12 März 1947 Jahr - Truman Doctrine Speech

Beschreibung:

American and British politicians were concerned about events in Greece and Turkey. From 1946 a civil war had been happening in Greece between its western-backed government and pro-communist forces. Britain had been giving support to the anti-communist forces of the Greek government. However, Britain was forced to withdraw its support due to lack of funds. Truman had to persuade the usually isolationist US government to grant American money to support Greece’s fight against communism and laid out his reasons in a speech to Congress in March 1947.

In that speech he promised that the USA would provide aid to any country standing up to oppression:

'It must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.'

This was developed into the Truman Doctrine. It was clear that Truman was referring to countries resisting an armed communist takeover, but it was not spelt out in such straightforward terms and so gave the US government opportunity for interpretation. America was now committed to a policy of containment, or stopping the spread of communism.

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