Preview

Keosha

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
339 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Keosha
If one were to discuss life after the Second World War, if they were not a historian would perhaps not talk much about Harry S. Truman as a major factor. Truman is ranked seventh among forty one presidents ranging from Washington to Clinton . Truman succeeded Roosevelt, after his death, and the day after his inauguration said "I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me.  After making the decision to end World War II by dropping to atomic bombs on Japan, Truman entered a period of time that he would not even out last. Historians debate on whether or not Truman entered the United States into the Cold War or not. These next few pages will outline Truman's presidency beginning and focusing mainly on the "Truman Doctrine  and its effects on foreign policy after 1947. To begin to talk about life after the end of War World II without discussing the war in detail may due it some injustice, but after all it is only a fifteen page paper.

The war ended and the world was thrown into new territory, there were essentially two superpowers left in the world. Great Britain, France and Germany were all decimated either financially and/or physically, leaving only the United States and Russia to duel out for total supremacy. Harry Truman viewed this bipolar world as a benefit as long as the Untied States and the Soviet Union could remain buffered by friendly countries. Even before the Truman Doctrine was introduced to the joint congress, some of Truman's memoirs indicate that he saw Russia as a force to contain and be watched at all times . Harry Truman perpetuated the feeling that communism was evil, and something that had to be nipped in the bud. Truman was not diabolically opposed to the U.S.S.R. being communist, but at the same time he wanted to make sure that communism did not threaten the United States and its borders. This and a loyalty to war and peace time allies

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    - President Truman wanted to stop the spread of communism in the East. He fought a war against North Korea and China to keep communism away from South Korea. He wanted to end the fighting once they had cleared Chinese troops from Korea.…

    • 409 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The main idea of this article is simply telling a kind of behind the scenes story of Harry Truman. The article makes it a point for the reader to see the types of decisions he was making and what Truman felt about the decisions. The author also attempts to display Truman's true thoughts on events such as demobilizing the American army after World War 2. It is interesting to know a president and what he was capable of but it becomes more interesting when you know the presidents true feelings and the fact that in the beginning he really didn't even want to be president.…

    • 285 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Harry Truman was a president who volunteered in WW1. Harry Truman was born in Missouri on May 8, 1884. He was commonly known for the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan, which caused many casualties with lives being lost on both sides such as in Japan and the U.S., however this ended the war even faster and ended the conflict with the pacific. In this paper I will argue that Harry Truman was wrong for dropping the atomic bomb on Japan; several reasons why it was wrong for Harry Truman to drop the atomic bomb was Russia got the idea of making nuclear weapons, Japan’s resources were already being wiped out and the amount of civilian casualties Japan had due to the bomb and radiation.…

    • 322 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    World War was nearing the end when Truman stepped into presidency. The Truman Administration was clearly looking for a way to end the war at the lowest possible cost of American lives. The suggestion of dropping atomic bombs over Japan had surfaced, and with it came a huge dilemma. After much deliberation, the time came when Truman ordered the Americans to drop an atomic bomb over Hiroshima. It all becomes quite clear that atomic bombings of Japan cannot be justified. They can be viewed as an inhumane acts that were aimed at American revenge and retaliation against the Japanese. The decision made by Truman in 1945…

    • 941 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    The weapons the nations possess have only become more impressive and powerful, but nonetheless, no event has come close to anything like another World War. The reasons behind this actuality could be too numerous to count, but every event that took place played a part. Including the massive demolition of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Having experienced both World Wars and the sorrow that came with them, Truman knew he had to use awful tools of eradication to end the more awful event called war. He knew a generation’s peace should be treasured like no other possession, and observing that no enormous war had erupted as a result of the history he influenced, he should be content to keep his judgements as they…

    • 1319 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    President Harry Truman declared 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” (McClenaghan 486). Truman requested $400 million from Congress to protect both Greece and Turkey from communism (“Truman Doctrine Is”). I think the Truman Doctrine was an intelligent decision the Soviet Union was the center of all communist activity and nations needed to be protected from communist aggression. Two major confrontations between the United States and the Soviet Union were the Berlin blockade and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Berlin blockade was an attempt in 1948 made by the Soviets to limit the ability of France, Great Britain, and the United States to access their sectors of Berlin.…

    • 1896 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Truman Doctrine was to all intents and purposes avowal of the Cold War. Truman's lecture outlined the expansive constraint of U.S. Cold War distant policy, the Soviet Union, in which was the hub of all socialist commotion and engagements all over the world. Marxism could attack in the course of exterior incursion or domestic treason and the United States needed to endow with forces and monetary backing to defend nations from collectivist hostility. Not everyone grip Truman's reason. A number of natives recognized that the rebellion in Greece was supported not by the Soviet Union, nevertheless by Yugoslavia's Tito, who broke with the Soviet communists within a year.…

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After World War 2 the United States moved from an isolationist policy to a policy of engagement. The United States of realize that in order to prevent the expansion of Communism it would need to have a more active engagement. Potsdam would be the final time that Stalin and Truman would cooperate for a long time. The struggle between these two superpowers that believe their own economic and political systems were superior to the others would become known as the Cold War, a decade-long struggle for technological and ideological Supremacy.…

    • 547 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The mutual suspicion and dislike between the Soviet Union and the United States of America was the most important factor in the Cold War because it created distrust and continuous skepticism between the two world powers and their contrasting beliefs. For instance, when the Allies planned to beat the Axis in World War 2, the Soviet Union fought extremely hard along the Eastern Front, while the US and Great Britain were supposed to be landing in France, during the D-Day attack. But, this attack didn’t take place until almost two years after the Soviet Union had won the Eastern Front. This made Stalin and his troops very suspicious of the US, which continued until after the war. Stalin felt that Churchill and Roosevelt were teaming up on him, and weren’t going to do their part in ending the war.…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    After WWII the main country that the United States had to be watchful of was the Soviet Union. If President Truman did not implement the containment policy the Soviet Union could have spread all over Europe. The U.S .knew that they could not trust the Soviet Union. We can see this today with the events unfolding in Ukraine. This containment policy was criticized by the press but it was needed. Although it caused a lot of weapons being developed on both sides and stockpiles as well it caused a boomtown in defense businesses. Since this time in history we have seen time and time again that Soviet Union will try to arise and take over a country and the Unites States and Europe have to stand up against the Russians.…

    • 358 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The end of World War II marked an important time in American history – once again, America had proven its military and economic prowess. In the years following 1944, much change was instituted regarding both foreign and domestic affairs. 1949 was a turning point in American domestic and foreign policies to the extent that it supplemented and amplified developments that had already been put in place. Many of these developments were the results of the Cold War or World War II, however 1949 marks when these policies and political ideals were further developed.…

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Conformity in the 1950s

    • 411 Words
    • 2 Pages

    When WWII ended, Americans were left in the hands of Harry Truman. Known as an aggressive Cold War fighter, he led Americans against the rise of Communism. Spurred by McCarthyism, he initially began to discharge suspected Communists within the government. Due to fear of being blacklisted, Eisenhower, the proceeding president, was reluctant to confront McCarthy. The Red Scare of the 1950s was thriving and the presidents waged war against foreign Communist powers in order not to be accused of being sympathetic towards the opposition. They conformed to public opinion and shaped politics in America into a Cold War.…

    • 411 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Truman’s Pragmatism could be seen as being worse than FDR’S approach to World War 2 due to the short sightedness of his actions and ineffectiveness in achieving the greater success.Truman’s Pragmatism, which had made sense at the time has long proven to have been a huge demerit in the long run. After the untimely death of FDR, it was left to Truman to finish the war, it was only a month later that Germany would surrender and America’s focus would turn to the Pacific. Where in 1945 Japan on its last legs, having lost most its navy and air force and its air defenses basically did not exist, was hesitant to accept the unconditional surrender purposed by Truman as it provided no assurances for Emperor Hirohito. It was Under Secretary of the Navy…

    • 389 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    With a goal of containing communism (prevent communism from spreading more than it already has), Truman created the Truman Doctrine as a symbol of supporting other countries who face the threat of falling into communism and under the Soviets control (Haner). As a solution of halting communism, the United States and its allies formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a military reliance to face the threats from the Soviets in Europe. Shortly after the allies formed NATO and the death of Roosevelt, problems emerged between North and South Korea. The two dominant powers (U.S. & Soviets) came to a mutual agreement which divided Korea along the 38th parallel for the surrendering of the Japanese. The Soviets would obtain the North while the United States had the South. When North Korea decided to invade the South, Truman and the United Nations stepped in to protect the South from a communist invasion. After a battle of tug of war, following the involvement of the United States advancing North, China with their leader Mao Zedong pushing the U.S. back South. As a result of the Korean War, was the DMZ (demilitarized zone) where any anything related military activities, weapons, and influence was forbidden (Haner). In response to NATO, the Soviets and its Eastern European nations alliance created the Warsaw Pact…

    • 616 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In addition, communism was seen a threat to the freedoms capitalism represented. To prevent the possible worldwide expansion, the US favoured a policy of containment which was actively trying to stop communism. One way was to be firm with the Soviet Union. Truman himself was hostile and had a hard-line approach. Truman's firmness with the USSR could be understandable, considering he was thrown into a position he was not ready for, he had pressure from anti-communist groups, and the US did not want to repeat Britain's mistake of appeasing Hitler. But there is no excuse for Truman's utter disrespect: Molotov, the Soviet Foreign Minister, said of Truman's swearing that he had never been spoken to in…

    • 545 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics