Download The Truman Doctrine Notes IB History Elexuis Givens Long

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The Truman Doctrine Notes
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IB History
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Elexuis Givens
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Long Telegram from George Kennan
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On February 22, 1946 George Kennan, The American charge d’ affaires in Moscow, sent an 8,000
word telegram to the Department of State with his views on the Soviet Union, and U.S. foreign
policy towards the Communist State.
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In 1933 Kennan was among the U.S diplomats to help establish the first American embassy in
the Soviet Union.
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Long Telegram Cont.
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Throughout WWII he thought that President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s friendliness and
cooperation with Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin was a bad idea. Less than a year after Roosevelt
died Kennan was serving in Moscow and released his opinions in what came to be known as the
Long Telegram.
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He was convinced that the Soviets would try to expand their Sphere of Influence.
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Long Telegram Cont.
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This telegram caused a sensation in Washington.
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Stalin started making aggressive speeches and threatening gestures towards Iran and Turkey in
1945 to 1946 and this lead to the Truman Administration deciding to take a stance and rely on
the nation’s military and economic muscle rather than diplomacy in dealing with the Soviets.
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Harry S.
Truman
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The Truman Doctrine
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The Truman Doctrine was made in 1947, it established that the United States would provide
political, military, and economic assistance to all democratic nations under the threat from
external or internal authoritarian forces.
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Truman Doctrine Cont.
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The Truman doctrine came from a speech delivered by President Truman before a joint session
of congress on March 12, 1947. The cause for the speech was an announcement from the British
government made on March 31, that they would no longer provide military and economic
assistance to the Greek government in its civil war against the Greek Communist Party.
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Truman Doctrine Cont.
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Truman asked congress to support the Greek government against the Communists. He had also
asked them to provide assistance for Turkey had also been dependent on the British for aid. The
U.S. government believed that the Soviet Union supported the Greek Communist war effort and
worried that if the communists won in the Greek Civil War, the soviets would influence Greek
policy.
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Other foreign policy problems that influenced Truman’s decision to aid Turkey and Greece
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1. The soviet’s failure to withdraw their troops from Iran in early 1946.
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2. The soviet attempts to pressure the Iranian Government into granting them oil concessions.
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3.Soviet efforts to force the Turkish Government into granting them base and transit rights
through Turkish Straits.
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President Truman requested that congress provide $400,000,000 worth of aid to the Greek and
Turkish Governments and support the dispatch of American civilian and military personnel and
equipment to the region. He justified his request by saying that a victory by the Communist in
the Greek Civil War would endanger the political stability of Turkey, which would undermine the
political stability of the Middle East.
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Containment
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Was a principle of the U.S. foreign policy that sought to prevent the expansion of Communist
power (from 1947 to the mid 1970’s). This policy was used by the U.S. after WWII in the Truman
Doctrine of 1947.
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President Truman worried that communism threatened the democratic freedom of people
because like the U.S. the Soviet Union wanted a world modeled on their own country’s society
and values.
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Containment’s implications for the Americas
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Positive implications: The Soviet Union would break up. People could still have their democratic
rights.
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Negative implications: Getting into a third war with the Soviet Union. The spread of
Communism.
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Rio Pact
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It was originally made Sep. 2, 1947 and came into force Dec. 3, 1948. The Rio pact was an
agreement signed in 1947 in Rio De Janeiro by many countries of America. The main principle in
its articles was that an attack against one was considered to be an attack on all of them. This
was known as the hemispheric defense doctrine. The treaty came into force in 1948. In 1982 the
Bahamas was the most recent country to sign it and ratify it.
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Rio Pact Cont.
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One reason it was made was because after the Truman Doctrine was made the U.S. wished to
make those new anti communist commitments permanent.