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The Truman Doctrine Research Paper

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Is the most powerful man in the world defined by the amount of money he possesses, or the amount of authority he holds? In the case of the United States president, does he have the fortune or command to make decisions that not only impact our nation, but the whole world? Our government has a system of checks and balances so all of the power is evenly distributed among three branches. The executive branch is the President, the Legislative branch is comprised of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and Judicial branch is the Supreme Court. Although the president is the head of the most lucrative nation in the world, this does not mean he is then always and automatically the most powerful person on the planet. However, a President’s actions …show more content…

Truman was the 33rd American President who served his terms in office from April 12, 1945 to January 20, 1953. One of the important accomplishments during his presidency was the Truman Doctrine. At the end of WWII, Russia was coercing European countries to fall under its sphere of influence, communism. Before and during the war, the British had been moderating this force, but after WWII Britain’s strength and affluence significantly declined. As a result of this, President Truman decided the US needed to become involved in this affair. According to author Colonel George C. Woolsey, on March 12, 1947, President Truman issued “a Presidential pronouncement declaring immediate economic and military aid to the governments of Greece, threatened by Communist insurrection, and to Turkey, under pressure from Soviet expansion in the Mediterranean area” (Woolsey 2008). Consequently, Congress allocated $400 million to aid the implementation of this doctrine. The Truman Doctrine pledged to support other countries in their struggle to resist communism. The implementation of the Truman Doctrine not only affected 1940s America, it changed the scope of our national foreign policy. As reported by professor Dennis Merrill at the University of Missouri, “The administration 's concern over communism domino effect, its media-sensitive presentation of the doctrine, and its mobilization of U.S. economic and military power to modernize unstable regions, marked the advent of a modern U.S. …show more content…

He not only had to discuss the plan with Congress, he had to convince Americans to support his plan for containment. This process was rather complex and required the help of many people. After analyzing an article published by the Presidential Studies Quarterly by Dennis Merrill, a conclusion can be made that if Congress and the American people did not supply the money or support necessary for the implementation of the doctrine, then Truman would not have been able to save Europe from the invasion of communism. As stated in the article, after Congress supported his plan, Truman needed to “address the larger, global theater”, referring to the citizens of the United States (Merrill 2006). Therefore, due to the our government’s separation of powers and the necessary support of a nation, the president may not be considered solely the most powerful person in the

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Stalin’s reaction to the Marshall Plan demonstrated a shift in U.S. policy towards the containment of Soviet influence and gave way to Truman’s approval of NSC-68. The document was essentially an outline of American strategy in response to communism, it greatly increased the defense budget, and to more broadly define it, it allowed America to take “any measures, overt or cover, violent or non-violent” to advance our cause in the Cold War without “jeopardizing the integrity of our system” (170). This eventually gave purpose to the Vietnam War, but conclusively, Truman’s contributions were

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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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Additionally, these doctrines were also used for the United States’ benefit because in the Monroe Doctrine, the United States forbade European powers from trying to conquer South American countries; in the Truman Doctrine, the United States tried to contain communism and to stop its spread across Europe. The Monroe Doctrine and the Truman Doctrine were used to help other countries against hostile powers, and at the same time these doctrines helped the United States to become and to remain a world power during the Imperialism and Cold War era. In the 19th

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In response to the spread of communism, the Truman Doctrine was put in place, also known as the declaration of the Cold War. Harry Truman believed that the U.S. should provide aid to countries who are oppressed by armed minorities through economic and financial aid, not through the military. Along with Truman, Taft viewed that the battle against communism is never-ending and will eventually exhaust the country of resources and nationalism. According to Hamby from Miller Center, President Harry. S. Truman “guided the United States through the end of World War II, the beginning of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, and the dawning of the atomic age”.

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Truman greatly emphasized on the freedom of people for who did not want to join the Soviet Union for the sake of being weak. United States of America offered help to these free people to impose and reinforce democracy in the world. The Truman Doctrine had democracy as the centre part of his policy to bring good and positive changes in the world. The American foreign policy feared totalitarianism to be common and practiced in the world if democracy was not supported therefore more and more emphasis was given to democracy in the Truman Doctrine.

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