TRUMAN DOCTRINE

Truman Doctrine

In February of 1947 England informed the United States that it was ceasing foreign aid to Greece and Turkey , which had the potential repercussions of allowing communist insurgents to take over the two impoverished countries to fill the vacuum . The United States felt that it had to fill the void created by England 's withdrawal or see the two nations fall to the communists . It was then that Secretary of State Dean Acheson articulated what would later become known as the domino theory (TrumanLibrary .Org n .d . President Harry Truman

then went to congress and requested 400 million in military and economic assistance to the two nations and establishing what would become known as The Truman Doctrine . It said , 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 (ibid . The formal nature of this announcement heralded a new era of post war confrontation with the eastern bloc nations and gave rise to the term Cold War

Over the next twenty years the U .S . poured over 4 billion into Greece For that that money they created virtually a vassal state , ruling Greece as Britain had done in the 19th century and building the Greek intelligence agency into an arm of the American CIA (Barnet 1968

The Truman Library site is a quasi-governmental website designed to proactively support all of the works of the former president . While informative , it should perhaps be taken for gospel only on such incontrovertible information as dates of speeches , etc . The second site is designed to promote a book which Richard Barnet wishes to sell , and thus should not necessarily be taken at face value until his bona fides is more closely examined . However , it does present a more logical reason for the Truman Doctrine 's implementation than altruism , saying that oil was at the heart of American aims in the region (ibid , just as it so obviously is today References

Barnet , R . 1968 Intervention and Revolution : The United States in the

Third World Retrieved 4-7-08 from : HYPERLINK "http /www .thirdworldtraveler .com /InseekCW_IAR .html http /www .thirdworldtraveler .com /InsekCW_IAR .html

TrumanLibrary .Org Student Activity : Harry Truman and the Truman

Doctrine Retrieved 4-06 from : HYPERLINK "http /www .trumanlibrary .org /teacher /doctrine .htm http /www .trumanlibrary .org /teacher /doctrine .htm

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