Preview

How Did The Truman Win The Cold War

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1187 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
How Did The Truman Win The Cold War
The Cold War was a rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States that lasted for about forty-five years. The war began as a distrust between the two nations involving the United States concern of Soviet Union communism spreading and their leader, Joseph Stalin’s, rule. Numerous European and Asian countries were struggling in their fight against Soviet Union communism, including Greece and Turkey. President Harry Truman feared that the fall of Greece and Turkey to communism would lead to the fall of other countries, so he urged Congress to aid the countries with money, known as the Truman Doctrine. In Western Europe, many were faced with shortages of food and medical supplies, so Congress approved the Marshall Plan, in which the U.S. …show more content…
Despite those skeptical of it, the airlift was a victory for Truman. He also supported the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a military alliance with other nations.
In the U.S., Truman faced the accusation of communists working in the government by Joseph McCarthy. Truman created a loyalty program to ensure that no government employees were Soviet spies.
In 1950, he sent troops to aid South Korea after the invasion of North Korea. When China defended North Korea, General Douglas MacArthur threatened to bomb China. Truman fired MacArthur and faced a great deal of criticism. He also faced an amount of American casualties by sending troops to South Korea.
After his presidency, Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected, and Truman eventually died in 1972. Truman was heavily involved in foreign politics, especially during the communist era. He issued the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan as aid to European and Asian countries. He was the head of the Berlin Airlift and was a part of the formation of NATO. He bravely sent troops into South Korea, despite his critics. Truman left a positive impact in the U.S. and played a significant role in the communist

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Roosevelt had always tried for the most peaceful agreements with Stalin and the Soviet Union. When he died and Truman succeeded him, Truman immediately demanded free elections throughout Eastern Europe. Stalin refused. “A freely elected government in any of these Eastern European countries would be anti-Soviet,” he said, “and that we cannot allow.” American ideals demanded free elections in Soviet-occupied Eastern Europe and Stalin wanted absolute military security from Germany and its potential Eastern allies. Stalin believed that only communist states could be trusted and that free elections would lead to independent and hostile governments on western borders. Stalin became determined to spread communism throughout Europe and the world. Truman then went on to try to contain communism to areas occupied by the Red Army. Stalin then created soviet style dictatorships throughout Eastern Europe and blocked Berlin from Germany. The United States supported Berlin by dropping food from flyovers and the Soviets finally backed down after about a year. The United States then formed NATO as an anti-Soviet military alliance. Then communism took over China leading to back and forth bloody contests in Korea between the north and south.…

    • 2911 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Truman won by a 49% to 45% margin and in his surprising victory decided to create a change when he became president. He modified the prior “New Deal” with his version of the “Fair Deal.” He created more public housing, increased minimum wage, encouraged and helped spread education, protection against natural civil rights, and created national health insurance. Sadly, all this really did was unintentionally create tension that eventually started the Cold War. During this time though, Chinese Communists had managed to take control of the mainland and the Soviet Union managed to create their own nuclear bombs.…

    • 787 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Harry S. Truman had to make some of the most difficult choices that any president has ever had to make. He was president from April 12, 1945 to January 20, 1953, he took over just before World War 2 ended, went through the Korean war, and went through part of the Cold war. When Truman took office Franklin D. Roosevelt died about three months after and close to the same time he had to make the choice of dropping the atomic bombs on Japan to end the war. Which to date are the only atomic bombs used in war. Truman had one of the hardest presidencies out of all of them because of all the decisions he had to make that have not been topped.…

    • 267 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Indeed, Truman was the initiator of the “containment” policy, applied during the entire Cold War. His main actions were the German airlift, Korean War, the creation of the NATO and the creation of NSC-68 (which recommended increasing the military budget three-fold). Then, Eisenhower greatly expanded this policy. More than containment, Eisenhower’s Secretary of State John Foster Dulles wanted to “rollback” the communist extension. He also increased the tensions of the arm race with his “massive retaliation” policy, leading to “brinkmanship”. Its consequence is the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 . To contain communism more effectively, he signed defensive treaties with Australia and New Zealand in 1951 and created the South East-Asia Treaty Organization in 1954. Nevertheless, calmer relations seemed to begin between Eisenhower and Khrushchev: the Russian leader visited the American president in 1959. Eisenhower’s visit to Russia was cancelled after the U-2 crisis. They had similar policies in Vietnam: supported the French with financial aid, but it wasn’t…

    • 438 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1950 the United States entered a new type of conflict. Fearing the influence of Communism was spreading out of control following the end of World War II the United States determined to follow a policy of containment. The United States felt it was important to limit communism to the areas that it had already affected and not allow it to spread. When North Korea with the approval of the Soviet Union invaded South Korea to reunite the country under Communism the United Nations decided to step in with the United States acting as the major contributor of military force. President Truman did not ask for a declaration of war from Congress, only the authority to intervene and limit the spread of Communism.…

    • 279 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Harry Truman Dbq

    • 221 Words
    • 1 Page

    When Harry Truman found out that Franklin Roosevelt passed away he reports that “Boys, if you ever pray, pray for me now. Truman didn’t want it to be president. Through Roosevelt war strategy and secrets Truman stepped in made the decisions that led the U.S. to war with Japan by dropping the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki that saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of U.S. soldiers and was the only way to end the war quickly. Harry Truman was born May 8, 1884 in Lamar, Missouri. Truman was the President of the United States for not 8 years after Franklin Roosevelt passed away. In World War I, he served in combat in France as an artillery officer in the National Guard. After the war, he moved back to Kansas City in which he owned…

    • 221 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Numerous people know Harry Truman as being the 33rd president of the United states. Much more should be known about Harry Truman than just the presidency, he is also the man who had Japan surrender after the hard decision after dropping the most damaging and deadly weapon, the Atomic Bombs. A little more about Truman is that when he was young he worked on his family farm for seven years before serving in the army during World War I. After the war he returned home to work in a haberdashery store and when it failed he turned to politics as a Democrat. He was elected president after Franklin D Roosevelt’s death. After election all the country's problems suddenly became his responsibility "I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had…

    • 185 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Truman Vs Framer

    • 294 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Truman was forced to choose between fighting Communism and faithfully executing the Constitution. He should have used the war power of the presidency set by the Framers in order to achieve both goals but he did not and as a result he was forced to face the consequences of his actions.…

    • 294 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    At this time he didn’t know the effect this would have on him later in life. With this man and many other friends help he would one day become the 33rd president of the United States. The war brought out very important qualities in Truman.…

    • 632 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The research shows that Harry S. Truman was the best president because he was very confident with his decisions. For example, he did not appeal to congress to drop two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.Which ultimately caused the surrender of Japan. After all he had seen and done, he ran for a second term and was elected by the…

    • 606 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    (Palmieri 2012 p.23) Harry S. Truman was one of few presidents that seemed to stay as honest and humble as possible. He made many advancements as well as mistakes, such as any individual. Ultimately, Harry did more positive than negative towards the country and we continue to grow from some of his examples.…

    • 865 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Presidents of the United States of America have a very demanding profession while in office, one that requires them to constantly make difficult decisions that often affect hundreds of millions of people. These decisions become even more plentiful and complicated when the U.S. is fighting a war. President Harry S. Truman was one such unlucky individual who had to step up and be the man to make the hard choices on what the U.S. was to do in the bloodiest war in history, World War II. He only held that position for the last six months of the war, but he had the toughest moral decision presented to any world leader during the entirety of the war. He had to decide whether or not to use a new and immensely powerful weapon to quickly put an end…

    • 1319 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Harry S. Truman played a major role in history. He took reign as President after Franklin D. Roosevelt passed. The U.S was in a World War and a crucial decision was to be made by President Truman, one that could change history. To bomb or not to bomb. During this momentous time in the war, I believe President Truman did indeed do the right thing by bombing Japan.…

    • 368 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The UN Security Council called upon its members to help South Korea defeat these invading forces and Truman ordered US military forces into South Korea to create a defensive line. The goal was to drive the North Korean army out of South Korea but also to destroy communism in North Korea. Mid 1951 the UN forces finally pushed North Korean and the Chinese forces that join them back across the 38th parallel line and this is when peace talks…

    • 547 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Harry S. Truman, a president who witnessed and was part of some of the most memorable events in U.S history, is said to have had a reputation of being an honest and efficient man. Truman was short with thick glasses. He was not intimidating in his looks, but he was a shrewd politician and had a reputation…

    • 1071 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays