Transcript File - US History I

Containing
Communism
USII.18
American Vision Ch. 26 Sect.2
Student Objectives
• Students will be able to:
• Describe the policy of containment
• Explain the Truman Doctrine
• Explain the Marshall Plan
The Long Telegram
• Feb. 1946: Diplomat George Kennan wrote a telegram with
his views and advice on the Soviets
• Called the Long Telegram
• The Soviet system was weak and could be beaten if it was
kept from expanding
• Policy of containment – keeping communism within its
present territory through the use of diplomatic, economic,
and military actions
The Truman Doctrine
• Speech by Truman in response to Communist aggression in
Greece and Turkey became the US policy in dealing with
communism
• Pledged the United States to fight communism worldwide
through political, military, and economic assistance to
democratic nations
Truman Doctrine
In a dramatic speech to a joint session
of Congress, President Harry S.
Truman asks for U.S. assistance for
Greece and Turkey to forestall
communist domination of the two
nations. Historians have often cited
Truman’s address, which came to be
known as the Truman Doctrine, as the
official declaration of the Cold War.
In February 1947, the British
government informed the United States
that it could no longer furnish the
economic and military assistance it had
been providing to Greece and Turkey
since the end of World War II. The
Truman administration believed that
both nations were threatened by
communism and it jumped at the
chance to take a tough stance against
the Soviet Union. In Greece, leftist
forces had been battling the Greek
royal government since the end of
World War II. In Turkey, the Soviets
were demanding some manner of
control over the Dardanelles, territory
from which Turkey was able to
dominate the strategic waterway from
The Marshall Plan
• June 1947: Secretary of State George Marshall proposed the
European Economic Recovery Program, or the Marshall
Plan
• The plan gave billions of dollars in supplies, machinery, and
food to European nations to rebuild their economies
• Opened European markets to American business and made
communism less appealing
• Soviet Union and its satellite nations rejected the offer,
further dividing Eastern and Western Europe
NATO
• April 1949: the US and 11 other nations formed a mutual
defense alliance called the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO)
• West Germany will join in 1955
• NATO members agreed to come to each other’s aid if one
was attacked
• In response to NATO, the Soviet Union and its satellite
nations in Eastern Europe formed their own military alliance
called the Warsaw Pact
Class Assignment
• Classwork: Close-read of the Truman Doctrine (page 1076)
• Homework: Close-read of The Marshall Plan handout