Truman Doctrine

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Amy Lopez

Professor Mansfield

WOH 1030

July 21, 2010

Truman Doctrine

The Truman Doctrine was a policy set forth by United states President Harry S. Truman

On March 12, 1947 stating that the United States would support Greece and Turkey with

economic and military assistant.   This was to prevent their falling into the Soviet sphere.  

The Doctrine would be the policy of the United States to support free people who are resisting

attempted subjugation by armed minorities. This can mean international peace and national

security for the United States. Truman thought that if the United States did not assist Turkey and

Greece, they can soon fall into communism with great consequences throughout their regions.

The policy won the support of Congress and involved sending $400 million in American

money, but no military forces, to region. The effect was to end the Communist threat, and in

1952 both countries joined Nato, a military alliance that guarantee their protection. Then the

Doctrine shifted American foreign policy towards the Soviet Union from friendship to a policy

of containment of Soviet expansion. Historians often use it to mark the starting date of the Cold

War.  

After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union moved from being wartime

allies to Cold War adversaries. The Soviet imperialism in Europe delayed withdrawal from

postwar Iran and the breakdown of allied cooperation in postwar Germany provided the

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backdrop for the Truman Doctrine. Truman himself had first become suspicious in dealing with

the Soviets at the Postdam Conference, the Soviet reluctance to withdraw from Iran on schedule

in early March 1946, reinforced his concern. A few days later, Churchill delivered his “Iron

Curtain” speech about developments in Europe. This started to look like a pincer movement

against the oil-rich areas of the Middle East and the warm-water...