1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio, 2 00:00:06,160 --> 00:00:10,800 Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Folke bomb here. Ever, since George Washington, 3 00:00:10,880 --> 00:00:14,040 Speaker 1: named King George, started going at it, foreign policy in 4 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:17,160 Speaker 1: the United States has been a tickle ish affair. Well, 5 00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:20,760 Speaker 1: stay out or jump in, be aggressive or be possessive, 6 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:24,400 Speaker 1: stand on your own or seek help, lead or follow, 7 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 1: put up walls or call for them to be torn down. 8 00:00:28,480 --> 00:00:32,159 Speaker 1: The answers are never easy, but that's what makes the 9 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:36,440 Speaker 1: Truman Doctrine so impressive. A Few, if any, American foreign 10 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:40,000 Speaker 1: policy stances have held the weight, lasted as long, or 11 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:43,520 Speaker 1: changed the world as much as the Truman Doctrine. It's 12 00:00:43,560 --> 00:00:46,479 Speaker 1: the post World War Two strategy designed to contain the 13 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:50,400 Speaker 1: spread of communism and hold America's wartime ally, the Soviet Union, 14 00:00:50,520 --> 00:00:54,840 Speaker 1: in check. Even today, with other global threats emerging and 15 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:58,840 Speaker 1: a stated America First foreign policy, the ideas behind the 16 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 1: Truman Doctrine endued and inform the country's worldview. On March 17 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:08,120 Speaker 1: twelfth of nineteen forty seven, Harry S. Truman, the thirty 18 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:11,000 Speaker 1: third President of the United States, laid out the center 19 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:13,200 Speaker 1: beam of what came to be known as the Truman 20 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:15,759 Speaker 1: Doctrine in a speech to a joint Session of Congress. 21 00:01:16,520 --> 00:01:19,520 Speaker 1: He said, in part, I believe that it must be 22 00:01:19,600 --> 00:01:22,360 Speaker 1: the policy of the United States to support free peoples 23 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:25,880 Speaker 1: who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by 24 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:29,600 Speaker 1: outside pressures. I believe that we must assist free people's 25 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:32,200 Speaker 1: to work out their own destinies in their own way. 26 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:37,160 Speaker 1: With the Truman doctrine, America stepped away from a largely 27 00:01:37,200 --> 00:01:42,120 Speaker 1: isolationist history, took the lead in battling communism and furthering democracy, 28 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:47,080 Speaker 1: and forged relationships with nations militarily, economically, and otherwise that 29 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:51,400 Speaker 1: endured today. So today, let's take a closer look at it. 30 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:55,880 Speaker 1: Less than two years after the end of World War Two, 31 00:01:56,280 --> 00:01:59,680 Speaker 1: many nations, especially in Europe, were in economic shambles and 32 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:03,720 Speaker 1: right for exploitation. Two of them, Greece and Turkey, had 33 00:02:03,760 --> 00:02:08,520 Speaker 1: major problems with insurgents and faced political uncertainty without outside aid. 34 00:02:09,600 --> 00:02:12,280 Speaker 1: Even the once mighty British were mired in the struggles 35 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:15,519 Speaker 1: of rebuilding their war shattered country. They can no longer 36 00:02:15,600 --> 00:02:18,800 Speaker 1: chip in to help others, So Greece and Turkey instead 37 00:02:18,919 --> 00:02:22,359 Speaker 1: turned to the United States, and Truman, a Democrat, turned 38 00:02:22,440 --> 00:02:25,680 Speaker 1: to Congress. Republicans then held both the House and the 39 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:29,440 Speaker 1: Senate looking for four hundred million dollars in foreign aid. 40 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:32,720 Speaker 1: That's more than four point six billion in today's dollars. 41 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:37,640 Speaker 1: We spoke with Sam Roche, the supervisory archivist at the 42 00:02:37,639 --> 00:02:43,040 Speaker 1: Harriest Ruman Librarian Museum in Independence, Missouri. He explained there 43 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:45,119 Speaker 1: was a key meeting at the White House in late 44 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:49,160 Speaker 1: February with congressional leaders and George Marshall, who was Secretary 45 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:52,119 Speaker 1: of State, made a strong pitch, and so did Dean Atchison, 46 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:55,320 Speaker 1: who was the Under Secretary of State. They talked about 47 00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:58,160 Speaker 1: the merits and the urgency of doing something to help. 48 00:02:58,800 --> 00:03:01,080 Speaker 1: The British had announced the they were going to withdraw, 49 00:03:01,480 --> 00:03:03,519 Speaker 1: and Marshall and Atchison didn't want there to be a 50 00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:08,600 Speaker 1: vacuum that might mean the Soviets would step into that vacuum. 51 00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:12,080 Speaker 1: After Truman's speech before Congress, a push to pass the 52 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:16,280 Speaker 1: Grease Turkey Aide bill was championed by Marshall, Atchison and others. 53 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:20,360 Speaker 1: They managed to bring over even staunch isolationists like Senator 54 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:24,320 Speaker 1: Robert A. Taft, though some influential voices such as former 55 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:29,200 Speaker 1: Vice President Henry Wallace and conservative journalist Walter Littman remained opposed. 56 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:33,040 Speaker 1: Pitching a new foreign policy initiative, one that went against 57 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:36,480 Speaker 1: long held isolationist tendencies, to a Congress run by the 58 00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:39,680 Speaker 1: opposition party and a war weary American public was a 59 00:03:39,720 --> 00:03:44,000 Speaker 1: tall order. Rochet said, there was a lot of selling 60 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:46,840 Speaker 1: to do, and selling it, I think was the right 61 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:49,120 Speaker 1: word to try to sell it to the American people 62 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:52,640 Speaker 1: and to Republicans and to conservative Southern Democrats who were 63 00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:55,840 Speaker 1: very influential as well, that this was really a good 64 00:03:55,840 --> 00:03:59,800 Speaker 1: thing because it was in our interest. In the end, 65 00:04:00,160 --> 00:04:03,120 Speaker 1: the idea that commerce between the US, Eastern Europe, and 66 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:06,520 Speaker 1: the Middle East could be negatively impacted, that the Soviets 67 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:09,160 Speaker 1: could gain more power by stepping in something that could 68 00:04:09,200 --> 00:04:13,520 Speaker 1: alter world politics for generations to come, was enough. The 69 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:17,479 Speaker 1: Greece Turkey Aid Bill passed convincingly. Truman signed the bill 70 00:04:17,520 --> 00:04:20,320 Speaker 1: in May of nineteen forty seven in America set out 71 00:04:20,360 --> 00:04:23,320 Speaker 1: on a new path in Europe and eventually other places 72 00:04:23,360 --> 00:04:27,039 Speaker 1: in the world. So what did it mean then and 73 00:04:27,080 --> 00:04:31,640 Speaker 1: what does it still mean today? The journalist Lippman coined 74 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:35,039 Speaker 1: the term Cold War what would become a decades long 75 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:38,080 Speaker 1: standoff between the US and the Soviet Union that began 76 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:41,120 Speaker 1: at the end of World War Two, the implementation of 77 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:45,480 Speaker 1: the Truman Doctrine was one of its major milestones. In 78 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:49,920 Speaker 1: eight the so called European Recovery Plan otherwise known as 79 00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:53,279 Speaker 1: the Marshall Plan, was signed into law, designed to help 80 00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:56,839 Speaker 1: rebuild Western Europe and further block any Communist in roads. 81 00:04:57,480 --> 00:04:59,960 Speaker 1: Without the new foreign policy outlined in the Truman doc 82 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:03,680 Speaker 1: trin the Martial Plan would not have been possible. In 83 00:05:03,760 --> 00:05:06,599 Speaker 1: nineteen forty nine, the US and eleven other nations in 84 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:09,599 Speaker 1: North America and Europe, in order to quote guarantee the 85 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:13,200 Speaker 1: freedom and security of its members through political and military means, 86 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:18,520 Speaker 1: formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO, which now boasts 87 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:21,720 Speaker 1: thirty member countries, has ever since acted as a deterrent 88 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:27,560 Speaker 1: to Soviet and Communist expansionism. Even before the Truman Doctrine 89 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:31,159 Speaker 1: became official policy, its theories were in use as World 90 00:05:31,200 --> 00:05:34,919 Speaker 1: War Two was ending. Soviets occupied Korea, of prompting the 91 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:37,680 Speaker 1: US to send troops to the peninsula in a standoff 92 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:42,120 Speaker 1: that eventually exploded into the Korean War. Immediately after World 93 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:44,880 Speaker 1: War Two, the Soviets in the US squared off over Iran, 94 00:05:44,960 --> 00:05:49,680 Speaker 1: too and Germany. In nineteen fifty four, well after the 95 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:53,240 Speaker 1: Truman Doctrine was initiated, President Dwight Eisenhower warned of a 96 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:57,760 Speaker 1: domino effect if communists prevailed in Southeast Asia. A prelude 97 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:01,520 Speaker 1: to the US involvement in Vietnam, Ronald Reagan built upon 98 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:04,159 Speaker 1: the Truman doctrine with the Reagan Doctrine of the nineteen eighties, 99 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:07,560 Speaker 1: which not only called for containment of Soviet expansionism, but 100 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:12,279 Speaker 1: the backing of anti communists everywhere. With the breakup of 101 00:06:12,279 --> 00:06:16,360 Speaker 1: the Soviet Union in nineteen one, the Cold War technically ended, 102 00:06:17,040 --> 00:06:21,080 Speaker 1: but the basic ideas behind the Truman doctrine, containing communism, 103 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:26,520 Speaker 1: championing democracy, helping others internationally remained important to many modern 104 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:30,640 Speaker 1: day politicians. Richet said the Truman doctrine was sort of 105 00:06:30,680 --> 00:06:34,680 Speaker 1: an explication of a new foreign policy, very international minded. 106 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:37,160 Speaker 1: For Truman, it was in the self interest of the 107 00:06:37,240 --> 00:06:40,200 Speaker 1: United States to work with other nations in the interests 108 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:43,120 Speaker 1: of peace and resisting maybe a verbal war that you 109 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:46,000 Speaker 1: see through the United Nations, where he was very active. 110 00:06:46,560 --> 00:06:50,200 Speaker 1: Truman helped build a structure of peace through the Truman Doctrine, 111 00:06:50,560 --> 00:06:53,520 Speaker 1: through the United Nations, through NATO, through the Martial Plan. 112 00:06:54,160 --> 00:06:58,640 Speaker 1: There's a real ideology behind it, but fundamentally Truman sought 113 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:03,640 Speaker 1: in the United States best interest. Former United Kingdom Prime 114 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:07,760 Speaker 1: Minister Winston Churchill gave a speech in Missouri in ninety 115 00:07:08,520 --> 00:07:11,960 Speaker 1: and Truman was there, warning of a communist expansion across 116 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:16,160 Speaker 1: Europe and calling for a reply that avoided war. In 117 00:07:16,160 --> 00:07:19,840 Speaker 1: that speech, Churchill said, an iron curtain has descended across 118 00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:23,360 Speaker 1: the continent. Surely we should work with conscious purpose for 119 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:26,440 Speaker 1: a grand pacification of Europe within the structure of the 120 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:29,960 Speaker 1: United Nations and in accordance with its charter that I 121 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:33,560 Speaker 1: feel is an open cause of policy, a very great importance. 122 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:43,000 Speaker 1: A year later, Truman made his pitch to Congress. Today's 123 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:45,679 Speaker 1: episode was written by John Donovan and produced by Tyler Klang. 124 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:48,480 Speaker 1: For more on listen lots of other curious topics, visit 125 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:51,080 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com. Brain Stuff is production of 126 00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:53,920 Speaker 1: iHeart Radio. For more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the 127 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:56,720 Speaker 1: iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 128 00:07:56,760 --> 00:07:57,640 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.