The Truman Doctrine

By Crusader1307

The Truman Doctrine was a ideology and concept developed by then US President Harry Truman. First proposed in 1947, The Doctrine would take until  1948 to be fully implemented as American Foreign Policy. The general concept of The Doctrine was to stop the spread of Communism (The Soviet Union), primarily in the Countries of Turkey and Greece. Both Countries were attempting to switch their own political Doctrines from a Democratic to a Communist form Government. It was thought by Truman (and others), that such a switch would set off, what would later be known as ‘’The Domino Principle’’. This was seen as IF one Country adopted a Communist form of Government, other nearby Nations could or would be so swayed, until mass tracts of Nations and Countries became predominantly Communist in ideology.  Truman (along with The US Congress agreement), began to funnel large amounts of weapons, monies and propaganda into both Greece and Turkey, as a means of propping up the small Democratic minority, so that each Countries ‘’Civil Wars’’ would favor Democratic Governments friendly to The United States. The Russian Communist System adopted a similar form of ideology as well. The result of The Truman Doctrine, which was widely expanded upon by the 1960s – would continue as the foundation of American Foreign Policy until the Fall of Soviet Communism in the 1990s. The Doctrine is also seen widely by Historians as the ‘’start’’ of what is now know as ‘’The Cold War’’ of 1947 thru 1993.