The Truman Doctrine and the
Marshall Plan
Answer:
 Who
Developed the Idea of
Containment?
 How did Containment Work?
Greece and Turkey
 Pro-Western
Governments in
Greece and Turkey were on the
Verge of Collapse
 USSR wants Turkish Territory
 Soviets Support Communists in
Greek Civil War
Great Britain
 Before
WWII Great Britain
Supported Greece and Turkey
Militarily and Financially.
 Winter 1946-47 Can No Longer
Afford to Support the Greeks and
Turks
The Fear
 Greece
and Turkey Would Fall
to Soviet/Communist Influence
 Near East and North Africa
Were Now at Risk
The Truman Doctrine
 March
12,
1947
 Policy is
Announced
The Truman Doctrine
 400
Million Dollars in Aid to
Greece and Turkey
 US Will Give Military and
Financial Aid to Nations
Fighting Communism
The Truman Doctrine
Moral Gauntlet
 Bargaining over Territory is Out of the
Question
 Conflict is Democracy vs.
Totalitarianism
 Free Peoples vs. Oppressed
 Soviet Union Must Change its Policy or
its System Must Collapse

Who was George Marshall?
 Chief
of the
Army During
WWII
 Sec. of State
Under Truman
 Well Respected
Conditions in Europe
 Economic
Conditions were Bad in
Europe After WWII
 Fear that Communism Could
Spread in the poor Economic
Conditions
 Helping Europe
Recovery=Containing Communism
European Recovery Act/Marshall
Plan
European Recovery
Program/Marshall Plan
Announced at Harvard on June 5, 1947
 Stops Communism by attacking
poverty, hunger, despair
 13 Billion/Equal to 100 Billion Today
 Not Straight Cash/Credits to Purchase
 Aid Offered to Stalin

Marshall Plan
Stalin and the Marshall Plan
 Stalin
Refuses to Accept Money
 Does Not Allow “Iron Curtain
Countries” to accept either
 Isolates Communist Bloc Even
More
 Tightens Control on Eastern
Europe
Success of the Marshall Plan







Western European Economies Improve Greatly
16 Countries Helped
25% Improvements in Some Countries
European Industries recover: chemical, engineering,
steel
Reduces poverty
Increases cooperation between Western Europe and
the United States
Communism Never Gets Popular
Criticisms/Revisionist
 Did
Truman Show a True Picture of
the Communist Threat in Greece
and Turkey?
 Did Truman Provoke Stalin?
 Was Truman Looking to Save his
Poll Numbers?
Criticisms/Conservative
 Did
Truman Unconstitutionally
Increase Presidential Power?
 Did Laissez-faire Capitalism Help
Western Europe more than the
Marshall Plan?
 What is one revisionist criticism of
the Truman Doctrine?
Ticket Out the Door
 What
was the goal of the
Marshall Plan?
 What two countries were
helped by the Truman
Doctrine?