The Truman Administration Response To The Perceived Threat Of Communist Expansion (Essay Sample)

THE TRUMAN ADMINISTRATION RESPONSE TO THE PERCEIVED THREAT OF COMMUNIST EXPANSION
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Introduction
Reeling from the effect of world war, the European states were in turmoil; economies remained shuttered. The case, for example, was Greece, which was susceptible to attacks from the Soviet Union. Soviet communism incursion also dominated this period, and Kremlins action presented the Soviet Union as power hungry and power seeking hegemony. The Soviet actions were evident in their support for ELAS, which was responsible for internal violence in northern Greece. The turmoil meant Greece was in dire need and that their request to the Truman administration for financial and economic aid highlighted the magnitude of the situation.[Elizabeth Edwards Spalding, “'A Growing Feeling of Certainty in the Righteousness of our Step:' The Truman Doctrine,” in The First Cold Warrior: Harry Truman, Containment, and the Remaking of Liberal Internationalism (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2006), 61-79.]
Keen to subvert the communist activities in Europe and contain its spread, the Truman administration crafted a foreign policy plan which would help stop communism in Europe. Truman argued that if Greece went down then, Turkey would follow, and the entire wave would cause an inevitable chain of "falling dominoes." It is in this backdrop that the "Truman doctrine, the containment plan, and the marshal plan was crafted to help steer American foreign policy post world war two, through to the following fifteen to twenty years. The foreign policy is also known as the Truman doctrine thus formed the basis for the cold war that would later follow.[Ferald J. Bryan, “George C. Marshall at Harvard: A Study of the Origins and Construction of the ‘Marshall Plan’ Speech,” Presidential Studies Quarterly 21, no. 3 (Summer 1991): 489-502.]
This paper analyses Truman’s regime's reaction to the communist threat. In doing so, the paper will focus on how Secretary marshal and other officers crafted the marshal plan, which was used to implement the Truman doctrine, the containment plan and also look at another relevant phenomenon like the iron gate.
Discussion
Immediately after the world war, the state of European nations was deplorable and warranted immediate intervention. The Soviet Union was sure the governments would integrate and allow them to amass larger territories. In what Truman considered the "Greece crisis," the American government had to act quickly to save Greece financially, economically and through military aid. It is argued that by supporting Greece, Truman aimed to stop ripple effect on neighboring Turkey, and other states which would be affected.
The Iron Gate was the political boundary that divided the Soviet territories from the Western Europe. It is from the Iron Gate phenomenon that Truman acted to respond to the crisis facing other European nations. The crisis mean that the other side of the Iron Gate read Eastern Europe was under threat of takeover by the communist using what Truman called ‘salami tactics’ which were against the Stalin promised at the Yalta conference.[Churchill, Winston. Iron curtain speech. Great Neck Pub., 2009.] [Ferald J. Bryan, “George C. Marshall at Harvard: A Study of the Origins and Construction of the ‘Marshall Plan’ Speech,” Presidential Studies Quarterly 21, no. 3 (Summer 1991): 489-502]
In a speech made to Congress, and in what would be later known as the ‘Truman Doctrine,' Truman laid out facts that alluded to the situation in Greece and appealed to the Congress to the need to free Greece from totalitarian regimes that were imposed on free people. He claimed that if Greece were to enjoy full democracy, then the American people had to come to their financial aid and free them from direct and indirect aggression.[Ferald J. Bryan, “George C. Marshall at Harvard: A Study of the Origins and Construction of the ‘Marshall Plan’ Speech,” Presidential Studies Quarterly 21, no. 3 (Summer 1991): 489-502]
In an attempt to win the American support to help Greece, Truman made it clear that the United States fought in world war two to protect democracy and freedom and that the involvement cost the United States billions of dollars. Another claim was that the communist power was growing rapidly and if left unchecked would lead to the detriment of United States. He said that the world was faced with a choice between good and bad, good would mean democracy, capitalism, and freedom while bad meant communism, dictatorship, and oppression. He thus claimed America had the moral obligation to get involved in such a situation. Truman capped the speech by declaring that "the policy of the United States is to support free people who are struggling and resisting attempted subjugations by armed minorities or outside pressure." This he claimed was an extension of American foreign policy.[Elizabeth Edwards Spalding, “'A Growing Feeling of Certainty in the Righteousness of our Step:' The Truman Doctrine,” in The First Cold Warrior: Harry Truman, Containment, and the Remaking of Liberal Internationalism (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2006), 61-79.] [Ibid., 61]
The Monroe policy, made by President John Monroe was the most recognized foreign policy that said America would keep of European affairs. The Truman doctrine thus overturned this system. To achieve the policy, Truman engaged the service of Secretary George Marshal, who came up with Marshal Plan whose primary objective was to contain communism. In so doing the marshal plan was to help European states starting with Greece. Built on powerful rhetoric, the idea appealed to the Americans by building on Truman speech on the need to combat Soviet; the plan was ratified by Congress in 1984. This idea owed much of its success to the alluded domino effect which Truman said that if Greece would be let to fall then a series of other nation would follow in a way comparable to the domino effect. This theory became known as the domino theory.
The Truman doctrine sent military aid to the friendly nation as one of the containment plans. This led to collective security and reduced communism effect on such nations. The plan which was known as military assistance program would later result in information of NATO. Globally the Truman presentation of communism as a threat sparked an anti-communism hysteria which led to the red square of the 1950s. Truman triumphed in changing global perspective of communism and its effect on democracy.[Elizabeth Edwards Spalding, “'A Growing Feeling of Certainty in the Righteousness of our Step:' The Truman Doctrine,” in The First Cold Warrior: Harry Truman, Containment, and the Remaking of Liberal Internationalism (Lexington: Univer...