The Truman Doctrine The Truman Doctrine was the force for the change in United States foreign policy, from isolationism to internationalism; which was the main reason of the involvement into the two wars of containment and into world affairs. The Truman Doctrine began a major change in U.S. Foreign policy, from its beginning, aid to Turkey and Greece, to its influence on Korea and Vietnam. The aftermath of WWII inspired the U.S. to issue a doctrine that would stop Communist influence throughout the world. However, the U.S.'s passion in the achievement of the Truman Doctrine sent our soldiers to die in Vietnam and Korea for a pointless cause. "It must be the policy of the U.S. to support free peoples. This is no more than a frank recognition that totalitarian regimes imposed on free peoples…undermine the foundations of… peace and security of the United States." The Truman Doctrine would change the foreign policy of the United States. This policy would first go in aid to support the democratic governments in Turkey and Greece. These nations were being threatened by rebels, which were supported by the Soviet Union, to topple the government and install a Communist regime. A direct influence of this Doctrine was the Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan was designed to give aid to any European country damaged during WWII. It tremendously helped ravaged European Nations such as Italy and France. By helping them economically, The Marshall Plan indirectly helped to suppress growing Communist sentiment in these countries. The process whereby the Truman Doctrine came to fruitions was a long and arduous one. After WWII, the Soviet Union and the United States stood at the pinnacle of world power. By the late '40's, the U.S.S.R. had caught up to the United States' nuclear weapons programs. In addition, they were very land-hungry. Throughout Russia's history, they have been in search of a port. The Soviets in that respect were direct threats to their non-Communist neighbors; Greece, Turkey, and Iran. In Iran, the U.S.S.R. was not evacuating Iran's northern provinces despite entreaties from the United States. In Turkey, the Soviet Union coveted several naval bases along the Straits of Dardanelles. Further, they pressured Turkey for border cessions that Turkey had taken form Russia after World War I.
To start off the Cold war, Russia had lost twenty-seven million soldiers in World War II. Stalin was not going to allow the Germany to attack Russia again . To make sure of this , Stalin made East Europe his buffer zone.The United states could not allow the this to contunie to happen. The first example was the Truman Doctrine, that declared the the Untited States would support “free people”. The Doctrine was followed by the Marshall Plan which gave 12 billion dollars in aid European democracies so that communist ideas would not be so attractive. These were some of the long term , patient policies the United States did to
The Roosevelt Corollary greatly affected American foreign policy. It was in sharp contrast to the Monroe Doctrine, put in place to stop foreign intervention with the American continents. In 1823 President Monroe implemented US policy that stated European powers were not allowed to colonize or interfere with the newly budding United States or the Americas. In 1904 President Roosevelt expanded upon this policy in response to European intervention with Latin America. This policy became known as the Roosevelt Corollary. The document echoed the style of leadership President Roosevelt became synonymous with. This more aggressive form of policy became known as Big Stick Diplomacy. Foreign policy in the United States would forever be changed by President Roosevelt’s reinterpretation of the Monroe Document. The Roosevelt Corollary would later go on to affect decisions the United States made in regards to the Cold War, Cuba, The Middle East and many more. To understand the impact of this, we must look back to the Monroe Doctrine.
The Truman Doctrine was a policy under the United States of America. It was established in 1947 by President Harry Truman which is how it got the name The “Truman” Doctrine. This policy more or less meant that the United States would follow an interventialist foreign method to manage and end communism. This doctrine was a straight-forward warning made to the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics that the United States would move in to protect any nation that was being threatened or endangered by a minority with weapons. The doctrine pretty much called out and warned the USSR, however the USSR was never actually stated by name in the doctrine.
Truman Doctrine had been known to be first established in 1947. Because Britain had no longer could no longer provide for aid for Turkey and Greece.
There are many opinions surrounding the question: Was the decision by Truman to drop the atomic bomb ultimately the right or wrong decision? Not only can this question be answered in many different ways, it can be interpreted in many different ways as well. Overall, Truman ultimately made the right decision to drop the atomic bomb. This can be supported by the fact that the atomic bomb helped prevent the deaths of American troops, saved the lives of foreign citizens, and in comparison the atomic bomb was not as destructive as the firebombing in Tokyo.
I enjoyed your post and agree that the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan were both major foreign policies. In addition to President Truman’s efforts to support democracy he also didn’t want to risk losing access to the Middle East. Like you mentioned “Soviets were trying to get Turkey to allow them access to a waterway linking the two nearby seas.” President Truman’s actions prevented the Soviets from controlling the waterway and helped prevent communism.
In Europe, the Truman Doctrine was used to help the nations of Turkey and Greece combat the spread of communism. The United States was being called on because they were being looked at for diplomatic as well as military support. “The very existence of the Greek
The Soviet Union began to view the United States as a threat to communism, and the United States began to view the Soviet Union as a threat to democracy. On March 12, 1947, Truman gave a speech in which he argued that the United States should support nations trying to resist Soviet imperialism. Truman and his advisors created a foreign policy that consisted of giving reconstruction aid to Europe, and preventing Russian expansionism. These foreign policy decisions, as well as his involvement in the usage of the atomic bomb, raise the question of whether or not the Cold War can be blamed on Truman. Supporting the view that Truman was responsible for the Cold War, Arnold Offner argues that Truman’s parochialism and nationalism caused him to make contrary foreign policy decisions without regard to other nations, which caused the intense standoff between the Soviet Union and America that became the Cold War (Offner 291)....
The Truman doctrine was to stop the spread of communism and it was used to stop the south part of Vietnam becoming communists like the north So America sent in money and all the help they could to stop Vietnam becoming a communist country. Vietnam was part of the French empire. However, during World War 2 the Japanese took over .The Vietnamese communist movement Vietminh was formed to resist the Japanese. France tried to repossess Vietnam at the end of the war but the Vietminh fought back. With the United States lending its financial support to France, when the Japanese defeated France, the United States sent money and military consultants to the non-communist government of South Vietnam. ~ Other advisors however doubted that such an action could reverse the disastrous course of the war and warned the president that it could lead inevitably to deeper involvement in an Asian land war the United States couldn't win. (The Debate over Vietnam Page, 30)
foreign policy. Before the doctrine the United States held the stance of withdrawal in conflicts not directly involving. The general American public typically did not favor intervening with other countries affairs, but with rise of communism propagated by the Soviet Union, President Truman saw it fit to convince congress, to take action. The Truman Doctrine called for the U.S. to pick up where Britain left off and provide both financial and military support for the nations of Greece and Turkey otherwise they may fail to prosper as free nations, and fall to totalitarian, authoritative regime. Truman claimed towards the end of his speech to congress “Should we fail to aid Greece and Turkey in this fateful hour, the effect will be far reaching to the West as well as to the East.” The Truman Doctrine’s true effect was the persuasion of the public to adopt the new foreign policy of “aiding the victims of totalitarianism” on more than just one occasion but as a habit. The other effect of it was creating an ideological enemy in the eyes of the general public, and “that the chief ideological enemy could rise up and inspire fear in many guises; and that the United States would always have to be prepared to find and defeat new foes” (Chernus). This opened Pandora’s box to U.S. foreign involvement, giving the nation the impression that if we do not take action in these issues otherwise unrelated to the United States there
His plan was to end WWII by giving Japan “prompt and utter destruction” (The Second World War, Page 218). This tactic was put into action, and the U.S. bombed Hiroshima, forcing Japan to surrender. After this, the U.S. faced issues with the Soviet Union because we believed that the Soviet Union’s polices were not perusing real problems anymore. This led to the Cold War. George Kennan proclaimed we should, “Continue to regard the Soviet Union as a rival, not a partner, in the terms of political arena (The Sources of Soviet Conduct, Page 246).” Truman wanted to go at the Soviet Union with a new tactic of “outward toughness,” and send aid to Greece and Turkey (The Sources of Soviet Conduct, Page 245). Truman outlined what is called the Truman Doctrine, which stated that, “We are the only country able to provide that help (Truman Doctrine, Page 248).” He also said we needed to help because if we did not, “We may endanger the peace of the world—and we shall surely endanger the welfare of this nation (Truman Doctrine, Page 250).” Truman ordered $400 million dollars and military assistance to these countries to help, “Assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own ways (Truman Doctrine, Page
The goal of the Doctrine was to contain the Soviet expansion and to give 400 million dollars to Greece and Turkey for financial, economic, and military aid, because Brittan no longer was able to. The Soviets were threatening to take over Greece and Turkey, and without the Truman Doctrine and aid of the United States they would have fallen into the Soviets control and communism would have spread even further. The Doctrine was fully developed and put in place in 1948. The Soviets were still raising in power and using their powerful military attempting to take over surrounding countries and spreading communism. The United States in response to this created the NATO in 1949, North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It was an alliance between The United States, Europe and many other countries signed off on the treaty too. Their goal was to try and come together and protect and defend each other from the soviets attempting to take control over countries, this also would contain and minimize the power the Soviets are gaining and stop them from spreading
Truman immediately went to work and developed the Truman administration policy that focused on three main topics: economic, political, and security. He first started with the Greece/Turkey and the Truman Doctrine which economic military and economic advisors requested $400 million to aid Greece and Turkey in there Civil war. Next, came the Marshall Plan in which was a pragmatic approach on the problem faced in Western Europe in hopes of restoring it. This plan was a great success because it gave Europe a future as it helped in massively stabilizing and grow politically and economically. The last phase in this plan would be NATO, which is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Sine the United States was considered “economically strong” (North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)), they thought that it was a vital role to help Europe in order to stop the spread of communism throughout the continent. This is considered the first peacetime military alliance the United States entered outside of the Western Hemisphere. Along with the Truman administration policy, the National Security Act was also being put into place. This policy called for a major reconstruction of the foreign policy along with the military establishment of the U.S Government. This policy created many institutions that helped when formulating and implementing the foreign policy (North Atlantic Treaty Organization
It all started March 1947 when President Harry S. Truman announced his famous plan for a new US foreign policy. This speech has since then been called the “Truman Doctrine.” In this speech, “Truman officially embraced the containment of Soviet communism as the foundation of the American foreign policy.”
Some effects of the Truman Doctrine have had a lot of impact on regional and global affairs since being announced in the Cold War. For Starters Greece and Turkey were saved from the communist Soviet Union, Truman wanted to prevent communism from leaving and spreading outside of the Soviet Union. Truman doctrine would rather have one country with communism then two more countries being invaded into by communist rebels. President Harry S. Truman told Congress that "it must be the policy of the United States to support free people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” and for year Great Britain supported Greece, but were now near bankruptcy and were forced to slowly withdraw troops. And in 1947, Britain asked United States to take over it role in supporting Greece government. And the policy won the support of the republicans who controlled congress, and had them send $400 million dollars to Greece and Turkey, but no military forces to the region. The effects of this action were successful because both Turkey and Greece joined NATO in 1952, a military alliance that guaranteed their protection. This lead to the Truman Doctrine being the basis of American Cold War policy throughout all of Europe and across the whole world as