The Truman Doctrine In order to contain Communism, President Harry S. Truman issued the Truman Doctrine in 1947, which provided aid to Greece and Turkey. The United States gave aid to those countries, specifically, because it felt they were most threatened by Communism during the time of the Cold War (Ferrell, pg. 105).
Communism is an economic system in which a single party controls the means of production with the aim of establishing a classless society (Encarta).
The period after World War II, up until the year 1990, when The Cold War ended, was controlled by two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. The United States was led by President Harry S. Truman, who was thrown into the presidency by the unexpected death of Franklin D.
Roosevelt, and the Soviet Union was led by Joseph Stalin (McCullough, pg. 371).
Each expressed different views on politics, economics and human rights. A number of events occurred which led the United States and the Soviet Union to engage in what is now known as the Cold War. The five areas of conflict were with Poland, Germany, atomic secrets, Eastern Europe, and economic rebuilding of Western Europe. The Cold War was not a war in the typical sense of the word.
There were no shots fired, but rather it was a war with words. In some ways this could be considered worse than a real war because that type causes a lot more fear over what could occur at any moment and weather the threats were real or not. Those countries that sided with the United States, which were mostly Western European nations, were known as the free world. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, occupied the Eastern European nations which came to be known as the Communist Bloc (Barrons).
The Term Paper on To what extent did the events of 1945-1946 turn war-time allies into Cold War enemies?
... events of 1945-1946 turn war-time allies into Cold War enemies? During the Second World War, the United States and Russia had been allied ... and the Soviet Union began to decline, culminating in the Cold War. Whilst the orthodox view of the Cold War, as held by ... Truman received news of successful atomic tests, giving America the latest advance in weaponry and an advantage over the Soviet Union. ...
During this time, President Harry S. Truman wanted to contain Communism before it spread world-wide. He felt that this was the crucial point and Truman responded by issuing the Truman Doctrine in 1947. Truman feared that third world countries would accept Communism. Communism 2 sounded tempting to these countries because it would equalize everyone and it may even provide those countries with a stable government (Ferrell, pg. 105).
The main objective of the Truman Doctrine was to support Turkey and Greece because the United States government felt they were most threatened by Communism during the Cold War. The United Statesdid not want Communism to spread, in fear that it would form in the United States (Encarta).
The United States wanted to show the Soviet Union that they weren’t the world power and that the Soviets could not force Communism on other countries, especially weak, smaller countries. The Soviet Union thought they were the most powerful Communist government and that all countries should be Communist like them. The United States expressed their views differently and believed that they could contain Communism (McCullough, pg. 730).
The Soviet Union managed to establish Communist governments in Romania, Hungary and Poland. The United States was outraged that Communism kept spreading and waited patiently for what Truman was going to do about it (Ferrell, pigs. 105, 106, & 280).
Truman had many choices and alternatives to choose from to deal with this Communist problem. One was that Truman could have fought the Soviet Union and weakened them to the point that they could not be able to impress it upon other countries. He didn’t do this because World War II had just ended and not even the Soviets and Americans wanted World War III to occur.
Also, Truman was fearful of losing popularity because of the Americans anti-war sentiments. Another choice Truman had was that he could have dropped an atomic bomb on the Soviet Union. He didn ” to this because the Soviet Union would have then dropped a bomb on NATO. An atomic war would start and each side would forget what was really at stake. Also many innocent lives would be lost and Truman goal was to contain Communism and not to kill people.
The Term Paper on To what extent was Mikhail Gorbachev responsible for the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union?
Many Historians contributed the fall of Soviet Union directly to Mikhail Gorbachev and his reforms. They argued that Gorbachev’s Glasnost, (openness) and Perestroika, (restructuring) directly led to uprisings within the Soviet Union, and its Soviet republics that brought the downfall of Soviet Union. This is however a very shallow analysis of the downfall of the Soviet Union. For one to truly ...
In addition, Truman could have just let Communism spread world-wide. He didn’t do this because the United Statesdid not want Communism to spread because then the United 3 States would not have any trading partners. The United States not only found it impossible to trade with Communist countries, but also thought that was how to give in to Communism. Truman could have asked the United Nations for help. He didn’t do this because the United Nations was not strong enough to handle Communism.
Truman probably believed that the United States was stronger than the United Nations and that the United States could contain Communism on their own. Truman could have made a compromise with the Soviet Union. Truman could have told the Soviet Union to stop spreading Communism and in return the United States would become their ally and help repay any debt they might have. Trumandidn’t do this because the Soviet Union would not just back away from Communism that easily.
The Soviet Union would think that the United States is getting desperate and dot know how to control Communism, which would makethe Soviet Union think they have more power over the United States. Truman could have made a compromise with other nations. He could have proposed that whichever country didn’t take part in Communism or ally itself with the Soviet Union, would be given aid and become an ally of the United States. This idea seemed like the best alternative and Truman took this idea into deep consideration. It would not only contain Communism, but it would also help the United States gain trading partners. This plan took shape in 1947 and was called the Truman Doctrine.
The Truman Doctrine proposed a program of $400 million in military and economic aid to back anti-Communist forces in Turkey and Greece (Ferrell, pg. 107).
The Term Paper on The Collapse Of The Soviet Union
The Collapse of the Soviet Union The Soviet totalitarian regime held the many nations of the USSR together for almost three quarters of a century; the disintegration of this political system brought with it economic and political instability as well as civil wars in the separated states. Why did the collapse of the communist regime in the Soviet Union have such a negative impact? The states ...
The significance of the Truman Doctrine is that it gradually contained Communism around the world and stopped it before it could spread anymore. The United States feared Communism and they imprisoned many people who they thought to be Communist. The Soviet Union realized that Communism would not spread, so they kept Communism within their country until 1991 when the Soviet Union denounced Communism and became Russia.
The Truman Doctrine provided military and economic aid to Turkey and Greece, so they wouldn’t accept Communism. PresidentTrumans foreign policy 4 was a success because it worked to contain Communism by giving United States military and economic aid to countries who were tempted by Communism. Critics of Truman claimed that he prompted anti-Communist hysteria in the United States. Everybody feared Communism and wanted it to be brought under United States control. Most historians viewed Trumansresponse as an appropriate reaction to Soviet expansionism.
Historians say that Truman had secured sufficient legislative backing to produce an outstanding record in foreign affairs (Encarta).
Despite what the critics have said, I agree with the historians that Truman did a good job as President. We must understand that Franklin. Roosevelt died suddenly and Truman was thrown intothe mix of this Cold War. Despite being the Vice President, Truman did not know what was going on because Roosevelt never shared information with anyone.
Therefore, Truman had to be a little bit more suspicious of Stalin and that is why he was so Anti-Communist. So, in away, Truman did start the Cold War, but the way he handled it was superb and smart.
