The Cold War and U.S. Diplomacy - President's Doctrine - Assignment Example

Without the support of Great Britain, neither Greece nor Turkey could survive the Soviet attack. Policy makers in the U.S were aware of the instability in this region and feared that if Turkey gave in to the pressures from the Soviets, Greece’s position will be threatened and that Turkey itself would not survive for long in the event that Greece succumbs to communism. The strategic importance of the stability Greece and Turkey to the U.S cannot be undermined since their fall would mean geographically strengthening of the Soviet Union’s ability to end friendly supply chains in times of war.

According to the U.S Undersecretary of state Dean Acheson, the U.S had more at stake if either Greece or Turkey was to fall. The spread of communism would be far and wide reaching as far as India to the east and Iran to the south. Such fears are what influenced Truman’s administration to redefine American Foreign policy (McGhee, 2006). Discussion The withdrawal of Great Britain’s financial aid to both Greece and Turkey, the suspected interference of Soviet in Turkish and Greek affairs and the dwindling relationship between the U.

S and the Soviet Union is what influenced President Truman’s administration decision of reorienting the U.S foreign policy. . This then came to be known as the “Truman’s Doctrine” and was subsequently adopted by the Congress and is what shaped Americas foreign policy (Merrill, 2006). Truman considered a Communist victory in Greece to not only undermine the political stability in Turkey but would also endanger the political stability in the Middle East. He argued that the U.S national security depended not only on its territorial security but also on the containment of the Soviet authoritarianism forcible expansion into independent, free nations.

The United States reoriented foreign policy based on Truman’s doctrine now meant that it would actively help in preserving the political independence and integrity of “free people’s” as far such assistance was in the best interest of the U.S. According to Truman, the U.S needed to avail$400 million worth of assistance to both the Turkish and Greek Governments and help in the sending of equipment, U.Smilitary and civilian personnel to the region. This doctrine was the first among several containment measures of dealing with domino effect of communism (Merrill, 2006). The U.S government then embarked on restoring the economies of Western Europe countries as a communism containment measure.

To do this, the “Marshall Plan”also known as Economic Cooperation Actwas established on June 5, 1947 and became operational in April 1948. Through this plan, the U.S was to give financial aid to assist in the reconstruction of the war-torn regions and help in industrial modernization. The Marshal plan was a huge success and was replaced in 1951 by the “Mutual Security Plan”. The U.S policy makers were knew that nations across Europe could