Why Did The Truman Doctrine To Stop The Spread Of Communism

During the 1960s through the 1990s the United States was involved in a diplomatic standoff with the Soviet Union. Both nations were preparing nuclear weapons to immediate the other. Throughout the world communism was being spread by the power Soviet forces and the United States created the Truman Doctrine to stop the spread of communism in Turkey and Greece. They continued to combat the spread through wars and “rebellions”. Through the extent of the Cold War, the United States made it their mission to stop the spread of communism. This plan both worked and failed in diplomacy throughout Europe, Latin America, and Asia.

In Europe, the Truman Doctrine was used to help the nations of Turkey and Greece combat the spread of communism. The United States was being called on because they were being looked at for diplomatic as well as military support. “The very existence of the Greek

state is today threatened by the terrorist activities of several thousand armed men, led by Communists, who defy the government's authority at a number of points, particularly along the northern boundaries.” The United States made it their mission to stop the spread of communism as a way to fight the Cold War.
According to the Soviets in a telegram the United States wanted world supremacy and to be the strongest nation in the world.

In their opinion this was why the United States was building nuclear bombs. The Soviets did not think America had a good foreign policy as it just aggravated them and put them in a corner about building nuclear bombs. The vice president at the time, Henry Wallace agreed that the continual production of bombs was not portraying American in the right way to other countries. It was making us appear power hungry for world domination as well as preparing for a war that was inevitable. Wallace warns that the United States made seem like “unfriendly neighbors” who have the power to destroy their country. While the the United States was trying to protect themselves and other European nations from the spread of communism their building of nuclear bombs was portrayed as an act of aggression. The Truman Doctrine helped them at the time with Greece and Turkey it would come back to harm them later as they would be forced to defend the spread of communism in two harmful

wars.
In Latin America, mainly Cuba and Guatemala, the United States had somewhat of a blunder dealing with the spread of communism. In Cuba, Robert Kennedy, Secretary of State, was trying to have Russia move their missiles out of the country. The Russian Ambassador's defense was that the United States had missiles in Turkey. Kennedy was prompt in saying that if Russia did not move their missiles it would cause war, however, the United States could not not remove their missiles as easily because they were NATO approved. There was a back and forth conversation about both countries removing these bombs until a common ground was reached. This common agreement between the two countries was that Russia would remove the missiles with United Nations supervision and the United States would remove their blockade in Turkey. Once the countries agreed this was done in a quick, diplomatic matter.
The American led Guatemalan revolt was not dealt with, with the same strong diplomatic strategy and skill. The United States wanted to stop the spread of communism in the Guatemalan government. The communist president, Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, gave United States Owned land of the United Fruit Company to the people of his country. This was considered detrimental to the United States and they soon sought to solve this problem. It is now known that the CIA had a now declassified document listing Guatemalan communists they wanted to get rid of. They wanted to organize Guatemalan peasants to have what appeared to be a self-started revolution. They wanted to have someone else do their dirty work for them so they could profit from the upstaging of the communist leaders without looking like the leaders. This did not work as the world discovered who was in charge of the failed Guatemalan revolution.
The United States’s Truman Doctrine was helpful when it was first created however, it got the United States into two wars where countless American deaths were not necessary. The only reason the United States felt so obliged to enter the conflict in Korea was so they did not back down on their anti-communist crusade of years prior. They said earlier that that they would help any country fight communism and now when they were over their head they had to defend this statement. They sent American to fight a battle that when they left they had made no impact. Korea was still divided and North Korea was still communist. The United States also had to deal with communist China and the spread of leader, Mao Tse-Tung’s propaganda, the “Little Red Book” which was given to soldiers to give them motivation to help and serve their country. The soldiers also had chants such as the “Red Guard Song” where they said “We want to be the successors to Communism. The revolutionary red banner passes on from generation to generation.” The United States was now facing the spread of communism throughout all of Asia, as leaders with communist views and support came into power.
The same process of events happened when we decided to go fight in the Vietnam War. However this was much more drastic. President Johnson was hesitant to go into another war after the events in Korea, but still wanted to fight communism. His decision became clear when North Vietnam attacked American naval vessels at the Gulf of Tonkin.They decided to assist the South Vietnamese in anyway possible “to take all necessary military actions to combat Communist forces and to prevent further aggression” and this meant going to fight with them. After what seemed like a hopeless fight and many American deaths the American public began to not support the war. Soon the Americans began to equip the South Vietnamese with weapons and tactics and left Vietnam drafted as well as drafted. The United States’s policy in Asia cost them many lives and did not do anything to prevent the spread of communism.
The United States foreign policy was in some ways helpful, but it also was hurtful toward American lives and moral. They fought the spread of communism in Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Their fight was much more effective in the early years, but they struggled once in became more of a worldwide problem. It is debatable if the United States’ foreign policy actively prevented the spread of communism, but they did the best they can for the knowledge, ideas, and resources they had. They did what they could to protect their ideas about the spread of communism.