Harry S. Truman: Truman Doctrine

Audience

President Truman's speech before Congress on March 12, 1947, extolling what would become known as the Truman Doctrine was intended to convince the American people and their representatives that the Soviet Union and spread of Communism constituted a threat to world freedom, international stability, and the national security of the United States. The speech was generally embraced by the nation's newspapers, and Congress approved the president's authorization of $400 million in financial and military assistance to the nations of Greece and Turkey. The Senate passed the measure by a vote of 69 to 23 on April 22, 1947, and the House followed on May 8 by a margin of 287 to 107. President Truman signed the legislation on May 22.

The Truman Doctrine was not without its domestic critics, however. One of the more vocal opponents was former Vice President Henry A. Wallace, who had been dismissed by Truman as secretary of commerce in September 1946 for his criticism of the president's handling of relations with the Soviet Union. Wallace berated Truman for betraying American's democratic foreign policy traditions. According to Wallace, Truman was placing the United States as the defender of the status quo against the forces of global progress and change. The United States would become the champion of repressive regimes that could secure American support by stressing their anti-Communist credentials. Wallace concluded that Truman was offering the world military hardware instead of economic development, which was needed to restore international peace and stability. Such domestic dissent was increasingly silenced in the early 1950s, when the extreme anti-Communism of Joseph McCarthy dominated American politics.

Internationally, President Truman called upon the world to join a global crusade under American leadership against the Soviet Union. In response, the Soviet representative Andrei Vyshinsky, speaking at the United Nations on September 18, 1947, asserted that the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan were examples of how the United States was ignoring the United Nations and attempting to exert economic and political dominion over European nations. The Soviets perceived the Truman Doctrine as a virtual declaration of war, implementing the containment strategy of George Kennan, who believed that the United States must regard the Soviets as rivals and not partners in the international arena. The ensuing cold war dominated international politics for the next forty years.