Truman Doctrine

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The Truman Doctrine is a set of principles of U.S. foreign policy declared by President Harry S. Truman in a March 12, 1947 address to Congress to request $400 million in aid to Greece and Turkey, as well as authorization to send American economic and military advisers to the two countries. Truman argued that the U.S. should support Greece and Turkey economically and militarily to prevent their falling under Soviet control. He supported this request by proclaiming: "One of the primary objectives of the foreign policy of the United States is the creation of conditions in which we and other nations will be able to work out a way of life free from coercion. This was a fundamental issue in the war with Germany and Japan. Our victory was won over countries which sought to impose their will, and their way of life, upon other nations." He called upon the U.S. to "support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures,"[1] which generalized his hopes for Greece and Turkey into a doctrine applicable throughout the world. The Soviet Union was clearly at the heart of Truman's thoughts, but it was never directly mentioned in his speech. As Edler states,[clarification needed] Truman was attempting to solve Eastern Europe's instability while making sure the spread of communism would not affect nations like Greece and Turkey.

The Truman Doctrine represented the hard side of containment policy, while the Marshall Plan constituted the soft side. The declaration of the Truman Doctrine was followed by the end of tripartism (coalition governments that included communists).

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[edit] History

Harry S Truman, who was supported by Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg and the Republican-controlled Congress, promulgated this doctrine after a visit from the Greek Prime Minister. “At the urging of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Tsaldaris of Greece visited Washington in December 1946 to plead for additional American assistance.”[2] Aid was agreed by the United States government to be given to both Greece, and Turkey. It was an early response to a perceived political involvement by the Soviet Union in Europe and Asia, as suggested by the Communist movements in Turkey and Greece.

The United States gave aid to Greece and Turkey for both political and military reasons. The political reasons the United States gave aid to Turkey and Greece were because they were still holding off the Communist threat, and could still be saved from communism. The situation was very important for the west, “If Greece was lost, Turkey would become an untenable outpost in a sea of communism. Similarly, if Turkey yielded to Soviet demands, the position of Greece would be extremely endangered[3].” It was a regional domino effect threat that guided the United States' decision. The military aspect of losing Greece and Turkey was also a huge factor. The United States was cautious of a third World War at this time, and needed military advantages over the Soviet Union if they were to win. Greece and Turkey turned out to be very important, “The failure of the West to prevent a communist takeover in Greece would not only put the Russians on a particularly dangerous flank for the Turks, but strengthen the Soviet Union’s ability to cut off allied supplies and assistance in the event of war."[4] With both the political and military benefits of assisting Turkey and Greece, the United States felt compelled to pass the Truman Doctrine.

The Truman Doctrine was the first in a series of containment moves by the United States, followed by economic restoration of Western Europe through the Marshall Plan and military containment by the creation of NATO in 1949. In Truman's words, it became "the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures." Using a framing rhetoric that continues to have resonance today, Truman reasoned that because these "totalitarian regimes" coerced "free peoples," they represented a threat to international peace and the national security of the United States.

President Truman made the proclamation in an address to the U.S. Congress on March 12, 1947, amid the crisis of the Greek Civil War (1946-1949). Truman insisted that if Greece and Turkey did not receive the aid that they needed, they would inevitably fall to Communism with consequences throughout the region.

In 1950, Truman signed the top-secret policy plan NSC-68, which shifted foreign policy from passive to active containment. The document differed from George F. Kennan's original notion of containment outlined in his "X" article, containing much harsher anti-Communist rhetoric. NSC-68 explicitly stated that the Communists planned for world domination.

[edit] Greece

Main article: Greek civil war

The act, which Truman signed into law on May 22, 1947, granted Greece $300 million in military and economic aid. In the second stage of the civil war in December 1944, the British helped prevent the seizure of Athens by the leftist National Liberation Front (EAM), controlled effectively by the Communists. In the third phase (1946–1949), guerrilla forces controlled by the Greek Communist Party (KKE) fought against the internationally recognized Greek government which was formed after 1946 elections boycotted by the KKE. Increased American aid helped defeat the KKE, after interim defeats for government forces from 1946 to 1948. British support was affected by the British economic crisis. In 1967 a Greek military junta overthrew the centre right government of Panagiotis Kanellopoulos and seized power. The military junta of Greece, though criticized worldwide for its human rights record, was supported by the American government during its seven year rule.[5] Some forty years after the massacres and harsh oppressions under military rule, U.S. President Bill Clinton issued an apology, largely unreported by the Western media, for the United States' past support of the totalitarian government.[6][7]

[edit] Turkey

Main article: Multi-party period of the Republic of Turkey

The act also granted $100 million to Turkey in military and economic aid. The postwar period from 1946 started with a “multi-party period” and a Democratic Party government of Adnan Menderes, but in 1960 there was a military coup d'état led by General Cemal Gürsel, followed by the execution of Menderes. In 1971 there was another coup against the rightist government of Süleyman Demirel and the Justice Party, and another coup in 1980.

[edit] Bibliography

  • Frazier, Robert. "Acheson and the Formulation of the Truman Doctrine" Journal of Modern Greek Studies 1999 17(2): 229-251. ISSN 0738-1727
  • Gaddis, John Lewis. "Reconsiderations: Was the Truman Doctrine a Real Turning Point?" Foreign Affairs 1974 52(2): 386-402. ISSN 0015-7120
  • Ivie, Robert L. "Fire, Flood, and Red Fever: Motivating Metaphors of Global Emergency in the Truman Doctrine Speech." Presidential Studies Quarterly 1999 29(3): 570-591. ISSN 0360-4918
  • Jeffrey, Judith S. Ambiguous Commitments and Uncertain Policies: The Truman Doctrine in Greece, 1947-1952 Lexington, 2000. 257 pp.
  • Jones, Howard. "A New Kind of War": America's Global Strategy and the Truman Doctrine in Greece Oxford U. Press, 1989. 327 pp
  • Leffler, Melvyn P. "Strategy, Diplomacy, and the Cold War: the United States, Turkey, and NATO, 1945-1952" Journal of American History 1985 71(4): 807-825. ISSN 0021-8723
  • McGhee, George. The U.S.-Turkish-NATO Middle East Connection: How the Truman Doctrine and Turkey's NATO Entry Contained the Soviets in the Middle East. St. Martin's, 1990. 224 pp.
  • Merrill, Dennis. "The Truman Doctrine: Containing Communism and Modernity" Presidential Studies Quarterly 2006 36(1): 27-37. ISSN 0360-4918
  • Offner, Arnold A. "'Another Such Victory': President Truman, American Foreign Policy, and the Cold War." Diplomatic History 1999 23(2): 127-155. ISSN 0145-2096
  • Spalding, Elizabeth Edwards. The First Cold Warrior: Harry Truman, Containment, And the Remaking of Liberal Internationalism (2006)

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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[edit] References

  1. ^ President Harry S Truman's address before a joint session of Congress on March 12, 1947, http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Truman_Doctrine
  2. ^ Freeland, Richard M. (1970). The Truman Doctrine and the Origins of McCarthyism. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.. pp. g. 90. 
  3. ^ Spalding, Elizabeth Edwards (2006). The First Cold Warrior: Harry Truman, Containment, and the Remaking of Liberal Internationalism. The University Press of Kentucky. pp. 64. 
  4. ^ McGhee, George (1990). The US-Turkish-NATO Middle East Connection: How the Truman Doctrine Contained the Soviets in the Middle East. St. Martin’s Press. pp. g. 21. 
  5. ^ The Poly-Papadopoulos Time Magazine archives Quote: "Many democratic-minded Greeks resent the open U.S. support of the Papadopoulos dictatorship. Last month Washington gave further evidence of its acceptance of his regime by negotiating for home-port rights in the bays near Athens for the Mediterranean-based Sixth Fleet. In addition, the Nixon Administration is trying to persuade Congress to up military aid to Greece from about $90 million to $118 million." Monday, 03 April, 1972 Retrieved 6 July 2008
  6. ^ "Clinton lamenta el apoyo de EU a Junta Griega," La Opinión de Los Angeles, 21 November 1999, page A1.
  7. ^ Clinton concedes regret for U.S. support of Greek junta Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Nov 21, 1999 by TERENCE HUNT AP Retrieved 18 August 2008



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