America on Eastern Europe

The Truman Doctrine

Events in Greece (after a war the monarchy had been restored which was under attack from communist forces asked the USA for help in early 1947. The USA sent arms, supplies and money and the communists were defeated) had convinced Truman that unless he acted, communism would continue to spread. So he announced what became known as the Truman Doctrine:

• He said "I believe it must be the policy of the USA to support free peoples who are resisting attemped subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressure.
• The aim was to contain communism but not push it back. This was the policy of containment.

Marshall Aid, 1947

Truman believed that poverty and harship provided a breeding ground for communism and so he wished to make Europe prosperous again. It was also important for American businesses to have someone to trade with in the future, yet Europe's economies were still in ruins after WW2. George Marshall, the American Secretary of State, visited Europe and came up with a recovery programme - known as Marshall Aid. This had two aims:

• To stop the spread of communism(Truman didn't admit to it at…