Truman Doctrine Dbq

The Cold War caused people to question the United States’ government’s reliability and strength, which negatively affected America’s domestic affairs and foreign policies. Citizens lost respect and trust in the government and other civilians, due to several threats within the country and worldwide. People were left questioning their rights and safety due to the second Red Scare, which threatened the coming of power of communism within America. Various forms of propaganda advertised fears, causing panic to spread throughout the country. Russia’s gain of power throughout Eurasia showed off the USSR’s strength and abilities, threatening the Western Powers. The arms race caused tensions between the U.S. and USSR, bringing them closer to the brink

President Reagan was concerned about the financial stability of the United States and the people that occupied it. In 1981, the debt incurred by the public reached 25.2 percent of the gross domestic product.1 He wanted to eliminate excessive spending in government programs and the debt of American citizens. President Reagan stated, “All of us need to be reminded that the Federal government did not create the states, the states created the Federal government.”2 No president,

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

President Dwight Eisenhower was a decorated war veteran in world war 2 before he became

President Dwight Eisenhower is probably one of the least understood and the most criticized American president. Eisenhower critics changed their negative view of his presidency years later when they understood Eisenhower’s principles and what he stood for. President Eisenhower’s military and political career emerges as critics and historians continued to evaluate his presidency. The major theme is the criticism of Eisenhower’s presidency and the revision of that criticism. These criticisms were base on foreign policy issues, social welfare legislation, and Eisenhower’s principles and philosophy that help him to remain neutral. The foreign affair was probably President Eisenhower’s administration most important goal. Eisenhower presidency coincided with Cold War era that saw heightened aggression from the Soviet Union and China. Eisenhower used his foreign policy to contain the communist powers such as Soviet Union, Cuba, and China that had managed to split the world into two spheres- Capitalists and Communist. Eisenhower staffed the State Department and foreign embassies with new men that he believed would enhance the foreign policy. He implemented the social welfare legislation that the Democratic governments initiated in 1930’s and

They both used the policy of containment. Eisenhower created a theory called the “Domino Theory.” The “Domino Theory” was a theory that stated that if one country became communist then their neighboring country would become communist too (Ayers 950). It was made for awareness to prevent communism. The strongest Military efforts included brinkmanship and massive retaliation. John Foster Dulles, which is Eisenhower’s secretary of state believed in brinkmanship which was the idea of threatening war, but not taking action (Ayers 850). This is how Eisenhower and John Foster Dulles used to settle conflicts.

“Why and in what ways did the United States change its foreign policy from 1918-1953?”

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.

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”. Stopping the spread of Communism through military and nonmilitary ways.

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).

Harry S. Truman, the 33rd president of the United States. He was born on May 8, 1884 in Lamar, Missouri. Truman was best know for dropping the atomic bomb on Japan that ended world war 2. He did this to save American lives. When franklin Roosevelt was president he barely even seen roosevelt or knew him.

It was Western Europe that was fundamentally important for US national security. The United Kingdom and a number of other European countries have taken active foreign policy steps to intensify US European policy. Europe needed economic assistance and military support. However, such a policy of Europe found understanding within the United States, which resulted in the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan, according to many researchers, is a practical embodiment of the Truman Doctrine. Due to limited resources, interference in other regions, even if covered by the Truman Doctrine, was considered undesirable because China and Palestine were less important than the restoration of Europe. In addition, at this time, the Truman Administration is moving away from the doctrine of containing communism and moving on to a strategy of containing the Soviet Union. This was also part of the strategy in

He, however, took more of a military approach, as he was an Army general before he ran for president. For example, he too used Economic Aid, Military Aid, and Military Use, however, he also used Brinkmanship, Massive Retaliation, and he believed in the domino theory. He used Economic Aid by assisting any nation in the middle east that needs it economically, to dedicate it to national independency. He used Military Aid in a similar way that he used Economic aid, and that was to assist any nation that could need help militarily. However, his Military Use was a little different. He wanted to secure and protect territorial areas that are threatened by communist territories. Most of the time, that included massive retaliation or brinkmanship. Brinkmanship is when they would scare people into doing what we want, and massive retaliation is if someone does something to us, we do something back to them, but bigger than what they did. After Eisenhower, came

He urged citizens to be vigilant so that its power would not be abused by the authorities. During his term, Eisenhower considered the MIC was imperative in order to deter the Soviet Union from becoming more aggressive. He thought that MIC growth was needed to counter the Soviet Union’s nuclear weapon devices, but it confounded him towards the end of his term. Eisenhower powerfully warned the Americans against extravagant military spending in the name of war. He feared and conveyed his disappointments that some officials were taking advantage of the whole situation and were purposely prolonging the fighting for reasons of profit. Even though he expressed his dissatisfaction towards the overbearing cost of nuclear weapons, he made a blissful announcement that war has been avoided. He also stated that a well-balanced progress toward his ultimate goal has been made, but warned the Americans to be watchful and productive against the fight of communism and worldwide major problems for the betterment of the country as a

Marshall Aid contributed to the deteriorating relations between the two super powers after 1945. The USSR questioned American motives to provide aid to European countries and declared it as expansionist. In Truman’s address to the joint session of Congress 1947 he stated that he “believe(d) that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting” he then follows on to say “The peoples of a number of countries of the world have recently had totalitarian regimes forced upon them… the coercion and intimidation, in violation of the Yalta agreement in Poland, Rumania and Bulgaria” . Mentioning the new soviet satellite states was directly attacking the Soviet Union and Stalin. In this speech Truman is trying to sell the Truman Doctrine to Congress emphasising the need to adopt a policy of containment, in order to address a significant issue at the time – the fear of communism. Seeking approval for Marshall Aid from Congress, his agenda was to persuade congress to follow the containment ideology as well as to take the USA out of isolation. We can also see the increase of tensions through the Soviet reaction. Malenkov, a member of the Soviet Politburo, condemned the Truman Doctrine at a meeting of the Cominform on the 22nd of September 1947. He stated, “It has chosen the path of hatching new war plans against the Soviet Union and the new