Harry S Truman's Foreign Policy and its Affect on the Spread of Communism

Many presidents face international problems that challenge our nation and yet they manage to steer our country in the right direction. No president has done this better than Harry S. Truman. He became president after Franklin Roosevelt died and was triumphant in winning the war and bringing peace to the world. Truman was able to successfully win the war and bring peace to the world. After the war, the totalitarian and communist government of the Soviet Union began a long process of spreading communism and setting up satellite governments throughout the world. Harry S. Truman created and maintained successful a foreign policy that managed to prevent the spread of communism throughout the world.

Immediately after the end of World War II, Truman presented the Truman Doctrine in order to help in the fight against communism and the Soviet Union. This document was the first of the United States' many attempts to contain the outbreak of communism in Eastern Europe. The Truman Doctrine was created in 1947 to help the Greek and Turkish governments fight Soviet backed rebels who were fighting for control of the countries. (Burnes 175) Truman hoped that Greece and Turkey would not fall under communist control and communism in Western Europe would come to an end by giving $400 million dollars in military and economic aid to these governments. The United States sent money since they did not want to send troops over to Turkey and Greece and risk starting an all out war with the Soviet Union. The Truman Doctrine also gave money to other countries, such as Italy and France, which had communist movements threatening to destroy their existing government. (Spalding 87) This helped to aid Greece in the Greek Civil war which ended with the victory of the U.S. backed government. The goal of this doctrine was to contain the spread of Soviet influence. This was known as the Policy of Containment and this policy was important in Truman's presidency because it guided many of his decisions regarding the spread of communism. With the creation of this doctrine, Harry Truman took the first crucial steps in the nation's battle against communism.