 aircraft (Bitzinger, 1989). The Soviet Union spent the largest percentage of its GDP (13%) on defense compared to any other major power, and military spending gradually increased each fiscal year, reaching a staggering 72% in 1970 (Shlykov, 2018). President Truman interpreted the considerable military strength of Russia and its allies as a direct threat to US geostrategic interests in the Middle East. He believed that the Soviet Union was trying to expand its influence and spread communism in the region to the detriment of US security and economic interests. Truman saw the considerable military might of Russia and its allies as a major threat to US interests in the Middle East, and pursued a multi-pronged strategy to counter this threat through military deterrence, diplomacy, and economic engagement. A third factor is fear and suspicion of the intentions of the

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During 1945-1990 the conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States completely dominated the United States’ foreign policy. The United States’ policymakers had to take care of places that were outside American territory, but relevant to the conflict. In order to compete with the Soviet Union after World War II, the US government decided to help the countries which were against Soviet Union. According to Document C, President Truman claimed to support people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or outside pressure.

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Truman supported helping the Greek government because he believed that if he did not, a Communist victory in Greece would jeopardize the political stability of Turkey’s government and the Middle East would eventually fall to Communism (history.state.gov). Truman also argued that the security of the United States depended on the safety of other nations worldwide. The Truman Doctrine was efficient because Truman was able to stop Communist aggression in Greece, Turkey, and the Middle East. He was also able to prevent the Soviet Union’s

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The United States strongly opposed communist policies and in turn made an active effort to dispose of the Soviet Union’s Communist influence. This led to the Truman Doctrine. The Truman Doctrine was a legal document written in 1947 that stated America would liquify federal assets to aid any country that might be subject to

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In the aftermath of WWII, the US stood as one of the few powers relatively unharmed, as well as the sole nation in possession of nuclear weapons. This afforded the US a great degree of power and leadership in the world. However the USSR was another great power that managed to avoid much destruction from the war, and besides being ideologically opposed, matters were complicated after the USSR developed nuclear weapons for itself. This prompted the formulation of a new foreign policy. Document 7 states that the US “must organize and enlist the energies and resources of the free world in a positive program for peace which will frustrate the Kremlin design for world domination.”

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Soviet Union and United States wanted to put the halves back together, but had different ideas of how the government should be run, which caused tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States to escalate. The United States thought that the Soviet Union wanted to spread communism to surrounding nations. The United States focused on communism, to start, President Harry S Truman created a foreign policy called the Truman Doctrine to defend the Soviet's political pushes. With the policy established, the United States would contribute any forces or supplies needed to those nations under fire from outside and in-house forces. The plan was set to defend areas anywhere from Asia to Europe.

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The United States took proper and a wise political response to perceive aggression from the Soviet Union both in Europe and Middle East. The United States came up with one of the most successful foreign policy, the "Truman doctrine". Communism started spreading around a good number of countries around Europe in countries like Hungary, Poland and Romania right after the World War II. This had gave the western world a big panic and there was one person who people always turned to, Truman was involved in this Europe affair he was the main “player” of the scene. The Truman Doctrine was announced by President Truman and was addressed to congress on March 12, 1947.

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Document 26.3 titled, "The Truman Doctrine" was published in Washington D.C. by the Government Printing Office in 1963 (Document 26.3, pg. 574). In this document, President Truman appeals to congress (the audience) for Greece and Turkey to prevent the spread of communism in the two nations. The post World War II doctrine, announced on March 12th, 1947 was an American foreign policy used to prevent the spread of Soviet Imperialism that would soon become one of the foundations of the U.S containment policies (Twentieth Century World, pg. 242). This action can be viewed as a possible declaration of the Cold War and can be seen in the sentence, ”The controversial Truman Doctrine, as it came to be called, committed the United States to an active

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Following the end of World War II, relations between the Soviet Union and the United States quickly deteriorated, with tensions rising and both nations pushed to the brink of war. This strain arose largely due to animosity and secrecy from both parties, as each side wondered what the other was planning and tried to create policies to protect themselves from these possibilities. In the case of the United States, President Truman often incorrectly interpreted Soviet intentions, which ultimately led to the Cold War. He believed that Stalin wanted war when the Soviets were just trying to protect themselves after the war, were retaliating against aggressive Western policies, and were using the same rhetoric that the West was using.

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Truman also prompted the Marshall Plan, which provided significant amounts of U.S. aid to the corrupt economies of Western Europe and also vetoed the Taft-Hartley Labor act. This act helped expand federal control over labor quarrels and allowed the government to force a hiatus if a strike was considered horrendous to national security or well being [3]. Truman also intervened with American troops in the conflict between North Korea and South Korea and also supported the creation of the state of Israel in the Middle East. In short, Truman’s foreign policy created some of the basic principles and commitments that marked American foreign policy for the rest of the 20th century

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This tug of war between Roosevelt representing an interventionist minority and the isolationists in Congress resulted in little effective headway made in either direction until the United States was once again forced into a world war. In President Harry Truman’s speech, The Truman Doctrine, given on the twelfth of March, 1947 before a Joint Session of Congress, Truman voiced, “I believe that 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.” After World War Two, the United States realized that a lack of involvement and aid for war torn countries allowed communism and totalitarianism to spread. The Soviet Union took control of many Eastern European countries, and this was called the Iron Curtain by Winston Churchill. Unlike in World War One and the beginning of World War Two, Truman had support from more well liked figures such as George F. Kennan and George C. Marshall. Kennan’s idea was based around providing economic and financial aid to struggling countries, and this heavily shaped the plan America would use.

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After War World II, many countries need help with reconstruction, this was a chance for both the US and Soviet to make “friends” with these countries. President Truman announced a policy that was called later on the Truman Doctrine, the policy states that the US should help any country that will help any country that does not become communists which basically means become alliances of the Soviet (Doc 2), the goal of policy like this is to form alliances and prevent the other side from gaining alliances. If a side gain a powerful ally nation, it definitely makes that side stronger and that is the power of politics. As China turning into a powerful nation, US made a political decision that it would recognize the Government of the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal Government of China (Doc 11). The essence of alliance was showed that whether US wanted or not, to prevent China from getting even closer with the Soviet, US will have to “befriend” with China in order to earn this powerful

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(Brenes,5) America now knows of these ideas due to the X article and long telegram decided to try and prevent the further spread of communism. Truman Doctrine was presented on March 12, 1947. The cold war had just begun to start and America decided it needed to halt Soviet aggression and spread ideas to other countries. Greece and Turkey are major countries that reside right next to the Soviet Union that could be

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The Cold War had a huge impact on America’s foreign policy, this in turn changed how America was able to shape their relationship with other nations, as well as influencing military and economic strategies. The effects that The Cold War had on American foreign policy can be seen in The Truman Doctrine. In The Truman Doctrine, President Truman states, "I believe that 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”. Truman is expressing his belief that it is the responsibility of the United States to provide assistance and support to any country or group that is facing threats to its freedom and independence, whether from internal or external forces. The Cold War also had an effect on domestic politics in American society.

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Due to limited resources, interference in other regions, even if covered by the Truman Doctrine, was considered undesirable because China and Palestine were less important than the restoration of Europe. In addition, at this time, the Truman Administration is moving away from the doctrine of containing communism and moving on to a strategy of containing the Soviet Union. This was also part of the strategy in

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Eisenhower believed that Russia, before and after the revolution, had an seeked the Middle East (Eisenhower). The hope would be that by putting U.S. forces in the region, the Soviets would be less likely to use force to take the region. This would become the Eisenhower Doctrine, which declared the United States the right to help any Middle Eastern nation resist communist aggression (Ayers. 853). This justified giving economic and military aid to countries in the region and deploying the military in the region. Under Eisenhower, United States foreign policy also expanded to include the idea of brinkmanship which was the diplomatic art of going very nearly to war but never actually going to war (Ayers. 850).

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