Harry S. Truman was the 33 rd president of the United States who reigned from 1945 to 1953. Truman is renowned for his unwavering attempts to contain the expansion of communism, presumably in the global community. Truman is also accurately associated with the start of the cold war, which is presumed to have started in 1947, especially after the institution of the policy against totalitarianism. Communism refers to the ideologies that shape the philosophies, sociability, politics and economics of society with reference to the common ownership of jurisdictional resources. While the Eastern bloc, which was made of the Soviet Union and their satellite states supported communism, the Western bloc, majorly comprising of the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies contradicted with the collectivism order. Indeed, the Western bloc was convinced that communism was a means of subjugating the disadvantaged nations. In this regard, this paper aims to elaborate President Truman’s doctrine of containing communism, its diplomatic setup, and the effects that the doctrine has had on regional and global affairs since its initiation in the cold war era.
Doctrine refers to a body of instructions or teachings developed to establish guidance on prevalent issues. It can also be defined as the codification of a belief system which teaches the principles and positioning within a specified field of knowledge ( Lawrence, 2012 ). Doctrines are usually associated with some ratification and truth, which yields to the conviction of the public thus instituting a course of action to remedy the situation against which the doctrine is established. President Harry S. Truman announced the doctrine to contain communism in the world due to the rising subjugation and suppression of the underdeveloped and undemocratic nations by the domineering nationalities, especially from the infamous Soviet Union.
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Prior to delving into Truman’s doctrine, there is a great need to highlight communism precedents as envisioned in the formation of the Soviet Union. In 1917, a revolution in Russia saw the rise of Vladimir Lenin’s Bolsheviks against a minority Mensheviks. The Bolsheviks were admittedly a communist party, and their rise thus meant the adoption of similar belief systems in the Russian Congress. This revolution was indoctrinated based on the beliefs underscored by the Marxist theory, which had predicted that socialism and communism would prevail in the most advanced capitalist environment ( Yusoff & Soltani, 2013 ). Nonetheless, the Marxist theory had exempted Russia from this order due to the disparities witnessed in the nation’s social classes. It is worth mentioning that communism arose in an era where the Russians were seeking redemption and salvation from the Second World War. This saw many peasants lose their wealth and land. Particularly, Bolsheviks’ triumph and rise to power were dependent on the overwhelming promises that were fostered through slogans such as “peace, bread and land,” which spurred the consciousness of the Russian people to advocate for land reforms and reallocation. All these factors led to the formation of the Soviet Union in 1922 ( Kuniholm, 2014 ). The Soviet Union thus played a leading role in the cold war since most undemocratic nations fell under the union’s guidance and control. Marxist-Leninist communism philosophies saw a majority of European and Japanese empires shattered. Also, the Soviet Union conquered jurisdictions such as Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Romania and Yugoslavia in the cold war era. While this was happening, the western nations were engraved in the capitalistic culture, which supported the private ownership of property and resources within the diverse social classes of people and their possessions. Thus, communism became an imminent threat to the western capitalist culture, which president Truman aimed to rectify through containment.
Notably, it is after Truman won the 1946 presidential elections that he gave a speech to contain communism. In his words, Truman pledged to support free people who resisted subjugation, especially from outside pressures. This is what triggered the cold war and has since then been used to refer to the Truman’s Doctrine. Truman stated that communism was a threat to the global peace and fostered the possibility of offsetting the national security of the United States. Amidst these contentions was the Greek civil war that took place from 1946 to 1949 ( O'Lavin, 2015 ). The Greek and the Turkish governments were fighting the totalitarian regimes when Truman indicated that they needed aid from the United States to conquer the enemy and denounce the possibilities of the nations’ victimization by communism. Resultantly, President Truman requested the United States Congress to allocate $400 million to aid the Greek and Turkish governments in fighting the destructive communist subversion. The Congress appropriated the aid after ratifying Truman’s speech, which was adopted as the United States policy on communism containment. This notion elaborates further how containment is used to mean suppression of the geopolitical pressures among allied and unallied nations with the aim of establishing sound human peace and co-existence. Moreover, countries like Iran and Poland had also contributed to the awakening of the United States due to the impending threats they posed to human freedom and the collective international relations.
President Truman required the intervention of the Republicans in supporting the legislation of the doctrine. Because the Republicans were the majority in the Congress, this was possible. Among the forefront supporters of the legislation were Arthur H. Vandenberg, who was the chief Republican spokesman ( Arnason, 2017 ). Notably, a number of congressional leaders joined Truman in this quest, among them was the undersecretary of states, Dean Acheson who spearheaded the writing of the domino theory, an integral tool of suppressing the communist belief system. The theory likened the communist states to a rotten apple that could spread the acquired infection to the rest of the barrel. Also, Acheson was the one who enlightened the president of the impending defeat of the Greeks if no aid was provided. Subsequently, President Truman presented a written address to the congressmen, but it was criticized for having too much rhetoric. Through his ingenuity, the spokesman advised the president that through his presence in the Congress, he would foster the spirit of acknowledging the threat waiting to scuttle the progress of the United States and trigger the congressmen to reason with him. The president scheduled to appear before the congressmen on March 12, 1947. In the joint Congress session, Truman gave an 18-minute speech where he reiterated that it was the duty of the United States to provide support to free people, especially those resisting subjugation from the armed majorities or outside pressures ( Ambrosio, 2016) . He also added that it was the obligation of the nation to assist those persons trying to work out their destinies in their own way. Truman noted that through economic and financial aid, the intervention would enable the countries to achieve economic stability and well-ordered political processes. Though a majority responded to the address with affirmation, some members of Congress and influential columnists opposed the move of the president by presenting the vagueness and the open-ended nature of the doctrine. For instance, there were arguments that the Greek monarch was in itself a repressive government and not a democratic nation as the United States. Even though such claims counteracted the aim to aid anticommunism, especially in the short run, they did not blind the long-term vision that President Truman had contemplated in his ideology. Despite the prevalence of strong counteractive objections for the policy, the American congressmen were afraid of the imminent threats that were exacerbated by the growing communism. Ultimately, the fear among the congressmen made them support the president’s pledge. To this end, Truman’s doctrine was ratified two months past his congressional speech address, specifically in May 1947.
President Truman’s doctrine became a long-term policy for the United States and was used for quite significant allegorical instances. Having won the bipartisan support, the doctrine was a major point of reference in the political arena. Indeed, the doctrine was recognized as a continuation of presidential warnings on the anticipated reign of communism. Particularly, President George Washington had expressed major concern over the domino effect of communism. Truman’s predecessor, President Franklin Roosevelt, had attempted to contain communism in his reign through the medical metaphor “quarantine the aggressor” which was aimed to suppress the expansion of the Germans and the Japanese in 1937 ( Tsygankov, 2013 ). It is worth pointing out that the Truman doctrine sought to strengthen these attempts. Truman thus blended his address with the possible infractions of life and death thus escalating the need for the United States congressmen to garner him the required support to pass the policy. Most importantly, the doctrine enabled the involvement in nation-building activities within the United States and other anti-communist nations through the intense empowering and stabilization of the troubled regions without direct military intervention.
Truman’s efforts are undoubtedly impactful in the contemporary socialism and international relations. The doctrine spurred phenomenal concern for the sovereignty of the United States, which later set a precedent to the globalist commitments emanating from the anti-communist nations and movements. In the United States, the presidents who followed Truman’s administration upheld the consciousness of communism extremism by advocating for the congressional policies and doctrines that prevented communism and radical takeovers. This struggle continued up to the regime of the 40 th president of the United States, Ronald Reagan, who is recognized for sponsoring the anti-communist guerillas meant to overthrow the pro-soviet regimes ( Smith, 2017) . Truman’s effort to scrap the communist nations fully materialized on December 26 th in 1991 when the Soviet Union was dissolved. Resultantly, numerous Soviet Union republics expressed the interest of independence leading to the creation of the Commonwealth of independent states. Mikhail Gorbachev, who was the eighth and the last president of the Soviet Union resigned from office by declaring the vacancy as extinct. Consequently, all powers and control for the union activities were handed over to the Russian president of the time, Boris Yeltsin ( Tuathail & Agnew, 2014 ). This was the end of the communist philosophy that was held by the Soviet Union in the era of the cold war, and it marked the triumph of the initiative of President Harry Truman.
Truman’s efforts are also witnessed in the capitalistic jurisdictions that make up the larger lot in the globe. Capitalism entails the possession and control of personal production and resources; the significant drivers of the modern-day economy whether in steering the internal market structures or in establishing amicable international business relations. In this regard, democracy has been adopted in most nations to express the free will of the citizens when electing leaders. Notably, as nations gained independence, there was a dire need to streamline the political structures within the jurisdictions to enable peaceful coexistence of the electorates ( Merleau-Ponty, 2017 ). Democracy thus sought to express the voice of the majority and allowed nations to monitor the utilization of their amenities and how equal distribution of resources is effected through the governments. These efforts are linked with Truman’s doctrine of fighting the communism doctrine, presumably through the global nations at large.
Conclusively, President Harry S. Truman played a vital role in containing communism since the inception of the cold war. Truman’s doctrine promoted the need to offer aid to the anti-communist nations in their quest to resist control from the oppressive powers. Majorly, Truman’s doctrine emanated from the need to counteract the rising growth of the communist Soviet Union. The Doctrine underwent strategic diplomatic setup as implied through its ratification through the congressional legislation procedure. By fostering the consciousness of the impending threats of the communists, the policy was adopted through a bipartisan consensual agreement, which saw the fight against communism extremism take root until the fall of the Soviet Union. In addition, Truman’s efforts led to the rise in the global commitment to shun communism and exemplified capitalism based on a democratic framework. While the effects of capitalistic developments can be seen in the contemporary United States market structures, it is without a doubt that most independent nations today are able to define their democratic rights and access amenities due to the strides that were taken by President Harry S. Truman in curtailing the communist totalitarianism.
References
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