Tamyra Barringer

 A doctrine is a stated principle of government policy, mainly in foreign or military affairs.

 The Truman Doctrine was a document signed by President Harry S. Truman establishing that the United States would provide political, military and economical assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces.

 The Truman Doctrine was created as a response to a crisis in Europe. (Greece and Turkey)  Great Britain’s economy had fallen, so it was not able to support the non-communist countries any more so they asked for the United States help.  Greece and Turkey needed 400 million dollars in financial and military aid to remain free nations  Stalin’s salami tactics which were tactics that were not discussed in the previous Yalta Conference  And simply Truman did not want the Soviets to take over another country.

 In Febuary of 1947 the British government announced that they could no longer afford to keep their soldiers in Greece of support their economy because:  The winter of was very harsh winter which slowed down major production drastically and led to shortages in coal.  The Great Britain economy during WWII was almost solely dedicated to war efforts, in which they lost a lot of wealth to

 As we know unlike America who was trying to contain Communism, Stalin and the soviets were on the move trying to spread communism, by 1947 Stalin had taken over the majority of eastern Europe and was making his way to the western side of Europe to make his empire even bigger.

 These were the tactics Stalin used to keep his influence on eastern Europe. Stalin would take apart the opposition( the people that went against communism) in the eastern Europe countries by training the communist in those countries, then would send them back to their country. The trained communists would then fill their government, police, and army with communist, that would arrest or kill anyone in the country that was apart of the opposition. This is how Stalin took control little by little reminding many of “slicing a salami”.

 After World War II Europe was pretty much a disaster. Many of the countries were destroyed due to war being taken place in Europe. Most of the governments were weak or had collapsed. Almost of the economies were gone and had become bankrupt, but not having a bank to file bankruptcy to. The economies had collapsed because the countries were spending all of their money on war efforts. Not only was the economy and government of European countries weak, but they were also dealing with the lost of millions of people.

 Greece defeated the German army supposedly leaving Greece as an independent nation. Great Britain then helped them to try to develop as a nation  After World War II at the Pots dam conference Stalin had promised Churchill that he would not interfere with Greece, however Stalin went back on his word and interfered with Greece leading them into a civil war.

 Greece had two different parties within the country.  ELAS(National People’s Army of Liberation) which was supported by the communist party of Greece which in 1945 contained more than 2/3 of the country.  In 1946 DSE (Democratic Army of Greece) launched a campaign to win control over the whole country. They received support from their neighboring countries and from Great Britain and the United States.  With support from Great Britain and then from the United States they won and outlawed the communist in Greece

 Turkey signed an defense agreement with the United States to resist the Soviet Expansion.  Turkey also consisted of a strait (narrow passageway of water connecting two seas or two large bodies of water) called Dardanelles that went from Turkey to Europe, the Soviets were determined to get partial control of the strait which meant taking control over Turkey.

 Undersecretary of state that later became secretary of state  Considered top brain man for his brilliant ways of how to get the money to support different doctrines and plan  He also came up with a way for the congress to accept Truman’s request for 400 million dollars

 Truman wanted to continue Roosevelt’s legacy and his New Deal.  However the Congress was mostly filled with mostly republicans that really didn’t care to much for him.  Republicans at the time were also very tight with their money, and the fact that Truman was asking for 400 million dollars didn’t make things much better.  So Truman decided to try a different approach along with the help of Acheson, to be direct and open with Congress and tell them specifically what was going on. He gave his speech on March 12, 1947, telling them it was absolutely their duty to make this speech a reality.

 Congress wasn’t the only ones not feeling the only ones not feeling to confident in Truman, it was also the people of America that didn’t have much confidence in Truman either.  The American thought Truman to be kind of ruthless and didn’t think he knew so much after dropping the atomic bombs on Japan.  Not only did he have to get support from congress but also from the American people and the only way to do that in the words of Dean Acheson was to “scare the hell out of the American people. He did this by saying that if we didn’t help stop the spread of communism now on other countries then the fear of communism would be on America. This shook the American people and they then supported the Truman Doctrine

 Also named the European Recovery Program  Plain that was made by General George Marshall to help rebuild Europe physically and economically due to all that it had lost during World War II.  The plan gave over 13 billion dollars to 16 European nations.  An extension of the Truman Doctrine

So Again The Truman Doctrine ?

 A policy of containment by President Truman that said that the United Stares would aid any country under the pressure of Soviet Communism. It gave Greece and Turkey 400 million dollars in military and financial aid to survive as free independent nations.