on march 12 1947 president harry s
truman gave a speech that would mark the
beginning of the Cold War a period of
tension between democratic powers in the
Western bloc and the powers in the
communist Eastern Bloc that would last
more than forty years
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let's take a look at what gave rise to
this directive Truman's famous speech
and the lasting impact of his doctrine
immediately following World War two
tensions between the west and the USSR
were already on the rise recovering
European countries were in political
crisis with large factions within them
supporting their nations communist
political parties the Soviet Union
supported these communist factions
desiring to expand their influence in
Europe but the United States along with
its wartime allies wanted countries to
set up governments committed to free
market economies and supportive of
democratic governments American and
British political leaders believed that
nations with constitutional
self-government would foster economic
prosperity and deliver them reliable
allies in trade Commerce and war this
was on the mind of Winston Churchill the
former Prime Minister of the United
Kingdom when he gave his iron curtain
speech in Fulton Missouri in 1946 in it
he condemned the Soviet Union's
oppressive power in the east
however the lines between communism and
democracies were not always clear-cut in
1947 tensions in the Mediterranean made
that clear
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Greece was engaged in a brutal civil war
between a nationalist Greek army
supported by the United States and a
communist militia fighting for a new
democratic government this internal
conflict made it vulnerable to the
political influence of other countries
the u.s. feared that the Soviet Union
would step in and support the Communist
war effort in Greece ultimately
influencing Greek policy
meanwhile the USSR had been trying to
expand influence in other parts of the
Mediterranean putting a lot of pressure
on Turkey in particularly C at the time
the Soviets wanted to drill for oil in
Iran but to get that oil out of Iran
they had to use Turkish waters so the
Soviet government pressured Iran into
granting them oil concessions right near
the Turkish border while trying to get
Turkey to grant them a military base and
transit rights through the Turkish
straits the united states government
didn't want the soviet union to control
the Turkish straits which offered both
military and economic advantages for
this reason the US and its allies sought
an anti-communist turkey American
diplomats concluded from Russian
interest in Turkey that the Soviet Union
was also supporting communists in Greece
just west of Turkey nonetheless American
diplomats feared a domino effect either
from a communist victory in Greece or a
Turkish concession to Soviet interests
in the Straits so when Truman addressed
Congress on the crisis in the
Mediterranean on March 12 1947 he
described a solid communist threat
across the entire region
Truman's speech called for immediate
military and economic aid 400 million
dollars to Turkey and Greece 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 he
was careful not to explicitly mention
the USSR but the warning against the
Soviets was clearly implied to convince
the American public to support such a
broad commitment to the fight
in ISM Republican senator Arthur
Vandenberg urged the president to
overstate the crisis and scare the hell
out of the American people
this not only marked the definitive move
against the Soviet Union it was also a
shift in US foreign policy for the first
time the United States became
financially involved in countries
outside of the Western Hemisphere as the
first definitive Cold War speech the
Truman Doctrine served as a prelude to
the Marshall Plan which would extend aid
to all of Western Europe the doctrine
emphasized the virtues of a free market
economy and the defense of the Western
world against communism it also
established an interventionist trend
setting the precedent for American
involvement in both the Korean and
Vietnam wars Truman's speech marked the
beginning of the Cold War the start of a
struggle for global dominance that would
ripple throughout the 20th century
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