LAD/Blog #38: Truman Doctrine

In 1947 President Truman made a speech to both houses of Congress in a successful attempt to win support from Republicans, who controlled both of them. This address would become known as the Truman Doctrine and establish American policy during the Cold War. The Truman Doctrine was originally created with the goal of preventing the spread of communism into Greece and Turkey. At the time of its creation, Greece was in the middle of a civil war, and many believed that if the United States failed to send aid to these areas it would inevitable that they would fall to communism and Soviet influence. In his speech to Congress, Truman made it clear that it would be impossible for Greece to recover economically unless a large amount of American support was provided, because no other nation was able or willing to provide them with the support that they desperately needed. In a more general sense, this policy was about the containment of communism. As a direct result of this, America adopted a policy that supported the quarantining of communism, which would lead America into several proxy wars with the Soviets, most notably in Vietnam and Korea.

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President Harry Truman

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Synthesis: The Domino Theory, which stated that if one area fell to communism, surrounding areas would likely fall as well

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