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Harry TrumanTruman Doctrine
Nonfiction | Essay / Speech | Adult | Published in 1947A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Spread of Communism as a Threat to Democracy
A central theme of the Truman Doctrine speech is the question of how communism spreads among nations. Truman’s presentation of this issue is based on the already influential Domino Theory, but it is couched in a language of hope.
The Domino Theory originates from beliefs about the nature of communism that held sway within the US government during the Cold War. These beliefs were largely informed by George Kennan’s “Long Telegram,” an analysis of Soviet policy largely based upon a 1946 Stalin speech. Kennan viewed communism as a pseudoreligion that inspired its adherents to forcefully spread its message wherever vulnerable societies showed themselves to be open to radical change. Further, once communist governments had taken power, Kennan argued that communism was exceptionally hard to wholly eliminate.
Kennan’s telegram was well-received by the Truman government, his views becoming near-dogma in the State Department and accepted by Truman himself as the only explanation of Soviet action. Viewing communism through this lens, Truman’s foreign policy analysts saw a nation adopting communism as likely to motivate its further spread, as believers in neighboring nations could work with their new regional allies to spread discontent and resist the government, all as a part of their global mission to ensure communist dominance. Hence, when one nation “fell” to communism, others would follow suit as if a row of dominos were falling.
The belief in the Domino Theory manifests most clearly near the end of Truman’s speech, which focuses on the broader implications of US intervention or the lack thereof. Truman states that “It is necessary only to glance at a map to realize that the survival and integrity of the Greek nation are of grave importance in a much wider situation” (38). As a map shows, Greece sits near the crossroads between the Middle East and Europe, it has the potential to begin the fall of dominos in both regions, causing “Discouragement and possibly failure” (40), in national attempts to maintain democratic institutions. Truman, using the Domino Theory, emphasizes the importance of supporting Greece and Turkey while counteracting arguments that the US should not be involved in events seemingly far off and irrelevant to most citizens.
Truman contextualizes the Domino Theory by presenting communism as originating from a lack of hope. From the beginning of Truman’s analysis of the Greek Civil War, he argues that the rebels had grown through the exploitation of “human want and misery” (7), which had allowed them to create the political chaos that dominated Greece. Repeating this phrase in the final paragraphs of the speech, Truman states that the “seeds” of want and misery are nurtured when “the hope of people for a better life has died” (50). Thus, the spread of communism and its resultant “discouragement” (40) are part of the destruction of hope that leads people to accept a communist regime.
Through this method, Truman creates a moral dichotomy, claiming that the democratic-capitalist nations of the world are based in prosperity and hope, while communism is based in want and extinguishes hope. This position is taken to reinforce his argument that the US should be proactive in providing aid to the democratic nations of the world.
The Role of Economic Aid in Foreign Policy
Essential to the Truman Doctrine is the use of economic aid as a tool in foreign policy. Since the early stages of the Second World War, the US had begun to provide economic aid to allied nations through various programs, most notably the Lend-Lease Act of 1941. This allowed for the provision of food, oil, munitions, and raw materials free of charge to nations combatting the Axis powers. President Roosevelt described the US as the “Arsenal of Democracy,” giving nations the ability to protect their freedom if they were unable to afford to do so themselves. This employment of US economic might allowed the nation to influence world events without as much cost in human lives as was paid by other nations. With the continued economic power of the US in the post-war period, the Truman Doctrine speech showed a continuation of this approach but modified for the new geopolitical situation of the Cold War.
Truman’s speech, made in the context of appeals from Greece and Turkey for economic aid, advocates for the efficacy of economic aid by emphasizing the connection between economic stability and political stability. Rather than focusing on the exact details of the military situation in Greece, Truman highlights the impoverishment of the nation through Nazi occupation and civil war, which he posits has led to the rise of communism in the country. The description of the economic state of Greece culminates in Truman saying, “Greece is today without funds to finance the construction of those goods which are essential to bare subsistence” (8), and that the provision of funds is necessary to “restore internal order and security, so essential for economic and political recovery.” While Turkey is noted as not suffering during the war like Greece, Truman nevertheless argues that it must have the funds needed to modernize and for the “maintenance of its national integrity.”
This analysis is heavily connected to his aforementioned views on the spread of communism; as communism is rooted in want, it can be avoided by strengthening existing political structures through ensuring the economic soundness of the state. Thus, economic aid is the most effective tool of containment. This understanding justifies Truman’s belief that American assistance of other nations “should be primarily through economic and financial aid,” which he explains is “essential to economic stability and orderly political process” (23).
The use of economic aid in foreign policy is a theme that runs throughout the Truman Doctrine speech, and is Truman’s main request to Congress and the center piece of his wider policy plans. It reflects both what Truman and, indeed, politicians throughout the Cold War believed about containment while demonstrating that the Cold War was a new type of conflict, one not directly based on military power but on ideological and economic clashes.
The Necessity of US Global Leadership
Throughout the speech, Truman emphasizes that the US must assume the role of world leadership for the good of all democratic nations. America’s need to act in this role is the primary thesis of Truman’s speech.
By the end of the Second World War, the US was undeniably a leading military and economic superpower, notably less damaged by the war than any other near-peer power. Truman argued that the United States could no longer retreat to isolationism, as it had following its victory in the First World War. He emphasized that it now had a moral and strategic obligation to assert its power worldwide. Truman notes that the US is uniquely equipped to help the nations of Greece and Turkey, while the UK and the UN—the only other powers that might take on this role—are unable to do so. In Truman’s portrayal, the weakening of the British Empire has created a “gap” that the US must fill by supporting democracies worldwide in order to prevent totalitarianism from gaining dominance. Truman uses Domino Theory to suggest that if the US allows communism to spread, it will only lead to increasingly dire consequences, damaging the world order and thereby American security. He summarizes the dual considerations of moral responsibility and strategic necessity in the final paragraphs of the speech, stating, “The free peoples of the world look to us for support in maintaining their freedoms. If we falter in our leadership, we may endanger the peace of the world – and we shall surely endanger the welfare of our own nation” (52).
The necessity of American leadership in Truman’s speech interacts with his stated support for the UN. Referenced several times in the speech, the UN plays the role of a moral leader in the world, established to “ensure the peaceful development of nations, free from coercion” (29), a goal which they cannot realize without US support. Since the UN is too big and complex an organization to act with the needed rapidity, Truman argues, the US must step in. Again here Truman uses support for the UN as a moral justification for his proposed policies, presenting US global leadership as enacting UN principles. He repeats this claim for a third time, explicitly claiming that the Charter of the UN opposes coercion, and so “In helping free and independent nations to maintain their freedom, the United States will be giving effect to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations” (37). Truman’s use of the UN in his speech thus allows him to present US leadership in the world as supported by the international community; they are the only group capable of enacting the principles of the unimpeachably moral UN.
