Ever sinceGeorge Washingtonand King Georgestarted going at it , foreign policy in the United States has been a ticklish matter . Stay out or stick out in ? Be aggressive or be possessive ? Stand on your own or seek aid ? Lead or follow?Put up wallsor call for themto be tear down ?
The answers are never light .
That ’s what spend a penny the Truman Doctrine so telling . Few , if any , American foreign insurance policy stance have held the weight , hold up as long or changed the humankind as much as the Truman Doctrine , the post - worldwide War II scheme design to contain the outspread ofcommunismand hold America ’s wartime ally , the Soviet Union , in check . Even today , with other global threat emerging and a stated " America First " extraneous policy , the ideas behind the Truman Doctrine endure and inform the state ’s worldview .
" I consider that it must be the insurance of the United States to support free mass who are resist attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures , " Harry S. Truman , the 33rd president of the U.S. , state ina speech to a joint academic session of congress March 12 , 1947 , laying out the gist beam of what came to be known as the Truman Doctrine . " I believe that we must attend to gratuitous peoples to cultivate out their own destinies in their own way . "
With the Truman Doctrine , America stepped away from a largely isolationistic story , study the lead in battle communism and furthering democracy , and forged relationships with nations — militarily , economically and otherwise — that endure today .
What Is the Truman Doctrine?
Less than two years after the conclusion of World War II , many nations , especially in Europe , were in economical shambles and good for using . Two of them , Greece and Turkey , had major problem with insurgents and faced political uncertainty without outside aid .
Even the once - mighty British were muck up in the struggles of reconstruct their state of war - shatter country . They could no longer chip in to help others . So the Greeks and Turks instead turned to the U.S. And Truman , a Democrat , turn to Congress — Republicans reserve both the House and the Senate — looking for $ 400 million in foreign aid . ( That ’s more than $ 4.6 billion in today ’s dollar bill . )
" There was a cardinal meeting at the White House in late February with congressional leaders , andGeorge Marshall , who was Secretary of State … made a hard sales pitch , and so did Dean Acheson , who was the Undersecretary of State , " says Sam Rushay , the supervisory archivist at theHarry S. Truman Library & Museumin Independence , Missouri . " They talked about the merits , and the urgency of doing something to help . The British had announced they were expire to disengage , and [ Marshall and Acheson ] did n’t need there to be a vacuum ; that might mean the Soviets would step into that vacuum . "
After Truman ’s speech communication before Congress , a push to pass the Greece - Turkey aid bill was championed by Marshall , Acheson and others . They managed to get over even staunch isolationist like Sen. Robert A. Taft ( R - Ohio ) , though some influential voices — such as former frailty prexy Henry Wallace and conservative journalist Walter Lippmann — remained opposed . cant a new extraneous policy initiative , one that went against long - held isolationistic tendencies , to a Congress run by the enemy political party and a war - aweary American public , was a magniloquent edict .
" There was a lot of selling to do . And selling it , I think , was the right word , " says Rushay , " to endeavor to betray it to the American people , and to Republicans , and to conservative Southern Democrats , who were very influential , as well ; that this was really a right matter , because it was in our pursuit . "
In the final stage , the idea that commerce between the U.S. , Eastern Europe and the Middle East could be negatively impacted — and that theSovietscould gain more ability by stepping in , something that could castrate world politics for generations to number — was enough . The Greece - Turkey assistance government note passed convincingly , Truman sign the billin May 1947 , and America set out on a raw path in Europe and , eventually , other space in the populace .
What It Meant, What It Still Means
The journalist Lippmann coin the term " Cold War , " what would become a decadeslong standoff between the U.S. and the Soviet Union that began at the conclusion of World War II . The implementation of the Truman Doctrine was one of its major milestones .
In 1948 , the so - forebode European Recovery Plan — it ’s otherwise known as theMarshall Plan — was signed into law , design to help rebuild Western Europe and further choke up any communist inroads . Without the fresh foreign insurance policy delineate in the Truman Doctrine , the Marshall Plan would not have been possible .
In 1949 , the U.S. and 11 other nation in North America and Europe , to " undertake the exemption and security of its members through political and military mean value , " formed theNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization . NATO , which now boasts 30 member countries , has ever since represent as a deterrent to Soviet and communistic expansionism .
Even before the Truman Doctrine became official policy , its theories were in use . As World War II was ending , the Soviets occupied Korea , prompting the U.S. to send off troops to the peninsula in a tie that eventually exploded into theKorean War . right away after World War II , the Soviets and the U.S. squared off over Iran , too , and Germany .
In 1954 , well after the Truman Doctrine was initiated , president Dwight Eisenhower warn of a " Antoine Domino " effect if communists prevail in Southeast Asia , a prelude to the U.S. involvement inVietnam . Ronald Reagan built upon the Truman Doctrine with theReagan Doctrineof the 1980s , which not only call for containment of Soviet expansionism but the backing of anti - communists everywhere .
With the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 , the Cold War end . But the basic ideas behind the Truman Doctrine — check communism , champion democracy , avail others internationally — stay important to many modern - day pol .
" The Truman Doctrine was sort of an explication of a young foreign policy , very external - minded , " Rushay say . " For Truman , it was in the self - sake of the United States to work on with other nations in the interests of peace and resisting war and stand firm maybe a verbal warfare that you see through the United Nations , where he was very active . Truman aid build a structure of ataraxis through the Truman Doctrine , through the United Nations , through NATO , through the Marshall Plan .
" There ’s a literal ideology behind it . But , basically , Truman saw it in the U.S. ’s best involvement . "
