What is Truman Doctrine?
[[File:TRUMAN 58-766-06 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Harry S. Truman, President of the United States (1945–1953)]] A speech was made by U.S. President [[Harry S. Truman]] to the [[U.S. Congress]] on March 12, 1947. In this speech he said he thought that the [[The United States|United States]] should help [[Greece]] and [[Turkey]] to stop them being '[[totalitarianism|totalitarianists]]' although he meant [[Soviet Communism]].<ref>[http://americanrhetoric.com/speeches/harrystrumantrumandoctrine.html listen and read speech]</ref> This became known as the '''Truman Doctrine'''. Some [[historians]] believe that this was the start of the [[Cold War]]. This speech was made after the [[The United Kingdom|United Kingdom]] said that they would stop helping Greece and Turkey in February 1947 since the U.K. was also poor after the cost of [[World War II]]. This meant that Greece and Turkey would still be poor and Truman believed that a poor [[Eastern Europe]] would convert to a [[Communist]] government more easily unless helped by the [[The United States|United States]]. Truman wrongly thought that the [[Soviets]] were helping the [[Greek Communist partisans]] when there was no clear proof.<ref>Bradley Lightbody, ''The Cold War'' (1999) p.21-22</ref> This plan was a big change to [[Politics of the United States|American politics]]. Political historian [[Walter LaFeber]] wrote that 'the doctrine became an ideological shield' which means that he believed that the United States used the doctrine as an excuse or reason.<ref>Keely Rogers and Jo Thomas, ''History 20th Century World - The Cold War'' (2008) p.24</ref> The [[Marshall Plan]] came after because of this. ==Related pages == * [[Marshall Plan]] ==References== {{reflist}} [[Category:Cold War]] [[Category:1947 in the United States]]