The Truman Doctrine

Harry S. Truman's key method for dealing with Soviet and communistic influences was the policy of containment--the brainchild of Secretary of State George C. Marshall, undersecretary of state Dean Acheson, and Soviet expert George Kennan. Kennan, in an article for Foreign Affairs, wrote that nothing short of "long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies" could stem the tide of the communism across the globe. Truman put words into action with the Truman Doctrine.

One such victim of communist influence was Greece. Since March of 1946, Great Britain had been bolstering Greece's government against a communist insurrection. By the next February, the British government could no longer support Greece, informing the United States of this. Great Britain was also withdrawing financial aid from Turkey, where Soviets were demanding access to the Dardanelles. Citing his domino theory, Acheson said that should Turkey and Greece fall to communism, so too would nations as far east as India. On March 12, 1847, President Truman requested $400 million to aid these two countries to prevent "subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures." This doctrine has often been cited as the beginning of the Cold War.

President Truman and Dean Acheson

Divine, Robert A., T. H. Breen, George M. Fredrickson, and R. Hal Williams. America Past and Present. Revised Sixth Edition, AP* Edition . Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc., 2003. 825-6. Print.

President Truman's Message to Congress; March 12, 1947; Document 171; 80th Congress, 1st Session; Records of the United States House of Representatives; Record Group 233; National Archives.

Newman, John J., and John M. Schmalbach. United States History: Preparing for the Advanced Placement Examination. Revised. New York, NY: Amsco School Publications, Inc., 551-52. Print.

"Pres. Harry S. Truman Talking to Dean Acheson." Web. 28 Apr 2011. <http://imagecache6.allposters.com/LRG/37/3790/OBEIF00Z.jpg>.

Lend-Lease Act

The depressing and disillusioning outcome of World War I, the isolationism of the 1920s, and the struggle of overcoming the worldwide economic depression all led to American resistance to involvement in the Second World War. Franklin D. Roosevelt, the president who helped lead Americans out of the Great Depression, however, disagreed with Congress and the general public and sought to revise previously enacted neutrality legislation by instead allowing cash-and-carry trade with belligerents. As German forces continued beating down on the Allies, Roosevelt gained further ground on the road toward war with such initiatives as the policy of allowing all-out aid to the Allies and the Destroyer Deal. Eventually, the public came to agree with the interventionists--the opponents of isolationists who wanted to help the Allies so as to protect American security. This change of opinion spurred Roosevelt to attempt to truly make American the "arsenal of democracy."

Roosevelt proposed this action January 1941. The act delineated that the United States would lend and lease "defense article[s]" to the "government of any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States." This plan also included an appropriation of $7 billion dollars, effectively eliminating any financial obstacles Great Britain might have faced in accessing the American arsenal. After this piece of legislation, America was just short of entering the war themselves, and the Allies would have to wait until later that year--after the bombing of Pearl Harbor--to receive assistance in combat from the United States.

Divine, Robert A., T. H. Breen, George M. Fredrickson, and R. Hal Williams. America Past and Present. Revised Sixth Edition, AP* Edition . Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc., 2003. 798-9. Print.

Lend Lease Bill, dated January 10, 1941. Records of the U.S. House of Representatives, HR 77A-D13, Record Group 233, National Archives.

"Total Lend-Lease Aid to April 30, 1943." Web. 27 Apr 2011. <http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/ref/LL-AllForOne/img/LL-AllForOne-p5.jpg>.