Truman Doctrine

Presidential portrait ofU.S. PresidentHarry Truman

TheTruman Doctrineis anAmerican foreign policythat pledges American "support fordemocraciesagainstauthoritarianthreats. "^[1]The doctrine originated with the primary goal of countering the growth of theSoviet blocduring theCold War.It was announced toCongressby PresidentHarry S. Trumanon March 12, 1947,^[2]and further developed on July 4, 1948, when he pledged to oppose thecommunist rebellions in GreeceandSoviet demands from Turkey.More generally, the Truman Doctrine implied American support for other nations threatened byMoscow.It led to the formation ofNATOin 1949. Historians often use Truman's speech to Congress on March 12, 1947, to date the start of the Cold War.^[3]

Truman told Congress 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."^[4]Truman contended that becausetotalitarianregimes coerced free peoples, they automatically represented a threat to international peace and thenational security of the United States.Truman argued that if Greece and Turkey did not receive the aid, they would inevitably fall out of the United States' sphere of influence and into thecommunist bloc,withgrave consequencesthroughout the region.

The Truman Doctrine was informally extended to become the basis of American Cold War policy throughout Europe and around the world.^[5]It shifted U.S. policy toward theSoviet Unionfrom a wartime alliance tocontainmentof Soviet expansion, as advocated by diplomatGeorge Kennan.

Turkish Straits crisis

At the conclusion of World War II, Turkey was pressured by the Soviet government to allow Russian shipping to flow freely through theTurkish Straits,which connected theBlack Seato theMediterranean.As the Turkish government would not submit to the Soviet Union's requests, tensions arose in the region, leading to a show of naval force on the site of the Straits. Since British assistance to Turkey had ended in 1947, the U.S. dispatched military aid to ensure that Turkey would retain chief control of the passage. Turkey received $100 million in economic and military aid and theU.S. Navysent theMidway-class aircraft carrier USSFranklin D. Roosevelt.^[6]

Greek crisis

KingGeorge II of Greece(r. 1922–1924, 1935–1947), whose rule was opposed by a communist insurgency in the Greek Civil War

In October 1944,BritishandGreekforceslanded in Greecefollowing the gradual withdrawal ofAxis occupational forcesfrom the country. Despite theCaserta Agreementstipulating that allGreek resistancefactions would join a newGreek armyunder British command, GeneralRonald Scobieordered theEAM's armed wing,ELAS,to unilaterally disarm on December, 1 1944. EAM responded to the "Scobie Order" by organizing a rally inAthenson December 3 in protest, which was shot at by Greek security forces, killing 28 protestors. This sparked theDekemvriana,a series of clashes between EAM and Greek government forces along with their British allies. It ended in EAM's defeat and disarmament under the terms of theTreaty of Varkiza,which marked the end of ELAS and broke EAM's power. This was followed by theWhite Terror,a period of persecution against Greek leftists, which contributed to the outbreak of theGreek Civil Warin 1946.^[7]^[8]

After the civil war broke out,Communist Party of Greece(KKE) guerrillas revolted against the internationally recognized Greek government which was formed afterelections in 1946which were boycotted by the KKE. The British realized that the KKE were being directly funded byJosip Broz Titoin neighboringYugoslavia.In line with the Anglo-Sovietpercentages agreement,the KKE received no help from theSoviet Union,and Yugoslavia provided them support and sanctuary againstJoseph Stalin's wishes.^[9]By late 1946, Britain informed the United States that due to its own declining economy, it could no longer continue to provide military and economic support to the Greek government.^[10]

George F. Kennan(1904–2005) proposed the doctrine ofcontainmentin 1946

In 1946–47, the United States and the Soviet Union moved from being wartime allies to Cold War adversaries. The breakdown of Allied cooperation in Germany provided a backdrop of escalating tensions for the Truman Doctrine.^[5]To Truman, the growing unrest in Greece began to look like apincer movementagainst the oil-rich areas of the Middle East and the warm-water ports of the Mediterranean.^[11]In February 1946, Kennan, an American diplomat in Moscow, sent his famed "Long Telegram",which predicted the Soviets would only respond to force and that the best way to handle them would be through a long-term strategy of containment; that is, stopping their geographical expansion. After the British warned that they could no longer help Greece, and following Prime MinisterKonstantinos Tsaldaris's visit to Washington in December 1946 to ask for American assistance,^[12]the U.S. State Department formulated a plan. Aid would be given to both Greece and Turkey, to help cool the long-standing rivalry between them.^{[citation needed]}

American policy makers recognized the instability of the region, fearing that if Greece was lost to communism, Turkey would not last long. Similarly, if Turkey yielded to Soviet demands, the position of Greece would be endangered.^[13]A regionaldomino effectthreat therefore guided the American decision. Greece and Turkey were strategic allies important for geographical reasons as well, for the fall of Greece would put the Soviets on a particularly dangerous flank for the Turks, and strengthen the Soviet Union's ability to cut off allied supply lines in the event of war.^[14]

Truman's address

President Truman's 1947 Message to Congress, Recommending Assistance to Greece and Turkey

To pass any legislation Truman needed the support of theRepublicans,who controlled both houses of Congress. The chief Republican spokesman SenatorArthur H. Vandenbergstrongly supported Truman and overcame the doubts of isolationists such as SenatorRobert A. Taft.^[15]^: 127Truman laid the groundwork for his request by having key congressional leaders meet with himself, Secretary of StateGeorge Marshall,and Undersecretary of StateDean Acheson.Acheson laid out the "domino theory" in the starkest terms, comparing a communist state to a rotten apple that could spread its infection to an entire barrel. Vandenberg was impressed, and advised Truman to appear before Congress and "scare the hell out of the American people."^[15]^{: 127–128}On March 7, Acheson warned Truman that the communists in Greece could win within weeks without outside aid.^[2]^: 545

When a draft for Truman's address was circulated to policymakers, Marshall, Kennan, and others criticized it for containing excess "rhetoric." Truman responded that, as Vandenberg had suggested, his request would only be approved if he played up the threat.^[2]^: 546

On March 12, 1947, Truman appeared before a joint session of Congress. In his eighteen-minute speech, he stated:

I believe 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.
I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way.
I believe that our help should be primarily through economic and financial aid which is essential to economic stability and orderly political processes.^[2]^: 547

The domestic reaction to Truman's speech was broadly positive, though there were dissenters. Anti-communists in both parties supported both Truman's proposed aid package and the doctrine behind it, andCollier'sdescribed it as a "popularity jackpot" for the President.^[2]^: 548^[15]^: 129Influential columnistWalter Lippmannwas more skeptical, noting the open-ended nature of Truman's pledge; he felt so strongly that he almost came to blows while arguing with Acheson over the doctrine.^[2]^: 549^[16]^: 615Others argued that the Greek monarchy Truman proposed to defend was itself a repressive government, rather than a democracy.^[16]^: 615

Despite these objections, the fear that there was a growing communist threat almost guaranteed the bill's passage.^[16]^: 616In May 1947, two months after Truman's request, a large majority of Congress approved $400 million in military and economic aid to Greece and Turkey.^[2]^{: 553–554}^[15]^: 129Increased American aid assisted the Greek government's defeat of the KKE, after interim defeats for government forces from 1946 to 1948.^[16]^{: 616–617}The Truman Doctrine was the first in a series of containment moves by the United States, followed by economic restoration of Western Europe through theMarshall Planand military containment by the creation ofNATOin 1949.^{[citation needed]}

Long-term policy and metaphor

HistorianEric Fonerwrites that the doctrine "set a precedent for American assistance toanticommunistregimes throughout the world, no matter how undemocratic, and for the creation of a set of global military alliances directed against the Soviet Union. "^[17]

The Truman Doctrine underpinned American Cold War policy in Europe and around the world. In the words of historianJames T. Patterson:

The Truman Doctrine was a highly publicized commitment of a sort the administration had not previously undertaken. Its sweeping rhetoric, promising that the United States should aid all 'free people' being subjugated, set the stage for innumerable later ventures that led to globalisation commitments. It was in these ways a major step.^[15]^: 129

The doctrine endured, historian Dennis Merill argues, because it addressed broader cultural insecurity regarding modern life in a globalized world. It dealt with Washington's concern over communism's domino effect, it enabled a media-sensitive presentation of the doctrine that wonbipartisansupport, and it mobilized American economic power to modernize and stabilize unstable regions without direct military intervention. It brought nation-building activities and modernization programs to the forefront of foreign policy.^[5]

The Truman Doctrine became a metaphor for aid to keep a nation from communist influence. Truman used disease imagery not only to communicate a sense of impending disaster in the spread of communism but also to create a "rhetorical vision" of containing it by extending a protective shield around non-communist countries throughout the world. It echoed the "quarantine the aggressor"policy Truman's predecessor,Franklin D. Roosevelt,had sought to impose to containGermanandJapaneseexpansion in 1937 ( "quarantine" suggested the role of public health officials handling an infectious disease). The medical metaphor extended beyond the immediate aims of the Truman Doctrine in that the imagery, combined with fire and flood imagery evocative of disaster, provided the United States with an easy transition to direct military confrontation in later years with theKorean Warand theVietnam War.By framing ideological differences in life or death terms, Truman was able to garner support for this communism-containing policy.^[18]

References

^"The Truman Doctrine, 1947".Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute, United States Department of State.Archivedfrom the original on May 16, 2017.RetrievedSeptember 24,2022.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^gMcCullough, David (1992).Truman.New York: Simon & Schuster. pp.547–549.ISBN 978-0671456542.
^"The Truman Doctrine's Significance".History on the Net.November 10, 2020.Archivedfrom the original on May 1, 2021.RetrievedNovember 10,2020.
^Michael Beschloss (2006).Our Documents: 100 Milestone Documents From The National Archives.Oxford University Press. pp. 194–199.ISBN 978-0-19-530959-1.Archivedfrom the original on June 30, 2023.RetrievedOctober 27,2015.
^^a ^b ^cMerrill 2006.
^Barın Kayaoğlu, "Strategic imperatives, Democratic rhetoric: The United States and Turkey, 1945–52."Cold War History,Aug 2009, Vol. 9(3) pp. 321–345
^Gerolymatos, André (2017).An International Civil War: Greece, 1943–1949.Yale University Press. pp. 100–111.ISBN 978-0300180602.
^Gerolymatos, André (2017).An International Civil War: Greece, 1943–1949.Yale University Press. pp. 194–203.ISBN 978-0300180602.Archivedfrom the original on June 30, 2023.RetrievedNovember 3,2020.
^Bærentzen, Lars, John O. Iatrides, and Ole Langwitz. Smith.Studies in the History of the Greek Civil War, 1945–1949.Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum, 1987. 273–280. Google Books. Web. 28 Apr. 2010.online Archived2023-04-06 at theWayback Machine
^Bullock,Ernest Bevin: Foreign Secretary(1983) ch 8
^Painter 2012,p. 29: "Although circumstances differed greatly in Greece, Turkey, and Iran, U.S. officials interpreted events in all three places as part of a Soviet plan to dominate the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. Mention of oil was deliberately deleted from Truman's March 12, 1947, address before Congress pledging resistance to communist expansion anywhere in the world; but guarding access to oil was an important part of the Truman Doctrine. The Truman Doctrine was named after Harry S. Truman. This doctrine stated that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces."
One draft, for example, of Truman's speech spoke of the "great natural resources" of the Middle East at stake (Kolko & Kolko 1972,p. 341).
^Freeland, Richard M. (1970).The Truman Doctrine and the Origins of McCarthyism.Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. pp. g. 90.
^Spalding, Elizabeth Edwards (2006).The First Cold Warrior: Harry Truman, Containment, and the Remaking of Liberal Internationalism.The University Press of Kentucky. p. 64.
^McGhee, George (1990).The US-Turkish-NATO Middle East Connection: How the Truman Doctrine Contained the Soviets in the Middle East.St. Harry's Press. pp. g. 21.
^^a ^b ^c ^d ^ePatterson, James T. (1996).Grand Expectations.New York: Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0-19-507680-6.
^^a ^b ^c ^dHerring, George C. (2008).From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776.New York: Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0195078220.
^Eric Foner,Give Me Liberty! An American History(2nd ed., 2008) p. 892
^Ivie 1999.

Bibliography

Beisner, Robert L.Dean Acheson: A Life in the Cold War(2006)
Bostdorff, Denise M.Proclaiming the Truman Doctrine: The Cold War Call to Arms(2008)excerpt and text search Archived2023-06-30 at theWayback Machine
Brands, H. W.Into the Labyrinth: The United States and the Middle East, 1945–1993(1994)excerpt Archived2023-06-30 at theWayback Machinepp 12–17.
Bullock, Alan.Ernest Bevin: Foreign Secretary, 1945–1951(1983) on British roles
Capaccio, George.The Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine(Cavendish Square, 2017).
Edwards, Lee. "Congress and the Origins of the Cold War: The Truman Doctrine,"World Affairs,Vol. 151, 1989online edition
Frazier, Robert. "Acheson and the Formulation of the Truman Doctrine"Journal of Modern Greek Studies1999 17(2): 229–251.ISSN 0738-1727
Frazier, Robert. "Kennan, 'Universalism,' and the Truman Doctrine,"Journal of Cold War Studies,Spring 2009, Vol. 11 Issue 2, pp 3–34
Gaddis, John Lewis. "Reconsiderations: Was the Truman Doctrine a Real Turning Point?"Foreign Affairs1974 52(2): 386–402.ISSN 0015-7120
Gleason, Abbott. "The Truman Doctrine and the Rhetoric of Totalitarianism." inThe Soviet Empire Reconsidered(Routledge, 2019) pp. 11–25.
Haas, Lawrence J.Harry and Arthur: Truman, Vandenberg, and the Partnership That Created the Free World(U of Nebraska Press, 2016).
Hinds, Lynn Boyd, and Theodore Otto Windt Jr.The Cold War as Rhetoric: The Beginnings, 1945–1950(1991)online edition
Iatrides, John O. and Nicholas X. Rizopoulos. "The International Dimension of the Greek Civil War."World Policy Journal2000 17(1): 87–103.ISSN 0740-2775Fulltext: in Ebsco
Ivie, Robert L.(1999). "Fire, Flood, and Red Fever: Motivating Metaphors of Global Emergency in the Truman Doctrine Speech".Presidential Studies Quarterly.29(3): 570–591.doi:10.1111/j.0268-2141.2003.00050.x.
Jeffrey, Judith S.Ambiguous Commitments and Uncertain Policies: The Truman Doctrine in Greece, 1947–1952(2000). 257 pp.
Jones, Howard."A New Kind of War": America's Global Strategy and the Truman Doctrine in Greece(1989). 327 pp
Kayaoğlu, Barın. "Strategic imperatives, Democratic rhetoric: The United States and Turkey, 1945–52.,"Cold War History,Aug 2009, Vol. 9(3). pp. 321–345
Kiliç, Emrullah Can, and İ. M. E. R. İtır. "Legacy of the Truman Doctrine on Turkish-American Relations: A Political Economy Perspective."Sosyoekonomi29.50 (2021): 109-130;online for Turkish perspective Archived2023-06-18 at theWayback Machine.
Kolko, Joyce;Kolko, Gabriel(1972).The Limits of Power: The World and United States Foreign Policy, 1945–1954.New York:Harper & Row.ISBN 978-0-06-012447-2.
Leffler, Melvyn P. "Strategy, Diplomacy, and the Cold War: the United States, Turkey, and NATO, 1945–1952"Journal of American History1985 71(4): 807–825.ISSN 0021-8723 in JSTOR
Lykogiannis, Athanasios.Britain and the Greek Economic Crisis, 1944–1947: From Liberation to the Truman Doctrine.(U. of Missouri Press, 2002). 287 pp.online
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.(1990). 224 pp.
Merrill, Dennis (2006). "The Truman Doctrine: Containing Communism and Modernity".Presidential Studies Quarterly.36(1): 27–37.doi:10.1111/j.1741-5705.2006.00284.x.
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External links

[1] "The Truman Doctrine, 1947".Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute, United States Department of State.Archivedfrom the original on May 16, 2017.RetrievedSeptember 24,2022.

[DM-2] ^^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^gMcCullough, David (1992).Truman.New York: Simon & Schuster. pp.547–549.ISBN 978-0671456542.

[3] "The Truman Doctrine's Significance".History on the Net.November 10, 2020.Archivedfrom the original on May 1, 2021.RetrievedNovember 10,2020.

[4] Michael Beschloss (2006).Our Documents: 100 Milestone Documents From The National Archives.Oxford University Press. pp. 194–199.ISBN 978-0-19-530959-1.Archivedfrom the original on June 30, 2023.RetrievedOctober 27,2015.

[MerrillTruDoct-5] Merrill 2006.

[6] Barın Kayaoğlu, "Strategic imperatives, Democratic rhetoric: The United States and Turkey, 1945–52."Cold War History,Aug 2009, Vol. 9(3) pp. 321–345

[7] Gerolymatos, André (2017).An International Civil War: Greece, 1943–1949.Yale University Press. pp. 100–111.ISBN 978-0300180602.

[8] Gerolymatos, André (2017).An International Civil War: Greece, 1943–1949.Yale University Press. pp. 194–203.ISBN 978-0300180602.Archivedfrom the original on June 30, 2023.RetrievedNovember 3,2020.

[9] Bærentzen, Lars, John O. Iatrides, and Ole Langwitz. Smith.Studies in the History of the Greek Civil War, 1945–1949.Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum, 1987. 273–280. Google Books. Web. 28 Apr. 2010.online Archived2023-04-06 at theWayback Machine

[10] Bullock,Ernest Bevin: Foreign Secretary(1983) ch 8

[Painter_2012_29-11] Painter 2012,p. 29: "Although circumstances differed greatly in Greece, Turkey, and Iran, U.S. officials interpreted events in all three places as part of a Soviet plan to dominate the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. Mention of oil was deliberately deleted from Truman's March 12, 1947, address before Congress pledging resistance to communist expansion anywhere in the world; but guarding access to oil was an important part of the Truman Doctrine. The Truman Doctrine was named after Harry S. Truman. This doctrine stated that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces."
One draft, for example, of Truman's speech spoke of the "great natural resources" of the Middle East at stake (Kolko & Kolko 1972,p. 341).

[12] Freeland, Richard M. (1970).The Truman Doctrine and the Origins of McCarthyism.Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. pp. g. 90.

[13] Spalding, Elizabeth Edwards (2006).The First Cold Warrior: Harry Truman, Containment, and the Remaking of Liberal Internationalism.The University Press of Kentucky. p. 64.

[14] McGhee, George (1990).The US-Turkish-NATO Middle East Connection: How the Truman Doctrine Contained the Soviets in the Middle East.St. Harry's Press. pp. g. 21.

[JTP-15] Patterson, James T. (1996).Grand Expectations.New York: Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0-19-507680-6.

[Herring-16] Herring, George C. (2008).From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776.New York: Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0195078220.

[17] Eric Foner,Give Me Liberty! An American History(2nd ed., 2008) p. 892

[18] Ivie 1999.

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v t e Greek Civil War
Background	4th of August Regime Axis occupation of Greece Greek Resistance National Liberation Front Greek People's Liberation Army National Republican Greek League (EDES) Collaborationist governments Security Battalions Greek government-in-exile Red Terror Lebanon Conference Caserta Agreement Battle of Meligalas Battle of Kilkis (1944) Dekemvriana Treaty of Varkiza White Terror 1946 election 1946 referendum
Events (1946-1949)	Litochoro attack Truman Doctrine Battle of Konitsa Thessaloniki bombing Capture of Ierapetra Operation Charavgi Massacre of the First Sapper Battalion Operation Koronis Operation Peristera Operation Pyravlos Tito–Stalin split Operation Pyrsos
Communists	Communist Party of Greece Provisional Democratic Government Democratic Army of Greece Popular Civil Guard National Liberation Front (Macedonia) Nikos Zachariadis Markos Vafiadis Charilaos Florakis Alexandros Rosios Petros Kokkalis
National Government	George II of Greece Paul of Greece Archbishop Damaskinos of Athens Themistoklis Sofoulis Konstantinos Tsaldaris Alexandros Papagos Konstantinos Ventiris Konstantinos Dovas Thrasyvoulos Tsakalotos Dimitrios Giatzis James Van Fleet Hellenic Army Royal Hellenic Air Force Greek Gendarmerie Countryside Security Units TEA
Impact and aftermath	Refugees Internal exile Sacred Bond of Greek Officers Centrist Interlude Greek junta Metapolitefsi

v t e Turkey–United States relations
Diplomatic posts	Embassy of Turkey, Washington D.C. Ambassadors of Turkey to the United States Ambassadors of the United States to Turkey Consulate General of the United States, Istanbul Permanent Mission of Turkey to the United Nations Turkish House Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs
Diplomacy	Chester concession Second Cairo Conference Truman Doctrine Zurich Protocols
Incidents	Gourgen Yanikian Assassination of Orhan Gündüz TCG Muavenet (DM 357) Hood event 2008 United States consulate in Istanbul attack 2013 United States embassy bombing in Ankara Andrew Brunson Clashes at the Turkish Ambassador's Residence in Washington, D.C. Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi 2023 Turkish drone shootdown Criminal investigations into the Eric Adams administration Turkish Guantanamo Bay detainees United States recognition of the Armenian genocide
Military relations	CIA activities in Turkey Counter-Guerrilla Nomad Shadow Task Force Viking Denizköy VLF transmitter Incirlik Air Base Izmir Air Station Kisecik Radar Station Kürecik Radar Station Pirinçlik Air Base Office of Defense Cooperation Turkey
Related	Ottoman Empire–United States relations 2010 FIBA World Championship final Turkish lobby in the United States American Hellenic Institute American Turkish Society American-Turkish Council Congressional Caucus on Turkey and Turkish Americans Federation of Turkish American Associations Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research Turkish American Cultural Alliance Turkish Coalition of America Turkish Women's League of America U.S.-Turkey Business Council American Turkish Friendship Association Assembly of Turkish American Associations Hollings Center Robert College Christopher Robert Billy Hayes Midnight Express
Category:Turkey–United States relations