Truman Administration's Role In American Foreign Policy During The Cold War

World War II saw the formation of an alliance between the United States and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) that would be instrumental in the defeat of Nazi Germany. This alliance, however, was not maintained following the Allied victory. Decisions by the Truman administration, both driven by initiative and in response to actions by the Soviet Union, played a role in worsening relations between the two lands into the standoff that would ultimately be the Cold War. Indeed, American foreign policy under President Truman was centered around containment, which was in part achieved through assuring the strength of European countries devastated by World War II. In the name of limiting Soviet geopolitical influence, President Truman structured
Tensions sparked shortly after victory in the European theater of World War II surrounding the governance of Germany. Upon Germany’s unconditional surrender, the country was divided into zones of occupation managed by the United States, Soviet Union, Britain, and France. Their governance was to, nominally, be in accordance with the standards set in the Potsdam conference, whereby despite occupational divisions all of Germany was to be treated as a single economic unit, and arranged for reparations by exchanging capital equipment from western zones for raw material from eastern occupied zones. This system of exchange was tarnished when, on June 24th, 1948, the Soviets launched the Berlin Blockade, which cut off Western Allies’ road and railway access to the sections of Berlin under Soviet control. In response, the Western Allies orchestrated the Berlin Airlift, dropping supplies into the city for Berliners; included in this was the United States’ Operation Little Vittles, where three tons of candy were dropped into the city. Despite Soviet claims that such feats would be impossible, frequent drops were made over Berlin, providing a total of almost 9,000 tons of necessities