Core Question:
How does the Truman Doctrine continue to affect United States
foreign policy today?
Author: William Jacobs
School: ACES Whitney High West
District: ACES
Overview:
The end of World War II brought new problems for the United States and its allies. The
face of the world was changing as our once ally, the Soviet Union, was expanding,
trying and succeeding at taking control of countries in Eastern Europe and threatening
to topple pro-Western governments throughout Europe , Middle East and Asia. The
United States’ response to this was a policy of containment. This foreign policy lasted
for over thirty years. We must look also at the past 10-15 years to see if in reality that
this doctrine is still a powerful tool today. The Truman Doctrine believes “that it must be
the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted
subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” What was the immediate
effect this had on the United States and the impact this Doctrine has today.
Document Summary:
Document 1 talks about the formation of the Truman Doctrine based on the outcome of
World War II and the Soviet expansion. The Truman Doctrine became the guiding light
for foreign policy to help pro-western governments fend off communism and allow
countries to be free and democratic. The implications from this doctrine indicate the
United States would police the world preventing countries from being attacked. The text
book indicates criticism at home but indicates the cold war ends with the Soviet
withdrawal from Eastern European countries and agreements between the two
countries. These textbook neglects to point out in the discussions of other wars might
be the result of the Truman Doctrine.
Document 2 talks about the effects the United States new foreign policy will infringe on
the foreign policy of Switzerland’s own foreign policy, especially with Soviet satellite
countries.
Document 3 talks about the Soviet response to the Truman Doctrine. The soviets were
quick to point out the US policy was in violation of the principles of the United Nations.
Document 4 talks about the end of World War II and the Soviet invasion of North Korea,
forcing the Japanese to surrender and the United States in the South. Korea was
divided at the 38th parallel to prevent any further issues between the two powers with
each Korea hoping to unify under their control. War broke out June 25, 1950 with the
invasion of South Korea.
Document 5 is President Obama’s reaction to the threat of nuclear strikes aimed at the
United States and international peace.
Procedure:
Vivification Lesson
Step 1: Students read textbook selection
Step 2: Student hypothesize how the Truman Doctrine affects us today.
Step 3: Students read document 1
Step 4: Student revisit hypothesis
Step 5: Students read document 2
Step 6: Students revisit hypothesis
Step 7: Students read document 3
Step 8: Students revisit hypothesis
Step 9: Students read document 4
Step 10: Students revisit hypothesis
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TEXTBOOK SELECTION
On March 12, 1947, Truman appeared before congress and
used Kennan’s warnings as the basis of what became known
as the Truman Doctrine. “I believe,” he argued, “that it must
be the policy of the United States to support free peoples
who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities
or by outside pressures.”
Source: The Unfinished Nation, A concise History of the
American People, Alan Brinkley, 2010
DOCUMENT PACKET
Document 1
Harry Truman speech to congress March 12, 1947
“One of the primary objectives of the foreign policy of the United States is the creation of
conditions in which we and other nations will be able to work out a way of life free from
coercion…We will not achieve our objectives, however, unless we are willing to help
free peoples to maintain their free institutions and their national integrity against
aggressive movements that seek to impose upon them totalitarian regimes. There is no
more than a frank recognition that totalitarian regimes imposed upon free peoples, by
direct or indirect aggression, undermine the foundations of international peace and
hence the security of the United States.”
Vocabulary:
Aggressive :( adj.) Aggression is the act of
making attacks or encroachments
Totalitarian: relating to a political regime based
on subordination of the individual to the state
and strict control over all aspects of life.
Source: Excerpt from Truman Speech to joint congress, March 12, 1947
Document 2
Leland Harrison to George Marshall March 14, 1947.
“While address was considered as perhaps well timed and effective warning to
Russians to curb their intransigent attitude and reconsider risks involved in attempting
expand their influence concerned was voiced over effect message upon Switzerland’s
traditional foreign policy. It was pointed out whereas heretofore global political situation
had been fluid, President Truman’s words had formulated new departure in American
foreign policy which may prove instrumental in crystallizing western blog with which
Switzerland might have to reckon, particularly with respect its existing international
commitments and current negotiations. With regard latter Switzerland’s negotiations
with some Russian satellites who want financial and economical help referred to.”
Vocabulary:
Intransigent: characterized by refusal to
compromise or to abandon an extreme position
or attitude
Crystallizing: to cause to take a definite form
Satellite(s): a country politically and
economically dominated or controlled by a more
powerful country.
Source: Truman Library, Memo Leland Harrison to George C. Marshall, President’s
Secretary, March 14, 1947
Document 3
Andrei Vyshinsky’s Soviet’s respond to Truman Doctrine
The so called Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan are particularly glaring examples
of the manner in which the principles of the United Nations are violated, of the way in
which the organization is ignored. This is clearly proved by measures taken by the
United States Government with regard to Greece and Turkey which ignore and by pass
the United States as well as the measures proposed under the so-called Marshall Plan
in Europe. This policy conflicts sharply.
Vocabulary:
Marshall Plan: Officially known as the
European Recovery Program (ERP), the
Marshall Plan was intended to rebuild the
economies and spirits of western Europe
Source: Andrei Vyshinsky Soviet Response to Truman Doctrine, History
Wiz.com/primary sources
Document 4
Truman’s reaction to Soviet forces in North Korea
Truman's statement of June 27 illustrates his concern with communist aggression and
expansion. In it, Truman argues that "communism has passed beyond the use of
subversion to conquer independent nations and will now use armed invasion and war."
Truman's statement suggests that he believed the attack by North Korea had been part
of a larger plan by communist China and, by extension, the Soviet Union. The President
believed that the Korean situation was similar to that of Greece in 1947. He informed his
advisors that he believed the invasion was "very obviously inspired by the Soviet
Union." This gave America a moral imperative to act. "If we don't put up a fight now,"
Truman observed to his staff, there was "no telling what they'll do." His concern over the
future of anticommunist governments in Asia showed in his public statement. Truman
pledged to defend Formosa (Taiwan) from attack and to support French forces in
Indochina, a conflict that would eventually escalate into the Vietnam War. Yet Truman
had no wish to provoke a full-scale war with the Soviets. By blaming "communism" in
the statement, as opposed to the Soviet Union, Dean Acheson later explained, the
administration sought to give the Soviets a "graceful exit" and not provoke open
confrontation with Russia.
Vocabulary:
Communism: an ideology which is a totalitarian
system of government in which a single
authoritarian party controls state-owned means
of production.
Taiwan: Democratic Chinese controlled island
off the coast of Communist China
Source: The United States Enters the Korean Conflict (Originally published in Social
Education, the Journal of the National Council for the Social Studies).
Statement of
President Harry S. Truman
June 27, 1950
Harry S. Truman Presidential Library
Papers of George M. Elsey
Document 5
Obama’s reaction to the Korean threat of war, February, 2013
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama reacted sharply to North Korea's nuclear
test Tuesday, promising swift international action to bring the rogue communist regime
in line. The detonation came hours before the president's State of the Union address,
where he was expected to touch on U.S. plans to reduce its nuclear arsenal.
In a statement, Obama called Pyongyang's third nuclear test in seven years a "highly
provocative act" that threatens U.S. security and international peace. The reaction from
the White House was significantly stronger than it was after North Korea's long-range
missile test in December, when the administration only promised "appropriate action"
alongside America's allies.
"The danger posed by North Korea's threatening activities warrants further swift and
credible action by the international community," Obama said in a statement early
Tuesday. "The United States will also continue to take steps necessary to defend
ourselves and our allies."
Secretary of State John Kerry spoke by telephone with the foreign ministers of South
Korea and Japan after the test, as well as China, and Obama called South Korean
President Lee Myung-bak to assure him the U.S. would help defend his country.
The Obama administration's options for a response are limited -- even though it is
committed to protecting America's key Asian allies, South Korea and Japan.
More forceful U.S. consequences, in the form of a military response, are highly unlikely
even though the United States remains technically at war with the notoriously
unpredictable North Koreans, whose opaque leadership has confounded successive
American administrations. Only the 1953 armistice ending the Korean War keeps the
U.S. and the North from hostilities, and some 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea to
deter potential aggression.
But with the South Korean capital of Seoul just 40 miles south of the nuclear-armed
North's border and its million-man army, the risks involved in any military action are
great. And just raising the rhetoric can even serve as a reward to North Korea's
attention-seeking government, which starves its citizens while seeking to leverage any
military advance it makes into much-needed aid.
The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, California Republican Ed Royce,
called for even tougher sanctions and demanded that the administration "replace its
failed North Korea policy."
"Otherwise, the grave North Korean threat to the region and the United States will only
grow," Royce said.
And House Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., added that the U.S.
must take a new approach to dealing with North Korea. "The key to stemming North
Korea's cycle of provocation is to seriously engage the Chinese in exercising leverage
over their neighbor," he said.
Vocabulary:
Rogue: dishonest or worthless person but in this
case refers to the government of North Korea
Provocative Act: serving or tending to excite or
stimulate
Rhetoric: is the writing or speaking as a means
of communication or persuasion.
Source:
Obama pledges swift reaction to North Korea nuclear test.
Associated Press on February 12, 2013 at 4:21 PM, updated February 13, 2013 at 6:56
AM
Some of the language and phrasing in these documents
have been modified from the originals.