Truman Doctrine :: essays research papers

The Truman Doctrine In order to contain socialism,President Harry S. Truman issued the Truman Doctrine in1947, which tind attend to Greece and Turkey. TheUnited States gave aid to those countries, specifically,because it felt they were most threatened by Communismduring the time of the Cold War (Ferrell, pg.105).Communism is an economic system in which a single companionshipcontrols the means of production with the aim ofestablishing a classless society (Encarta). The period afterWorld War II, up until the year 1990, when The Cold Warended, was controlled by two superpowers, the UnitedStates and the Soviet coalescence. The United States was led byPresident Harry S. Truman, who was thrown into thepresidency by the unexpected death of Franklin D.Roosevelt, and the Soviet coalition was led by Joseph Stalin(McCullough, pg. 371). Each expressed different views onpolitics, economics and human rights. A number of eventsoccurred which led the United States and the Soviet Unionto rent i n what is now known as the Cold War. The fiveareas of conflict were with Poland, Germany, atomicsecrets, Eastern Europe, and economic rebuilding ofWestern Europe. The Cold War was not a war in thetypical sense of the word. There were no shots fired, butrather it was a war with words. In some ways this could beconsidered worse than a real war because that type causesa lot more fear over what could occur at any moment and stomach the threats were real or not. Those countries thatsided with the United States, which were mostly WesternEuropean nations, were known as the free world. TheSoviet Union, on the other hand, occupied the EasternEuropean nations which came to be known as theCommunist Bloc (Barrons). During this time, PresidentHarry S. Truman wanted to contain Communism before itspread world-wide. He felt that this was the life-and-death pointand Truman responded by issuing the Truman Doctrine in1947. Truman feared that third world countries wouldaccept Communism. Communism 2 so unded tempting tothese countries because it would equalize everyone and itmay even provide those countries with a stable government(Ferrell, pg. 105). The main objective of the TrumanDoctrine was to support Turkey and Greece because theUnited States government felt they were most threatenedby Communism during the Cold War. The United Statesdid not want Communism to spread, in fear that it wouldform in the United States (Encarta). The United Stateswanted to show the Soviet Union that they werent theworld power and that the Soviets could not forceCommunism on other countries, especially weak, smallercountries. The Soviet Union thought they were the most