Truman's Problems With The Un

With the end of WWII, the US left behind its history of isolationism and switched to a policy of engagement, quickly becoming a global social player. One of the first things to happen after the war was the creation of the United Nations (UN) in 1945. The resulting United Nations Charter has 110 articles, with the goal of creating a worldwide organization to halt future world wars. True power within the UN is found on the Security Council, which has five permanent members who are granted total veto power on any UN resolutions. The US is one of these five members, with the others being Russia, Taiwan (now China), France, and the United Kingdom. The problems with the UN quickly became obvious, as Russia and the US had different views and generally
It was essentially a blueprint for future US foreign policy decisions. Truman explained that it was the US’s duty to pick up and help rebuild the pieces of a fractured world. He pledged to defend any democratic country that was being attacked by outside forces. He specifically named Greece, who was then struggling against communist forces and Turkey, who desperately needed financial assistance. Truman also referenced Russia, though not by name, and accused them of violating the Yalta Agreement in several European countries. Truman mentioned the recently created UN several time in his speech and essentially noted that it was already broken. If the UN worked the way it was supposed to, US intervention in Turkey and Greece would have been unnecessary. This ineffectiveness can be seen elsewhere, most clearly in the many treaties that the US signed after its creation. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is one of the first examples of this kind of treaty. It was signed by the US and various European nations. The treaty was an effort to contain as well as thwart Soviet aggression against these European nations. Another treaty was the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization. It was signed by the US and other nations including France, the Philippines, and Pakistan. The signers agreed to defend any nation within the treaty that was
It was called the X article because he released it anonymously. The X article was essentially the same ideas presented in his telegram, but able to reach a much larger audience. During the same year, the National Security Act was enacted, and led to the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency. It also led to a reorganization of the military, which created the Department of Defense. This was all a part of the effort to contain communism. The National Security Act better prepared the US both militarily and politically to pursue its policy of containing