Truman Doctrine

In the aftermath of World War II the Soviet Union brought communist governments to different countries, such as Poland, and Hungary. During this time Greece, with Britain as a military ally, was fighting a civil war against an internal communist insurgency. However, Britain wasn't as effective as they had hoped; they informed the U.S. in 1947 they could no longer maintain military support. The United States believed that if Greece fell to a communist government it would not be long before their neighbor, Turkey, followed. It was then President Harry Truman went to Congress and beseeched them not to have the U.S. stand idly by while Europe, country by country, became communist. Congress agreed, by a huge majority vote, and sent $400 million dollars to aid Greece and Turkey. This containment policy would become the "Truman Doctrine" and change the course of America's involvement in international affairs.

Truman saw it as imperative to stop the spread of communism, believing that if Greece and Turkey fell then communism would rapidly spread, especially throughout the Middle East. The Soviet Union would have access to the Black Sea and Aegean Sea and free sail into the Atlantic. After the civil war had ended in 1949, the U.S. saw it as a victory against totalitarian governments and the U.S.S.R. Our nation was in the middle of a Cold War, the enemy being the Soviet's and any communist nation with Soviet ties. The old American commitment to nonintervention in international affairs could no longer be kept. The Truman Doctrine now posed us with a new quandary, we must be involved in world politics but to what extent? Do we only give economic and moral support to those countries which are facing oppression from the communists, or do we send military support as well?

Many countries had been damaged from World War II, some left in ruins like France. The U.S. believed that these countries, without a strong economy were susceptible to an internal subversion to a more radical form of government. Secretary of State, George Marshall developed a plan to aid these war torn countries. In an effort to help, the U.S. sent $13 billion over four years to Europe for reconstruction and rebuilding of those countries. The Soviet Union was invited to partake in the plan, but Stalin (the Soviet Premier) saw it as a threat and refused, also not allowing any countries that were under Soviet control to receive aid. The Truman Doctrine made it easier for Marshall to implement the European Recovery Program, later to be called the Marshall Plan.

This Doctrine would have continual effects on U.S. involvement in foreign relations. After North Korea and China succumb to a totalitarian form of government, the U.S. decides moral and economic support will not stop the