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Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine was a policy set forth by U.S. President Harry S Truman on
March 12, 1947 stating that the U.S. would support Greece and Turkey with
economic and military aid to prevent their falling into the Soviet sphere.[1]
Truman stated the Doctrine would be "the policy of the United States to support
free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by
outside pressures." Truman reasoned, because these "totalitarian regimes" coerced
"free peoples," they represented a threat to international peace and the national
security of the United States. Truman made the plea amid the crisis of the Greek
Civil War (1946–1949). He argued that if Greece and Turkey did not receive the
aid that they urgently needed, they would inevitably fall to communism with grave
consequences throughout the region.
For years the British had supported Greece, but was now near bankruptcy and was
forced to radically reduce its involvement. In February 1947, Great Britain
formally requested the United States take over its role in supporting the Greek
government.[2]
The policy won the support of Republicans who controlled Congress and involved
sending $400 million in American money, but no military forces, to the region.
The effect was to end the Communist threat, and in 1952 both countries joined
NATO, a military alliance that guaranteed their protection.[3]
The Doctrine was informally extended to become the basis of American Cold War
policy throughout Europe and around the world.[4] It shifted American foreign
policy toward the Soviet Union from détente (friendship) to, as George F. Kennan
phrased it, a policy of containment of Soviet expansion. Historians often use its
announcement to mark the starting date of the Cold War. [edit] Regional crisis
In the year following the end of WWII, the United States and the Soviet Union
moved from being wartime allies to Cold War adversaries. During that time, Soviet
imperialism in Eastern Europe, its delayed withdrawal from Iran, and the
breakdown of Allied cooperation in Germany provide the backdrop of escalating
tensions for the Truman Doctrine; the U.S. response has been much debated by
historians.[5] Truman himself had first become suspicious in dealing with the
Soviets at the Potsdam Conference,[6] 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. To
Truman, with growing unrest in Greece, it began to look like a pincer movement
against the oil-rich areas of the Middle East and the warm-water ports of the
Mediterranean. Truman was critical of Secretary of State Byrnes, both over being
"left in the dark" about the Moscow conference, and that Iran had not been on the
agenda. In a subsequent letter to him, Truman wrote "I think we ought to protest
with all vigor... against the Russian program in Iran. ... Unless Russia is faced with
an iron fist and strong language another war is in the making. Only one language
do they understand...I do not think we should play compromise any longer...I am
tired of babying the Soviets."[7] On 30 January 1946 the UN Security Council
approved Resolution 2 concerning the Soviet withdrawal from Iran; Resolutions 3
and 5 were also approved in April and May.
In February 1946, Kennan, an American diplomat in Moscow, sent his famed
"Long Telegram", which predicted the Soviets would only respond to force and
that the best way to handle them would be through a long-term strategy of
containment, that is stopping their geographical expansion. After the British
warned that they could no longer help Greece, and following Prime Minister
Tsaldaris's visit to Washington in December 1946 to ask for American
assistance,[8] the U.S. State Department formulated a plan. Aid would be given to
both Greece and Turkey, to help cool the long-standing rivalry between them. In
March 1947, President Truman appeared before Congress and used Kennan's
Containment policy as the basis for what became known as the Truman Doctrine.
To pass any legislation Truman needed the support of the Republicans, who
controlled both houses of Congress. The chief Republican spokesman Senator
Arthur H. Vandenberg strongly supported Truman and overcame the doubts of
isolationists such as Senator Robert A. Taft.
American policy makers recognized the instability of the region, fearing that if
Greece was lost to Communism, Turkey would not last long. Similarly, if Turkey
yielded to Soviet demands, the position of Greece would be endangered.[9] That is,
it was a regional domino effect threat that guided the American decision. Greece
and Turkey were strategic allies important for geographical reasons as well, for the
fall of Greece would put the Soviets on a particularly dangerous flank for the
Turks, and strengthen the Soviet Union's ability to cut off allied supply lines in the
event of war.[10]
The Truman Doctrine was the first in a series of containment moves by the United
States, followed by economic restoration of Western Europe through the Marshall
Plan and military containment by the creation of NATO in 1949. President Truman
made the proclamation in an address to the U.S. Congress on March 12, 1947,
amid the crisis of the Greek Civil War (1946–1949). Truman insisted that if Greece
and Turkey did not receive the aid that they needed, they would inevitably fall to
Communism with consequences throughout the region.
In 1950, Truman signed the top-secret policy plan NSC-68, which shifted foreign policy from
passive to active containment. The document differed from Kennan's original notion of
containment outlined in the "X" article, containing much harsher anti-Communist rhetoric. NSC68 explicitly stated that the Communists planned for world domination.