The Truman Doctrine Nov. 12

Bellwrite #31: Was it right for the U.S. to use military actions in Korea (1950-53) to try to contain communism?

We finished working on our exercise for using semicolons and colons. Students took an open-neighbor quiz.

Next, we held an in-class seminar on the Truman Doctrine speech. We considered how the speech would have affected international relations during the Cold War, how Soviets would have reacted to the speech, and how the speech affected (and may continue to affect) U.S. foreign policy.

Homework:

• Memorization of Jacob 5 part 3 due tomorrow.
• Red Scarf Girl essay due tomorrow.
• Vocab/spelling check on Friday.

Truman Doctrine Reading

 

Background

The Truman Doctrine is a set of principles of U.S. foreign policy declared by President Harry S. Truman in an 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.

Truman made the plea amid the crisis of the Greek Civil War (1946–1949). He argued that if Greece and Turkey did not receive the aid that they urgently needed, they would inevitably fall to communism with grave consequences throughout the region. Because Turkey and Greece were historic rivals, it was necessary to help both equally, even though the threat to Greece was more immediate (Turkey = oil-rich Middle East; Greece = warm water ports on the Mediterranean).

For years Britain had supported Greece, but was now near bankruptcy and was forced to radically reduce its involvement. In February 1947, Britain formally requested the United States take over its role in supporting the Greek government.

The policy won the support of Republicans who controlled Congress and involved sending $400 million in American money, but no military forces, to the region. The effect was to end the Communist threat in those nations (Greece and Turkey), and in 1952 both countries joined NATO, a military alliance that guaranteed their protection.
 

Truman Doctrine Speech

The United States has received from the Greek Government an urgent appeal for financial and economic assistance. Preliminary reports from the American Economic Mission now in Greece and reports from the American Ambassador in Greece corroborate the statement of the Greek Government that assistance is imperative if Greece is to survive as a free nation.

The very existence of the Greek state is today threatened by the terrorist activities of several thousand armed men, led by Communists, who defy the government's authority at a number of points, particularly along the northern boundaries.

 

Greece must have assistance if it is to become a self-supporting and self-respecting democracy. The United States must supply this assistance.

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.

We shall not realize our objectives, however, unless we are willing to help free peoples to maintain their free institutions and their national integrity against aggressive movements that seek to impose upon them totalitarian regimes. This is no more than a frank recognition that totalitarian regimes imposed upon free peoples, by direct or indirect aggression, undermine the foundations of international peace, and hence the security of the United States.

At the present moment in world history nearly every nation must choose between alternative ways of life. The choice is too often not a free one. One way of life is based upon the will of the majority, and is distinguished by free institutions, representative government, free elections, guarantees of individual liberty, freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from political oppression. The second way of life is based upon the will of a minority forcibly imposed upon the majority. It relies upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio, fixed elections, and the suppression of personal freedoms.

I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.

The disappearance of Greece as an independent state would have a profound effect upon those countries in Europe whose peoples are struggling against great difficulties to maintain their freedoms and their independence while they repair the damages of war.

It would be an unspeakable tragedy if these countries, which have struggled so long against overwhelming odds, should lose that victory for which they sacrificed so much. Collapse of free institutions and loss of independence would be disastrous not only for them but for the world.

Should we fail to aid Greece and Turkey in this fateful hour, the effect will be far reaching to the West as well as to the East.
 
The seeds of totalitarian regimes are nurtured by misery and want. They spread and grow in the evil soil of poverty and strife. They reach their full growth when the hope of a people for a better life has died.

We must keep that hope alive.

The free peoples of the world look to us for support in maintaining their freedoms. If we falter in our leadership, we may endanger the peace of the world. And we shall surely endanger the welfare of this nation.