The Truman Doctrine, the Cold War, and Jewish Refugees, Spring 1947

2022 ◽  
pp. 153-191
1976 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Kernell

During the twenty year period of 1945 through 1965 perhaps the most dramatic example of presumed presidential opinion leadership is President Truman’s speech proclaiming what came to be called the Truman Doctrine. Delivered to Congress and broadcast across the nation on radio, the speech has been widely acknowledged as establishing the temper of postwar U.S. foreign policy. Historians whether sympathetic or critical of the Truman administration agree that this speech more than any other single event marks the beginning of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Moreover, its implications for the future did not require hindsight available only to historians. Immediately, contemporaries in Washington and abroad grasped that President Truman was advocating a fundamental change in the U.S. responsibility and posture toward the world.


Author(s):  
Kevin M. Baron

This chapter details how the Cold War Paradigm mindset became institutionalized within the executive branch following the end of World War II. The threat from communism, both external and internal, provided the foundation from which Truman would alter American foreign policy through the Truman Doctrine, but also would focus internally in seeking to stop communist and subversive activities domestically. Once institutionalized, the Cold War Paradigm demonstrates how Truman's actions became a learned response to threats, which altered information policies within the executive branch. Congress heavily supported Truman's actions during this period, as members of Congress also learned and responded to threats. However, the Internal Security Act of 1950 created a rift between the president and Congress over control of government information, setting up an ongoing power struggle that would lead to Eisenhower's creation of executive privilege and Congress's response with the creation of the Moss Subcommittee on government information.


Author(s):  
Damion L. Thomas

This chapter argues that the integration of baseball had a direct relationship with a core American foreign policy objective: manipulating international perception of American race relations. Hence, it explores the relationship between Cold War repression and racial integration after the articulation of the Truman Doctrine. By examining the historical context of Jackie Robinson's testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), this chapter examines the processes through which the U.S. government resolved to alter international opinions of American race relations rather than provide substantive changes to the segregated racial order in the early days of the Cold War, as well as the transformations in American political thought that allowed for those changes.


Author(s):  
C. Kaygusuz ◽  
I. V. Ryzhov

The article is devoted to the history of elaboration, adoption and implementation of the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan in the context of the Soviet-Turkish Relations. The authors observe these two key US external policy’s initiatives of the beginning of the Cold War for the analysis of the influence of geopolitical confrontation between the superpowers on the state of relations between Moscow and Ankara. The economic aid programs were significant leverages of the US influence on shaping the postwar system of international relations, which impacted decisively on the Turkish postwar foreign policy, especially toward the USSR, and predetermined to a large extent its further policy in the Cold War. The current article considers the reasons for rapprochement between the US and Turkey stands on the relations with the USSR, analyses the process of elaboration and adoption of aid plans for Turkey and the outcomes of their implementation. The article explores the origins of the US-Turkey cooperation based on sharing the common stance on confronting Moscow and can be used as a source of information on the Russian-Turkish relations problem in historical context.


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