Truman Doctrine: Main Idea
Truman Doctrine: Main Idea
The U.S. Should Send Aid to Strategically Located Foreign Countries to Keep Those Mean Ol' Soviets in Check
If there's one law that governs both foreign policy and real estate, it's location, location, location. Invest your hard-earned $$$ in property that seems like it's going to go up in value (so, like, not near a toxic waste dump) and invest your government aid in countries that are strategically important.
Harry S Truman gave a speech in 1947 describing a new approach in foreign policy that said the U.S. would provide government aid to countries resisting communist takeovers. Greece and Turkey were the two politically unstable countries Truman wanted to help first, and they got a lot of airtime during the speech because their locations were important for maintaining peace—a.k.a. Western control—in the Middle East.
Truman wanted to extend his policy to any country fighting or dealing with the Big Bad Communist Threat and believed that we were living in an era in which countries would have to choose between two ways of life: totalitarian control and communism or freedom and democracy.
In the Truman Doctrine, the U.S. finally squared up with the Soviet Union and Truman decided it was time for the U.S. to start blowing down the Soviet Union's houses before they blew down ours.
Questions
- Why, according to Truman, should a policy like the one he is proposing be the U.S.'s responsibility?
- Why is Greece so important? And what's the strategy behind extending this aid proposal to other countries?
- The TD made front-page news and was covered in almost every major newspaper and magazine after Truman spoke. Think of the tone, content, and policies outlined in the speech—why all the fuss? What was going on in 1947 and what had happened to get there?
Chew On This
"The Truman Doctrine" was a big deal because it changed the tone and direction of U.S. foreign policy from one of avoiding permanent, entangling alliances to a strategy that emphasized allying with and providing aid to foreign countries.
Thanks to "the Truman Doctrine" and its emphasis on engaging in worldly affairs, the Cold War became "hot."
Quotes
Quote #1
Greece must have assistance if it is to become a self-supporting and self-respecting democracy. (26)
Note the emphasis on "self"—no one in his or her right mind would have even considered Truman's proposal if it meant taking care of countries like Greece financially long-term. It was 1947, and imperialism was soo 1898. Truman's careful choice of words like "self-supporting" and "self-respecting" (not to mention "democracy") made it clear that any aid the U.S. gave would be a one-time thing, and for a good cause.
Quote #2
One of the primary objectives of the foreign policy of the United States is the creation of conditions in which we and other nations will be able to work out a way of life free from coercion. This was a fundamental issue in the war with Germany and Japan. (59-60)
Truman's reference to "the war with Germany and Japan" was an effective appeal and tug on the heartstrings of politicians and the American public. WWII had only just ended two years earlier in 1945 and the level of destruction experienced in Europe and Japan as well as the true horrors of the Holocaust were still fresh in everyone's minds.
It was also easy to recall the ways in which war propaganda had framed WWII as a fight to preserve world peace and world freedom (see "free from coercion" above). All of this, according to Truman, was in jeopardy thanks to the Soviets, and that's why we needed a policy like the one he was describing. (Side note: appeals to past experience and human emotion like this are part of "Persuasive Speaking 101," a course Truman would have definitely nailed).
Quote #3
I believe that 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. (74)
Really, can you get any clearer about what you believe? Also, note Truman's use of the phrase "outside pressures." What/who does he mean by this?
Quote #4
If Greece should fall under the control of an armed minority, the effect upon its neighbor, Turkey, would be immediate and serious. Confusion and disorder might well spread throughout the entire Middle East. (81-82)
See our Glossary Section for how this super important part of the speech is an example of the Cold War "domino theory," and why this observation was an effective way to communicate the Soviet threat Truman's doctrine was meant to contain.