Truman Doctrine Flashcards
1
Q
trumans speech
A
- 12 march 1947
- put forward the belief that the US had the obligation to ‘support the free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressure’
2
Q
what did the policy entail?
A
- isolationist foreign policy
- presesve democracy over communism to avoid potential communist takeover over a strategically important european country
- affected by iron curtains expansionist threat views
- marked a departure from US traditional isolationist policy to begining of containment policy
- kennans policy of containment adopted
3
Q
origns
A
new doctrine in response to unstable situations in turkey and greece
4
Q
greece and turkey situation
A
- communist guerillas in greek country side; british cant offer assistance to greek government due to own post-war issues (communist ciil war battling royalist regime)
- communst countries like Bulgaria and Yugoslavia helping communists
- Greece and Turkey seen as vunerable to soviet expansion; gives USSR access to meditteran
- so US has to help; confonrtation and containment
- beginigng of domino theory; truman afraid other countries would fall to communism as well
5
Q
soviet reaction
A
-USSR sees this as evidence that the US want to expand their sphere of influence; dont recognize any legitimacy of american invovlement in europe
-
6
Q
walter lafeber
A
’ DOCTRINE became an ideological shield behind which the US marched to rebuild the Western political and economic system and counder the radical elft”
“any threat to western system= communist inspired”
7
Q
events/incidents where the truman doctrine was applied
A
-greece
-turkey
-korea
-vietnam
-germany
-nuclear arms race
-
8
Q
successes?
A
- succesful in short term; but sowed the seeds of a policy that would imply that US had unlimited responsibilites to assist all those allgedly resisting a challenge to the american way of life
- motivates US intervention
- more significant in US than USSR
