Physics

Sam Preusser
Mr. Staude
U.S. History
25 April 2013
Truman Doctrine VS. Marshall Plan The years after the war brought times of disagreement and argument. The United States worked at this time to contain and control the spread of communism. During the years of WWII and the Cold War this idea was prominent and an issue America thought must be solved. Their were two strong attempts to fight communism. These attempts were the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. These ideas go hand in hand making them "two halves of the same walnut." In 1946, Greek communist broke out into war wight the Greek government. On March 12, 1947, Truman gave a speech to congress discussing the events taking place overseas. Truman wanted to aid the Greek government as well as Turkey for they were informed that they would not be receiving Britain's military aid anymore. He was granted $400 million to fight communism in Greece and Turkey. This became known as the Truman Doctrine and was especially influential because it showed the United States would fight the spread of communism worldwide. Before the war, the United States policy was to stay out of foreign affairs. "The Truman Doctrine effectively reoriented U.S. foreign policy, away from its usual stance of withdrawal from regional conflicts not directly involving the United States, to one of possible intervention in far away conflicts." (Office of the Historian). The goal of the Truman Doctrine was to intervene to support any nation that was being taken over by another country. Although the Soviet Union was not directly mentioned by name it was directed towards them saying that the United States were behind any country and support them with military aid so they would not fall into the Soviets way of communism. The Truman Doctrine was a great attempt at stopping the spread of communism. The Marshall Plan together with the Truman Doctrine created an even bigger push in weakening the appeal of communism. The Marshall Plan was the second half of the same walnut with the Truman Doctrine. The Marshall Plan, However took a different approach at containing communism. Postwar Western Europe faced some serious economic and political issues. "Secretary of State George C. Marshall proposed the European Recovery Program, or Marshall Plan, which would give European nations American aid to rebuild their economies" (Appleby, Brinkley, Broussard, McPherson, and Ritchie 768). Because the Truman Doctrine made it clear that the United States were engaging in foreign affairs, the Marshall Plan's main goal was to rebuild the damages from the war in Europe. As a result of the rebuilding, The Marshall Plan weakened the appeal of communism because of the recovery of Western Europe. It also opened up new trade opportunities and market. Not only did both of these plans help contain communism but America. Benefitted especially from the Marshall Plan. "The aid also produced record levels of trade with American firms, fueling a postwar economic boom in the United States" (Containment and the Marshall Plan). America was working to end communism and in return were benefitting from their foreign intervention. The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan both marked a beginning of a new era for the United States. The U.S. has given up on the idea of staying out of foreign issues and have now taken the role as the "worldly police officers". By aiding other countries and working towards peace both of these plans worked together and focused on containing and weakening communism overseas. At the time, both plans were effective but may not be seen as effective today.