Harry S. Truman: Truman Doctrine

Impact

The Truman Doctrine crystallized the emerging cold war between the United States and Soviet Union, proclaiming that the United States must play a leading role in shaping international politics. In response to British abandonment of its historical imperial role in the Balkans and Middle East, President Truman outlined an aggressive policy in which the United Sates would fulfill the British power vacuum. The Soviet Union, with its expansion into Eastern Europe, however, posed a challenge to American hegemony. To justify America's expanding world role, President Truman employed the Wilsonian language of America's mission to extend the benefits of democracy throughout the world. Democratic governments would ensure a more stable international community and would foster the national security of the United States. While extolling democratic rhetoric, President Truman was also interested in securing American access to international markets and natural resources.

In the short run, the anti-Communist government in Greece prevailed over a Communist insurgency that did not enjoy the Soviet support Truman had suggested. By 1952 both Turkey and Greece had joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Concern regarding the domino threat posed by Soviet expansion into Greece and Turkey was soon extended to other regions, such as Latin America, Africa, and Asia. While American diplomats enunciated the role of economic reconstruction in combating Communism, the implementation of the Truman Doctrine focused upon military aid. Of the $50 billion in aid awarded to more than ninety countries by 1960, only $5 billion was given for nonmilitary purposes. And the cost was even higher in human terms, with more than one hundred thousand Americans dying in the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, while a nuclear holocaust was narrowly avoided during the Cuban missile crisis of October 1962.

In the final analysis, however, supporters of the Truman Doctrine believe that American military assistance to democratic governments around the world stemmed Communist expansion, paving the way for Ronald Reagan's cold war victory with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Critics of American foreign policy during the cold war, nevertheless, side with Henry A. Wallace and insist that the Truman Doctrine resulted in American military assistance to repressive anti-Communist regimes and prepared the ground for the anti-Americanism and “blowback” of the world after the cold war. In addition, those who question the wisdom of Truman's foreign policy often point out that the domestic anti-Communism that accompanied the Truman Doctrine limited dissent and domestic reform during the 1950s. The issues of civil liberties and national security, which often collided during the cold war, continue to challenge Americans in the post-9/11 world. The legacy of the Truman Doctrine is a contested one.