Containment As Universal Doctrine Truman - Essay Example

Containment As Universal Doctrine The Doctrine of Containment is also referred to as Truman Doctrine of Containment. The Doctrine was a U.S foreign policy of containment conned during the administration of Truman and was inspired by the writings of George Kennan, a U.S diplomat. The Doctrine was a policy plan to contain the Soviet Union from extending communism ideologies in Europe. In addition, the doctrine advocated for the U.S to provide military, technical, and economic assistance to countries that had not embraced communism, effectively blocking the spread of communism from USSR. It created a policy that tolerated communism in areas where it had already spread but used all means possible to prevent communism from any further expansion. Truman Doctrine was encountered with criticism especially by the USSR, and became the official foreign policy of the U.S, but with great consequences. George Kennan, the father of containment, asserted that, even though, the United States was a strong and powerful state, it was not strong enough to conquer and or to bring about change by itself. Therefore, the policy of containment was to be a universal policy. To do this, the United States adopted the Marshall Plan of funding states that had been financially crippled by the effects of world war two in return for their loyalty to resist communism. The Marshall Plan was a huge economic success that resulted in booming Western European Economies halting the progress of communism to the west. It led to the formation of European Community that still exists today. The formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was another universal front of the Truman Doctrine. NATO was formed to create a mutual defense organization that would support the signatories against military invasions. The joining of the treaty by changed the United States foreign policy drastically from the isolationist attitude it held before the World War two. The doctrine of confinement became Trumans foundation of the United States foreign policy (Gaddis 74). In addition, the regime used the doctrine of containment as a universal doctrine through bankrolling states that were in financial meltdowns for their support to resist communism. The situation of Greece and Turkey highlights how United States used the Truman doctrine to advance its course. England had become bankrupt and unable to support Greece any further. Since United States was better financially, Truman mobilized the congress to give financial aid to Greece. The congress approved this and since Turkey and Greece were rivals it was viewed helping one will make the other fall to communism and thus both were given financial support. Soon this concept of containment was adapted to the whole of Europe. The Truman administration was convinced of the effectiveness of this concept that it sought to give financial aid to the Soviet Union and its allies. However, USSR turned down the offer since it viewed it as a scheme of the United States to control the economies of the communist states (Spalding 98). The doctrine of containment played to bring out the strengths as well as the weakness of the United States. It contributed to the recognition of the United States as a political and economic powerhouse in Europe and the world. Truman had grown increasingly wary of the impact of the increasing influence of the USSR to America’s political and economic interests. Due to this fact, Truman vigorously campaigned for the doctrine of containment to the American people as well as the Congress. However, George Kennan opposed Truman doctrine for its perceived weakness of being too open-minded to extend America’s resources and commitment. The Marshall plan of distributing American resources to allies was seen as a risky undertaking since some of the perceived allies could enter into treaties with USSR. Some military policies supported by the Truman Doctrine did not auger well with the American policy. Truman doctrine changed the image of the United States from that of promotion of democracy and freedom and upholding human rights to a cruel state driven by a grand strategy agenda. Through the containment policy, the U.S approved undemocratic and immoral foreign policies to woo allies in America’s favor to contain USSR. The government sponsored and supported dissidents in communist territories to topple communism regimes. The doctrine became unpopular to a section of the American people who viewed the government as using the doctrine to commit atrocities such as the bombing of Cambodia (Hill 217). In addition, containment doctrine started to be used as a justification of unconventional and clandestine operational methods in the 1970s and 1980s. It is out of this context that secret organizations such as the CIA developed to powerful machinery that was beyond the scrutiny of the public. Containment doctrine weakened the diplomatic ties between U.S and USSR. The Gulf and mistrust between USSR and United States widened because of the doctrine of containment. Stalin’s mistrust against the United States grew making it impossible to have a peaceful settlement with the United States. The result of this was converting the United States administration from one that did not meddle with foreign affairs of other states to one that acted the role of a global policeman (Pieper 3, 4). Truman doctrine of containment was significant and a legacy for a number of reasons. The doctrine created the concept of United Nations. Truman believed that in the United States, helping maintaining of freedom of free and independent states containment was strengthening the principles of United Nations. To achieve these goals, however, Truman did not risk relying on United Nations. In addition, the doctrine of containment influenced the United States to be part of the rest of the world. The growing influence of the USSR changed the United States notion of isolationism that it held before the World War two and the cold war (Stivachtis 41). For the U.S to contain the spread of communism, it had to be part of the rest of the world. In addition, Truman doctrine led to the fall and disintegration of the USSR. The policies of containment such as the Berlin airlift led to the imminent fall of communism and USSR but at the same time growing the respect of the United States among its allies and foes alike. Containment doctrine propelled the United States to economic and political dominance and supremacy in Europe and beyond. Through the Marshall Plan of giving aid to countries, containment helped to bring economic stability among various states that were dependent on other states such as Greece. The new found economic stability helped to curtail discontent among states which resulted to political stability at a time when world peace was fledgling (Stivachtis 45). Most of the ideologies of the doctrine of containment seem to be out of place with the situation of the 21st century in the United States. Truman doctrine of containment lacked moral clarity since it was built upon containing the uprising of USSR and communism at any cost and force. As a consequence, the policy adopted policies that were militaristic, unconventional and downright immoral. Due to this fact, the Bush administration began to agitate for a foreign policy with a universal moral clarity between good and evil. A universal foreign policy with moral clarity is one that holds the belief that all free societies are a means to achieving universal peace and security. The united states of the 21st century needs an international policy that has a moral clarity to encourage the development of all types of societies including the communist society is vital to ensuring world peace and security. This is due to the growth of a global society where no ideology is greater than the other to be a threat to the other. Such a policy will help safeguard the interest of the American people through the creation of an environment in which the rights and freedoms of all the people are safeguarded and respected. President Eisenhower was the first president to break away from the concepts of the Truman doctrine to a more flexible doctrine. Eisenhower shied from adopting a policy that was not to win at all costs by employing all the resources of the American people. He focused on married the policy of retaliating intensely when provoked with building up the conventional forces of threatened nations to rise up against direct military incursions. The result of this was a better containment of the Soviet Union at a cheaper cost and with greater flexibility (Weaver 80). Beinart Kaufman have an interesting debate towards the doctrine of containment. The debate is based on the original ideas of George Kennan in the long telegraph about containment of the USSR. Kennan ideologies were not fully taken by Truman in developing the Truman doctrine of containment. Various changes were introduced and added which had major implications for the concept of containment. The Truman doctrine involved militarizing containment as a means of containing and defeating communism ideas. The doctrine missed Kennan’s theory of winning the struggle for communism through bringing a change to Soviet’s advance to foreign policy. This was a failure on the side of Truman to make a doctrine of universal character to be tainted by unconventional ideologies (Murrin, Johnson, Pherson, Fahs and Gerstle 58) In conclusion, the rise of communism after world war two created a major threat to the capitalist ideas of the United States. As a result, the Truman Doctrine of confinement was developed with a sole aim of confining the spread and increase of communism ideas to Europe and the rest of the world. However, the paranoid of Truman led to excesses and abuse of the doctrine of confinement in a bid to defeat communism. This led to the fall of the doctrine of confinement as it became unpopular among the people and nations who at first supported it. References Spalding, Elizabeth E. The First Cold Warrior: Harry Truman, Containment, and the Remaking of Liberal Internationalism. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2006. Internet resource. Murrin, John M et al.. Liberty, Equality, Power: A History of the American People. Australia: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning, 2012. Print. Pieper, Moritz A. "Containment and the Cold War: Reexamining the Doctrine of Containment as a Grand Strategy Driving US Cold War Interventions." Student Pulse 4.08 . web.2012. Stivachtis, Yannis A. International Order in a Globalizing World. Aldershot, England: Ashgate, 2007. Internet resource. Gaddis, John L. Strategies of Containment: A Critical Appraisal of American National Security Policy During the Cold War. Oxford: Oxford University Press, USA, 2005. Internet resource. Hill, Kenneth. An Essential Guide to American Politics and the American Political System. Bloomington: AuthorHouse, 2012. Print C. P. Weaver (Jr). The Bush Doctrine and the Tactic of Preemption: Understanding the Concept, Criticism, and Implications for National Policy and International Law. Virginia: ProQuest, 2009. Print. Gaddis, John L. Strategies of Containment: A Critical Appraisal of Postwar American National Security Policy. Oxford [Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1982. Print. Read More