Importance Of The Truman Doctrine

The relations between the two superpowers continued getting worse and tensions were inevitably rising in 1946. In ‘47, the U.S. took a more proactive stance against the Soviet Union. Truman was concerned that the USSR might set up communist governments in European countries that were still undergoing recovery. The same year, after seeing the Soviet attempts to influence the governments of Turkey and Greece, the Truman Doctrine was made public. The United States pledged to support all recovering nations from outside pressures and would made sure that democracy is in place.

The United States saw it necessary to keep up with European powers in Asia, especially in the Manchurian region of China and at the same time avoid foreign intervention or investment in Latin American markets. Three different foreign policies, Big Stick Diplomacy, Dollar Diplomacy and Moral Diplomacy

The legacy that Truman and his administration left for Eisenhower and Dulles was the transformation of the U.S. into a country that could lead the free world. He set the foundations needed for the U.S. to transition from isolationism, disarmament, and neutrality into a nation which would resist the spread of communism through collective security and arms-buildup. For Dulles and the Eisenhower administration, their determination and resolve would be tested. When it came to crises such as Suez and NATO, the Hungarian revolution, Berlin, and the U-2 incident, U.S. foreign policy was molded and was exemplified through the rhetoric of Eisenhower and Dulles. Their version of American foreign policy had mixed results and mostly kept the status quo.

After the sudden death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman was elected as president which happened to be during the time of widespread chaos. The initial plan as he took office was to prevent and contain the geographical expansion of the Soviet Union. The Truman Doctrine came into effect as a foreign policy that enabled the United States to fully advocate anti-communism forces from further developing. Joseph McCarthy's actions on communism were indeed extreme. However, they were similar to measures taken by state and municipal governments out of fear of a communist uproar.

Protecting America Protection of the United States has always been a priority. Specifically, during the Cold War Truman was fighting for the protection over the United States government. The Cold War brought threats to the government by Stalin attempting to spread his communist ideologies. The different ideologies and visions that prevented the U.S. and Soviets from working together. Stalin wanted to continue Soviet government as communist to protect from future invasions and Truman wanted democracy because he thought that democracy was the best way to guarantee stability.

Truman’s inability to listen to listen to opposing views showed signs of weakness,”Truman parochial views also caused him to disregard contrary view, to engage in simplistic analogizing, and show little ability to comprehend the basis for other nations’ policies” (Offner, 291). Truman’s attitude towards foreign policy made the Soviet Union’s leadership more aggressive.

Due to the aggressive actions taken by the Soviet Union; America introduced the Truman Doctrine. “ The Truman Doctrine was created to help keep Greece and Turkey from falling under the Soviet Union's control ” (McClenaghan 486). This was America's idea and attempt to keep communism in the world from spreading into weaker nations who cannot protect themselves. The Truman Doctrine provided military aid along with economic aid to try and help the small countries keep what was theirs. The more the Soviet Union took over the more communism would spread.

By the end of World War II, many nations were devastated by the aftermath of the war, left vulnerable for the Soviet Union to conquer their lands. Truman recognized the potential threat these countries may face, and decided to create the Truman Doctrine. Former President Harry S. Truman developed the Truman Doctrine, that states the U.S. will provide economic and military assistance to any country threatened by an authoritarian force. This Doctrine was a response towards the Soviet invasion in Turkey and Greece. Following the Doctrine was the containment policy, preventing the spread of communism by containing the source where it originated from.

The purpose of assisting any ally during the Cold War was always under the pretenses of the Containment Policy. Containing communists’ expansion to their borders and specifically away from areas that could prove beneficial to the U.S., due to location and national resources, was priority number one in the U.S. foreign policy agenda. Also, both Presidents realized the importance of the Middle East. Truman may not have elaborated as much as Eisenhower’s pursuit for a Middle Eastern ally, but both administrations knew the strength and dominance of the U.S. influence that needed to remain in the Middle East. However, there are major differences between the two doctrines.

Any challenge to Soviet expansion was met by swift resistance by the Soviet Union. Though Moscow was concerned about the impediment that it would now face in spreading its influence, there were several important notions that the U.S.S.R. accused the United States of. In its response to the Truman Doctrine, the U.S.S.R. wrote: “the proclamation of [the so-called Truman Doctrine] meant that the United States Government has … [attempted] to impose its will on other independent states, … using the economic resources distributed as relief to individual needy nations as an instrument of political pressure.” The Soviet Union had felt that the United States had no right to engage in this type of assistance. In response to the announcement of the Marshall

As the Truman administration faced the external issues or problems so the U.S policies were greatly influenced the balance of power in that region. The United States of America has always seen in the first lines in every critical problem in order to create peace and harmony in the regions.

Truman’s Doctrine stated it would help any country in need of help to fend off a foreign country from taking over. For example, in Egypt both the Soviets, and the U.S. tried to assist

President Truman gave money to greece to prevent communist countries from taking over, this is one way President Truman used economic aid (Truman t4). Another way he used economic aid is we gave the United States gave money towards winning WWII (Truman t6). We gave Greece manly weapons to prevent communist countries from taking over is military aid (Truman t2). The people of the world will fight against totalitarianism and the United States will help is us using military use (Truman t31). Truman used Containment a couple different ways one being, Turkey and Greece want to be free and do be allowed to do whatever they want (truman t4).

The US was determined to prevent the spread of communist influence so the Truman Doctrine was created, known as the policy of containment. After the Truman Doctrine was implemented, many key events took place in the hope of stopping the spread of communism. For example, the Marshall Plan provided aid to Western European countries and the Berlin Airlift aided West Berlin during the Berlin Blockade. The creation of NATO was also crucial to preventing the spread of communism.

The Cold War period saw the US intervene in the politics and economy of Europe on a larger scale than ever before. In comprehending this intervention in relation to the essay question, we must identify US Imperialism, which in essence is the influence of American ideas on other countries, in this case Europe, and its relation to the Marshall Plan as a means to do so. Post war Europe was bleak, a destroyed infrastructure and failing economy as well as serious political issues; America sought to aid Europe for a number of reasons. The Marshall Plan was a financial initiative promoted by President Harry S. Truman to rebuild war torn Europe. It is debated whether the Plan was simply to give aid to Europe or if there were other motives behind it; some argue that it was used as a weapon to attack Communist ideology and inflict Capitalist ideas on Europe which is an understandable interpretation, given that not long before, Germany had succumbed to Hitler and the Nazi’s, who managed to seize power out of the misery of Germany, and so the US feared Communism may do the same to Europe.