Truman Foreign Policy

What arrangements to achieve victory and for the post-war world were agreed by Stalin, Roosevelt & Churchill at the wartime conference at Yalta:

- The USSR would enter the war in the Pacific, 3 months after Germany's defeat.

- Stalin was offered territorial and economic concessions in China by Roosevelt.

- Germany and Berlin would divided into 4 sectors of occupation: American, Soviet, British and French.

- Stalin promised that Poland's communist government would hold democratic elections.

- Roosevelt felt that a new international organisation, the United Nation to keep peace in a post-war world.

What were the major cause of wartime tension among the USA and USSR?

The atomic bomb and Poland. The American reluctantly shared knowledge of the development of the atomic bomb with Britain, but failed to keep it secret from their Soviet ally. Disagreements over Poland in particular led Roosevelt to waver between optimism and pessimism over post-war Soviet-American relations.

Why was Truman not that informed about foreign policy?

He focused on domestic politics throughout his political career and did not have much experience with his responsibilities. He was ambivalent about the USSR, and was plain-spoken about his honesty and opinion. He claimed that he gave Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov a hard time when he was talking about Poland in May 1945. Stalin thought that was 'worthless'.

What was happened at Potsdam?

- '5'D' the demilitarisation, deindustrialisation, decentralisation, denazification and democratisation of Germany.

- Stalin confirmed he would join the war again Japan 3 motnths after the defeat of Germany.

- Truman informed Stalin that the US test the atomic bomb, without being unaware of Soviet spying.

Why was Post-war Soviet-American hostility was probably inevitable?

- their Opposing ideologies

- Long-term tensions

- Wartime disagreements, especially over Poland.

- American secrecy over, and possession of, the atomic bomb.

- The imbalance of power

- The personalities and policies of Stalin and Truman.

How did tension escalate after the War?

- In Feb 1946, the Truman administration was shocked by what they perceived as Stalin's aggression, when he made a speech declaring Communism and capitalism incompatible & another war inevitable.

- Supreme Court Justice William Douglas declared this a 'Declaration of World War III'.

- Within days, George Kennan sent his highly influential 'Long Telegram' from Moscow. Kennan argued that the US should resist inevitable Soviet expansionism.

- In March, Churchill made a speech at Fulton, Missouri, criticising the Soviet 'Iron Curtain' for separating the Eastern Bloc and Western Europe.

What wartime events helped triggered the Cold War?

- the Sovietisation of Eastern Europe that began it's troops marched across the region en route to Berlin in 1944-5.

- US secrecy over the atomic bomb which signalled American mistrust of and superior over its Soviet ally.

Both side considered each other the aggressor in the Cold War to both expansionist powers.

What were the events over Greece and Turkey?

- Soviet-American tensions were greatly increased by Truman's gov idea that Stalin was behind the Greek Communist Party's opposition to the conservative Greek government and by disagreements over Turkey.

- During the War, Roosevelt and Churchill sympathised with Stalin over Soviet access from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean through the Straits, but Stalin's post-war pressure on Turkey over the Straits led Truman to send an American fleet there in Aug 1946.

Was the situation in Soviet-American relations over Germany?

- During the war, the Soviets agreed to send raw materials from their German zone in exchange for reparations from other zones.

- But between 1945-6, the Soviets received the reparations from the Western zone yet sent nothing in return. In May 1946, America halted reparations and blamed the the Soviets for the lack of agreement on Germany.

How did the powers to do the German zones?

- Developments in the different German zones demonstrated how each power sought to create or support countries in their own image.

- The Communist Party was dominant within the Soviet Zone, while in the Western zones there were free elections in which multiple parties participated.

How the situation in Germany apply to the Superpower relations?

- In a Sep 1946 speech, Secretary Byrnes said American troops would remain in Europe for the foreseeable future. He advocated the economic and political independence of the West's zone.

- When the British and American zones were combined in 1947, (French joined in 1949), it was clear that the economic and political divisions of Germany and Europe were hardening.

What did Truman outline in his Truman Doctrine speech?

In his speech to Congress on 12 March 1947, Truman said Greece and Türkiye were threatened by Communist aggression and asked for $400 million to help them. Congress granted him the money.

What was the significance & impact of the Truman Doctrine?

- It was a declaration of Cold War, it made it clear that the Truman administration and Congress.

- GOP Senator Taft criticised the simplistic division of the world in the two.

- Kennan said it was too sweeping, because it failed to ask whether a threatened state was worth supporting & whether it was within U.S capabilities to support it.

- Demonstrated the drawbacks of conducting foreign policy in a democracy, in that Truman knew that winning over the public necessitated that issues be painted in black and white, as good versus evil: a characterisation that left little room for manoeuvre in U.S. foreign policy, which the Truman Doctrine would dominated for the next half-century.

What was the Marshall Plan?

- It was a U.S. program providing aid to Western Europe following the devastation of World War II. The money was to aid economic redevelopment and infrastructure development in these countries. It gave $13 billion to help restore their economies and was announced in June 1947. It was passed in by Congress in April 1948.

- It helped seal the division of Europe into two antagonistic bloc. It encouraged the USSR to tighten it's hold over E Europe by establishing full Communist Party domination in Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and Poland and finally Czechoslovakia in spring 1948. From autumn 1947, the Soviets ordered the West European Communist parties to do all they could bring down their national governments.

What happened during the Berlin Blockade?

- In June 1948, Stalin blocked Western access to the West's Berlin zone in June 1948, because the Truman admin was considering the establishment of a West German state and West Berlin was an enemy enclave within the Soviet bloc.

- An Anglo-American airlift dropped millions of tons of supplies into West Berlin until Stalin ended the blockade in May 1949.

- Truman's choice of the airlift was a victory for Truman: the Western power remained in West Berlin and demonstrated great unity, and the blockade precipated the development of NATO and a strongly pro-American states in Spring 1949. T

- The Soviets responded with the establishment of East Germany, which began to fence, mine and patrol its 850-mile frontier with West Germany.

How did NATO form

The Berlin blockade helped convince Truman and Congress that the West need to establish a defensive association lest the Sovies' Red Army pour into W Europe. Congress agreed to a massive increase in defence expenditure and to U.S membership of NATO.

It was significant in that:

- It completed the division of Western Europe and Eastern Europe.

- The USSR recognised that if it attacked any NATO members, the United States would respond.

- In 1955, West Germany's admission to NATO encouraged the Soviets to respond with the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet bloc military alliance.

- Both sides now knew they stood in Europe and the Cold War focus shifted to Asia.

How did America assist Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi) during 'containment' in Asia?

- After WW2, US gave $2 billion aid to him, although most American observers considered a hopeless case. In late 1949, Mao Zedong's Chinese Communist forces defeated Chiang's Nationalist forces. Chiang and his followers fled to Taiwan. Truman now became a victimm of his own doctrine.

- Many Americans thought that if Communism were such a threat. Truman should have stopped China from becoming Communist.

- Republicans claimed China had been 'lost' because of Roosevelt's 'betryal' of Chiang at Yalta, insufficient U.S aid to Chiang, and the treachery of Communist sympathisers within Truman's Sate Department.

- But, Truman and Secretary of state Dean Acheson rightly recognised that America could have done nothing short of total war to ensure the defeat of the Chinese Communists.

How di the US assist the French?

Truman responded to the rise of Communism by attempting to contain what he percieved as Communist aggression in French Indochina (he offered the French financial aid in their struggle against Communist insurgents in Vietnam in spring 1950) and in Korea.

How did the Korean War start?

- On 25 June, N Korea invaded S Korea.

- Supported by Congress, the press and the public, Truman sent air and naval assistance to S Korea. The US-dominated UN agreed that UN forces should be sent to Korea.

- Although, Truman told reporters that it was not a US war, but a UN 'police action', the 'UN' force that fought alongside the South Koreans was primarily American.

- Truman's initial war aim was to drive the North Korean Communist forces out of South Korea.

How did the War progress at it's start?

- The well-prepared North Koreans advanced rapidly.

- However, U.S General Douglas MacArthur turned the war around with a amphibious assault on Inchon in Septmeber 1950. This forced a North Korean retreat & inspired Truman to change his war aims and to seek a reunified, pro-American Korea. This was no longer containment, but what Republican called the 'rollback' of Communism.

- Most Americans supported the change aim. They wanted North Korean aggression punished and feared South Korean morale would suffer if nothing were done.

- In Oct 1950, China threatened to enter the Korea War, but it did. U.S, UN and South Korean troops were driven out of North Korea, but U.S General Matt Ridgway stabilised the situation by April 1951.

- In June 1951, China proposed an armistice, which was finally agreed in July 1953 (Truman contributed to the prolongation of the war by insisting Chinese prisoners of war not be returned to China). The pre-war status quo was restored.

What were Truman's foreign and domestic considerations had to respond to at the start of the Korean War.

Foreign policy considerations:

- An April 1950 National Security Council (NSC) planning paper (NSC 68) warned Truman that the Soviets had a 'fanatic faith' and aimed at total domination of Europe and Asia.

- Fall of Czechoslovakia, Berlin Blockade and N Korean attack convinced Truman that the Soviets were increasingly expansionist. He consider Kim a Soviet & Chinese puppet.

- Global power balance tilted in favour of Communism - 1949, First Soviet atomic bomb test & China became Communist.

- South Korea was an American creation.

- Truman fear for Japan, as it close to Korea.

- Truman believed N Korea was testing the UN and that failure to support the UN would encourage aggressors.

Domestic policy considerations:

- Cold War anxieties had grown in early 1950: Klaus Fuchs worked on the atomic bomb and State Department official Alger Hiss were found to pass info to USSR, while Senator McCarthy claimed Truman's State Deparment contained many Communists.

- Republcians attacked Truman for 'losing' China. He did not want to be accused of losing South Korea, especially with forthcoming congressional mid-term elections.

What were the major effects of the Korean War?

- 36,914 American military died before President Eisenhower ended the Korean War in 1953.

- Truman's intial war aim was achieved: S Korea was 'saved' from the Communists. It could be said that containment worked, but not the 'rollback' that the attempted reunification of the peninsula represented.

- Asia was now the central Cold War arena.

- The Korean War exacerbated Cold War tensions, embittered Chinese-American relations and intensified American anti-Communist hysteria.

- The US & USSR dramatically increased military expenditure & increased armed forces.

- Korean War suggest no one wanted to risk general war.

- It demonstrated difficulties in conducting foreign policy and war in a democracy: Truman entered the war, because he feared GOP attacks for 'losing' Korea & because she was anxious about the congressional mid-term elections. General MacArthur made many mistakes after Inchon, Truman didn't replace him until April 1951, because Americans revered him.

How did the Korean War damage Truman's Presidency?

- As commander-in-chief of the U.S armed forces, Truman decided to deploy them in Korea. The US Constitution gave Congress alone the power to declare war, but when he consulted congressional leaders, they agreed that S Korea must be assisted and there was no need for a congressional declaration of war.

- However, when the war became unpopular in the Winter of 1950-51, it was christened 'Truman's war' and rendered hi virtually powerless to control Congress or to lead the country effectively.