The Truman Doctrine
By Noah Brummer March 12th, 1947; the United States were involved in a tense situation with the Soviet Union. The idea of communism in the Soviet Union was threatening to spread throughout Europe and the United States was not going to allow that to happen. Harry S. Truman, the sitting President of the United States, declared that the United States would lend aid to countries that poised a threat to the geopolitical lines in Europe. The original target of the doctrine was to counter the Soviets efforts to establish communistic grounds through out the post war, weakened Europe. Post World War II Europe was weakened from the torment that was World War II, and their economy was suffering. The former European superpowers fell away and from their ashes rose two new powers, the Soviet Union and the United States, allies in World War II, but they soon became enemies. With many European countries on the road to bankruptcy, the United States stepped in to lend financial and military aid to most of the European countries. The Soviets communist regime was large and was looking to expand, targeting countries that were in a state of turmoil. In 1948, Turkey and Greece were both targets of the Soviet Union. Greece was in the middle of a civil war which the British had pulled their support from, leaving Greece to the threat of the Greek Communist group. The United States saw that if Greece were to fall to communists, Turkey would soon follow, leaving a path for the Soviets to the oil rich Middle East. Truman’s proposed idea was liked and disliked by members of Congress, but eventually it won over a majority of the members. He was advised in his address to “scare the hell out of the American people”, by playing up the threat of Soviet communism. In his address to Congress Truman stated, ” I believe it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way. I believe that our help should be primarily through economic and financial aid which is essential to economic stability and orderly political processes”. The Truman Doctrine set a new and unrivaled standard for foreign policy that did not emphasize military involvement and had an emphasis on financial aid. The signing of the Truman Doctrine led to the forming of NATO in April of 1949. NATO, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is comprised of 29 states across North America and a majority of Europe. |