Transcript 26.2 Policy of Containment

26.2:
The Policy of Containment
A. The Truman Doctrine
1. While FDR favored diplomacy and
compromise, Truman was committed to a gettough policy with the Soviets.
2. When civil war threatened the governments in
Turkey and Greece, the United States warned
of a communist coup and provided $400
million to defeat the rebels.
3. The Truman Doctrine committed the United
States to a policy of trying to contain
communism.
B. The Marshall Plan and the Berlin Crisis
1. The Marshall Plan provided $13 billion to
rebuild Europe.
2. The plan had the long-term impact of revitalizing
the European capitalist economy and driving a
further wedge between the West and Soviet
Union.
3. The gap widened when the western zones of
Germany merged.
4. When the Soviets cut off land access to West
Berlin, the United States airlifted supplies to the
city.
Located deep within communist East Germany, West Berlin was suddenly cut off from
the West when Josef Stalin blockaded all surface traffic in an attempt to take over the
warn-torn city. Between June 1948 and May 1949, British and U.S. pilots made
272,000 flights, dropping food and fuel to civilians. The Berlin Airlift successfully foiled
the blockade, and the Soviet Union reopened access on May 12, 1949. SOURCE:The Granger
Collection,New York.
C . NATO and Atomic Diplomacy
1. The United States also created an alliance of antiSoviet nations, NATO, and the Soviets responded with
the Warsaw Pact.
2. The East/West split seemed permanent.
3. The American policy of containing communism rested
on the ability to stop its expansion by military means.
4. After the Soviets developed nuclear weapons, both
sides amassed lethal stockpiles. The U.S. and Soviets
could not come up with a plan to control them. Within
a few years both sides had a stockpile of hydrogen
bombs.