He received a rudimentary education, starting school at age eight and graduating from high school in 1901 (he is the last US president not to have held a college degree). After the British warned that they could no longer help Greece, and following Prime Minister Konstantinos Tsaldaris's visit to Washington in December 1946 to ask for American assistance,[13] the U.S. State Department formulated a plan. [10] By late 1946, Britain informed the United States that due to its own weakening economy, it could no longer continue to provide military and economic support to royalist Greece. The Truman Doctrine was an international relations policy set forth on the U.S. would support Greece and Turkey with economic and military and to prevent them from falling into the Soviet sphere.Historians often consider it as the start of the Cold War, snd the start of the containment policy to stop Soviet expansion. To gain the upper hand over Stalin, Truman revealed that the US had a new weapon of “unusual destructive force” – but Stalin showed little interest, having already learned of America’s nuclear program through espionage. An important source of advice on Soviet Russia was the United States embassy in Moscow. The Greek government was supported by the British, however, London withdrew from Greece in late 1946. And unless we do, [the] Russians certainly will.”. Clearly aimed at stopping the spread of Communism, the Truman Doctrine positioned the United States as the defender of a free world in the face of Soviet aggression. In the words of historian James T. Patterson, "The Truman Doctrine was a highly publicized commitment of a sort the administration had not previously undertaken. The Truman Doctrine is one of the most significant events of the history of the Cold War. In devising his foreign policy, Truman drew heavily on the ‘Long Telegram’, an advisory document drafted by American diplomat George Kennan in early 1946. Copyright: The content on this page may not be republished without our express permission. Authors: Jennifer Llewellyn, Steve Thompson "[3] Truman contended that because totalitarian regimes coerced free peoples, they automatically represented a threat to international peace and the national security of the United States. Direct American military force was usually not involved, but Congress appropriated financial aid to support the economies and militaries of Greece and Turkey. In July 1945, just three months after taking office, Truman journeyed to Potsdam, Germany for a tripartite meeting with British prime minister Winston Churchill and Stalin. The Truman Doctrine would form the basis of the Cold War and underpin subsequent US policies, including the Marshall Plan, nuclear armament and the formation of NATO. President Truman wanted to stop any communist regime from growing and spreading its roots into other nations. The postwar period from 1946 started with a "multi-party period" and the Democratic Party government of Adnan Menderes. Date accessed: January 24, 2021 The doctrine was policy to "support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures," and announced on March 12th, 1947 by US President Harry Truman, making the doctrine US government policy for decades. These doubts seemed confirmed by Roosevelt’s practice of not discussing major policies or war tactics with Truman during his 82-day vice-presidency. On April 12th 1945, Roosevelt, while resting at his holiday home in Georgia, said “I have a terrific pain in the back of my head” before slumping onto his desk. [5] 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. Truman’s policy shift drew an angry response from the Soviet Union, one newsreel in Moscow suggesting that: “President Truman’s message to Congress is a threat to the principles of the United Nations. In December 1941, after the American base at Pearl Harbour was attacked by the Japanese, Roosevelt declared it a “date which will live in infamy” and committed American might to the European war. The Truman Doctrine underpinned American Cold War policy in Europe and around the world. One draft, for example, of Truman's speech spoke of the "great natural resources" of the Middle East at stake (Kolko & Kolko 1972, p. 341). Historian Eric Foner writes that the Doctrine "set a precedent for American assistance to anticommunist regimes throughout the world, no matter how undemocratic, and for the creation of a set of global military alliances directed against the Soviet Union."[4]. He argued that if Greece and Turkey did not receive the aid, they would inevitably fall to communism with grave consequences throughout the region. [16]:127 Truman laid the groundwork for his request by having key congressional leaders meet with himself, Secretary of State George Marshall, and Undersecretary of State Dean Acheson. In October 1939 he said that ‘three dictators: Russian, German and Italian’ had returned to ‘a code little short of cave-man savagery’ and that he saw their exploitation of ‘this magnificent machine age of ours’ as an effort to destroy civilisation… In June 1941 he made a controversial public remark on the subject of despotic aggression: ‘If we see that Germany is winning we ought to help Russia and if Russia is winning we ought to help Germany, and that way let them kill as many [of each other] as possible’.” Roosevelt’s leadership was instrumental in vanquishing two great tyrannies: Nazism in Europe and Japanese imperialism in Asia. Overview. "Kennan, 'Universalism,' and the Truman Doctrine,", Gaddis, John Lewis. "[16]:127–8 On March 7, Acheson warned Truman that Greece could fall to the communists within weeks without outside aid. Weakened by years of paralysis, smoking and stress, his days were numbered. Historians do not fully agree on the dates, but a common time frame is the period between 1947, the year the Truman Doctrine (a U.S. policy pledging to aid nations threatened by Soviet expansionism) was announced, and 1991, the year the Soviet Union collapsed. [7], Seven weeks after the Axis powers abandoned Greece in October 1944, the British helped retake Athens from the victorious National Liberation Front (EAM), controlled effectively by the Greek Communist Party (KKE). Truman made the plea in the midst of the Greek Civil War (1946–1949). Acheson laid out the "domino theory" in the starkest terms, comparing a communist state to a rotten apple that could spread its infection to an entire barrel. Turkey was more stable politically but found itself under pressure from the Soviet Union, which was demanding access to the Dardanelles, a strait linking the Black Sea with the Mediterranean. The Truman Doctrine was basically a shot at the Soviet Communism and how it wasn't right, so this obviously angered the Soviets. This began with a mass killing of largely unarmed EAM supporters known as the Dekemvriana on December 3. [1]:553–4[16]:129 Increased American aid helped defeat the KKE, after interim defeats for government forces from 1946 to 1948. Truman responded that, as Vandenberg had suggested, his request would only be approved if he played up the threat. The cold war was a clear representation of the growing tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States. Critics of the policy have observed that the governments of Greece and Turkey were themselves far from democratic at this time, and neither were facing Soviet subversion in the spring of 1949. [1]:546, On March 12, 1947, Truman appeared before a joint session of Congress. The Soviet ambassador’s own ‘Long Telegram’ to Moscow (September 1946) [1]:549[17]:615 Others argued that the Greek monarchy Truman proposed to defend was itself a repressive government, rather than a democracy.[17]:615. "[16]:129, The doctrine endured, historian Dennis Merill argues, because it addressed broader cultural insecurity regarding modern life in a globalized world. Because Turkey and Greece were historic rivals, it was considered necessary to help both equally even though the crisis in Greece was far more intense. The pain was a massive stroke and the president never regained consciousness. The Truman Doctrine speech: Truman outlines his foreign policy approach (January 1947). The Truman Doctrine was an American foreign policy created to counter Soviet geopolitical spread during the Cold War. 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