Truman Doctrine :: essays research papers

The Truman Doctrine In order to contain Communism, President Harry S. Truman issued the Truman Doctrine in 1947, which provided aid to Greece and Turkey. The United States gave aid to those countries, specifically, because it felt they were most threatened by Communism during the time of the Cold War (Ferrell, pg.105). Communism is an economic system in which a single party controls the means of production with the aim of establishing a classless society (Encarta). The period after World War II, up until the year 1990, when The Cold War ended, was controlled by two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. The United States was led by President Harry S. Truman, who was thrown into the presidency by the unexpected death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the Soviet Union was led by Joseph Stalin (McCullough, pg. 371). Each expressed different views on politics, economics and human rights. A number of events occurred which led the United States and the Soviet Union to engage in what is now known as the Cold War. The five areas of conflict were with Poland, Germany, atomic secrets, Eastern Europe, and economic rebuilding of Western Europe. The Cold War was not a war in the typical sense of the word. There were no shots fired, but rather it was a war with words. In some ways this could be considered worse than a real war because that type causes a lot more fear over what could occur at any moment and weather the threats were real or not. Those countries that sided with the United States, which were mostly Western European nations, were known as the free world. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, occupied the Eastern European nations which came to be known as the Communist Bloc (Barrons). During this time, President Harry S. Truman wanted to contain Communism before it spread world-wide. He felt that this was the crucial point and Truman responded by issuing the Truman Doctrine in 1947. Truman feared that third world countries would accept Communism. Communism 2 sounded tempting to these countries because it would equalize everyone and it may even provide those countries with a stable government (Ferrell, pg. 105). The main objective of the Truman Doctrine was to support Turkey and Greece because the United States government felt they were most threatened by Communism during the Cold War. The United States did not want Communism to spread, in fear that it would form in the United States (Encarta). The United States wanted to show the Soviet Union that they weren’t the world power and that the Soviets could not force Communism on other countries, especially weak, smaller countries. The Soviet Union thought they were the most