Is the most powerful man in the world defined by the amount of money he possesses, or the amount of authority he holds? In the case of the United States president, does he have the fortune or command to make decisions that not only impact our nation, but the whole world? Our government has a system of checks and balances so all of the power is evenly distributed among three branches. The executive branch is the President, the Legislative branch is comprised of the Senate and the House of Representatives, and Judicial branch is the Supreme Court. Although the president is the head of the most lucrative nation in the world, this does not mean he is then always and automatically the most powerful person on the planet. However, a President’s actions …show more content…
Truman was the 33rd American President who served his terms in office from April 12, 1945 to January 20, 1953. One of the important accomplishments during his presidency was the Truman Doctrine. At the end of WWII, Russia was coercing European countries to fall under its sphere of influence, communism. Before and during the war, the British had been moderating this force, but after WWII Britain’s strength and affluence significantly declined. As a result of this, President Truman decided the US needed to become involved in this affair. According to author Colonel George C. Woolsey, on March 12, 1947, President Truman issued “a Presidential pronouncement declaring immediate economic and military aid to the governments of Greece, threatened by Communist insurrection, and to Turkey, under pressure from Soviet expansion in the Mediterranean area” (Woolsey 2008). Consequently, Congress allocated $400 million to aid the implementation of this doctrine. The Truman Doctrine pledged to support other countries in their struggle to resist communism. The implementation of the Truman Doctrine not only affected 1940s America, it changed the scope of our national foreign policy. As reported by professor Dennis Merrill at the University of Missouri, “The administration 's concern over communism domino effect, its media-sensitive presentation of the doctrine, and its mobilization of U.S. economic and military power to modernize unstable regions, marked the advent of a modern U.S. …show more content…
He not only had to discuss the plan with Congress, he had to convince Americans to support his plan for containment. This process was rather complex and required the help of many people. After analyzing an article published by the Presidential Studies Quarterly by Dennis Merrill, a conclusion can be made that if Congress and the American people did not supply the money or support necessary for the implementation of the doctrine, then Truman would not have been able to save Europe from the invasion of communism. As stated in the article, after Congress supported his plan, Truman needed to “address the larger, global theater”, referring to the citizens of the United States (Merrill 2006). Therefore, due to the our government’s separation of powers and the necessary support of a nation, the president may not be considered solely the most powerful person in the
During harry S. Truman's presidency he was faced with one of the most world altering decisions in the war against japan. The use of atomic weapons would set an example of the united states of america’s military strength,power and knowledge of a very destructive technology. It was necessary for president Truman to drop the atomic bomb on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki for these reasons. American soilders were tired from the four years of fighting and a surrender from Japan was not in sight.. In (Doc L) it says the bomb saved more lives than killed people in the end, President Truman needed to retaliate for their attack on Pearl Harbor and the bomb would just end the war more quicker.
Truman, Eisenhower, and the American Citizen The purpose of this essay is to highlight the similarities and differences of the decisive actions taken by President Harry Truman (1945 to 1953) and President Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953 to 1961) when confronted with two pivotal issues of their administration. Those issues were civil rights for African Americans and the cold war. This essay will also highlight how American citizens responded to the issues during the period from 1945 to 1961.
Concern over security issues FDR and his administration from disclosing some information to Congress. Nevertheless, Congress has the right to be informed as much a possible of the progress of the programs that were established to increase the nation’s military might. FDR went on to say: “New circumstances are constantly be getting new needs for our safety. I shall ask this Congress for greatly increased new appropriations and authorizations to carry on what we have begun. I also ask this Congress for authority and for funds sufficient to manufacture additional munitions and war supplies of many kinds, to be turned over to those nations which are now an actual war with aggressor nations.”
Truman’s Policy of “Containment” was made in March 1947.Truman’s Policy had economic, cultural, and political aspects. The Political aspect of his policy was the Truman Doctrine which said that the United States of America would support free peoples who are resisting subjugation by armed minorities or by outside forces or pressures. The cultural aspect of this doctrine was the freedom and choice government versus totalitarian and no choice government, so pretty much, you never got to choose anything and you were forced to do the things that the Soviet Union wanted you to do. Then lastly the economic aspect of this doctrine was the Marshall Plan which said that it would prevent countries from falling to communists and it would aid the Americans. The Marshall Plan also gave $17 billion to 16 countries(not the soviet union).
The Cold War began during Truman’s presidency, as he came to believe that he had strong ideas to contain the expansion tendencies of the Soviet Union and communism. President Truman was a firm and capable Cold War president. Truman stood up to Vyacheslav Molotov, Stalin's clever foreign minister, over poland early on and decided that he finally had enough of all of Stalin’s “overreacting” in Europe. He also told the Soviets to get out of Iran, stopped stalin from blockading Berlin in 1949 with his airlift, and even threatened Stalin with nuclear obliteration if he did not stop his behavior which was getting out of hand.
This tug of war between Roosevelt representing an interventionist minority and the isolationists in Congress resulted in little effective headway made in either direction until the United States was once again forced into a world war. In President Harry Truman’s speech, The Truman Doctrine, given on the twelfth of March, 1947 before a Joint Session of Congress, Truman voiced, “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.” After World War Two, the United States realized that a lack of involvement and aid for war torn countries allowed communism and totalitarianism to spread. The Soviet Union took control of many Eastern European countries, and this was called the Iron Curtain by Winston Churchill. Unlike in World War One and the beginning of World War Two, Truman had support from more well liked figures such as George F. Kennan and George C. Marshall. Kennan’s idea was based around providing economic and financial aid to struggling countries, and this heavily shaped the plan America would use.
foreign and domestic policies because it scared Americans and caused tension within the country and worldwide, leading to a lack of trust within the country. The second Red Scare, propaganda, Russian growth in power, nuclear tension, and the Hollywood Ten were all parts of the war that damaged American policies. Civilians lost trust between one another and within the government. Communism intimidated many people, and the Cold War made it appear as though it would soon take over the world. However, Truman and Eisenhower made it evident that the United States was fighting for innocent civilians worldwide, but they could not promise a steady government or country while the tension exists with Russia, but the nation is doing what they must(Document C).
Imagine if you lived in a place where you had no freedom, and you were ruled by a man like Joseph Stalin. That is what it would be like in many countries if it weren’t for the United States’ policy of containment. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union wanted to take over other countries and make them have the government system of Communism. The United States didn’t like that, because they thought their governmental system of Democracy was better. As a result, the U.S. adopted a policy of “Containment”.
It should be noted that, from the point of view of some American researchers, it was not the case with Greece and Turkey that was fundamental for the formulation of the Truman Doctrine. Just this case for the first time required the allocation of a fairly large amount of money.
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd president of the United States, being in office from 1945 to 1953. Truman demonstrates uses of both expressed and inherent powers throughout his presidency. During the years of his first administration, Truman attended the Potsdam Conference alongside Churchill and Stalin to discuss post-war matters regarding the decision to split up Germany. Throughout this time period of war filled with tension among nations, Truman approved the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan in efforts to end the war in the Pacific and prevent any possible future casualties that Japan may inflict on the United States. The first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, and the second was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9.
Being the president of the United States comes with the responsibility of making tough decisions that aren’t always perceived as the best, especially when it involves the war. In 1945, President Harry Truman had to make a difficult decision that ultimately gave americans a leg up in the war. President Harry Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb on Japan in WWII is surrounded by much controversy but holds many positive advantages that helped end the war. Presidents Harry Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb posed nearly no significant dilemmas overall.
The idea of containment was that countries tend to jump over to being communist when they are facing an economical crisis, so to prevent the communist idea from spreading we needed to help countries economies. Congress approved Truman’s suggested amount of $17 billion over the course of four years to help out Great Britain, France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Belgium. This strategy for preventing communism did work very well, and was very successful in what the U.S. was trying to do. Even though all of that money and planning did what was needed and did prevent this communist
The most talked about subject and controversial topics in the U.S. was the decision Truman made to drop the Bomb on those Japan cities. One year later there was the start of the Cold war which caused Truman to start the Truman Doctrine, which was to provide aid to Greece and Turkey in an effort to protect them from Communist aggression. In 1948, Truman started an aircraft of food and other supplies to Berlin, and Germany. In the midst of all this he also discovered the new state of Israel.
Additionally, these doctrines were also used for the United States’ benefit because in the Monroe Doctrine, the United States forbade European powers from trying to conquer South American countries; in the Truman Doctrine, the United States tried to contain communism and to stop its spread across Europe. The Monroe Doctrine and the Truman Doctrine were used to help other countries against hostile powers, and at the same time these doctrines helped the United States to become and to remain a world power during the Imperialism and Cold War era. In the 19th
Truman greatly emphasized on the freedom of people for who did not want to join the Soviet Union for the sake of being weak. United States of America offered help to these free people to impose and reinforce democracy in the world. The Truman Doctrine had democracy as the centre part of his policy to bring good and positive changes in the world. The American foreign policy feared totalitarianism to be common and practiced in the world if democracy was not supported therefore more and more emphasis was given to democracy in the Truman Doctrine.