The Truman Doctrine : On February 21, 1947, the British Government informed the United States that it would no longer be capable of supporting its aid to Greece and Turkey, two west controlled nations which geographically fell within the natural sphere of Soviet influence. Turkey was under heavy Soviet pressure, being a powerful place from which to gain influence over the Mediterranean Sea. The Soviet Union was not, however, responsible for the civil unrest in Greece, but this fact was either missed or simply overlooked.
Fearing that Soviet power would expand, Marshall, Acheson, and Kennan recommended to the President that America pick up where Britain was leaving off. Truman agreed, and the Truman Doctrine, was put into place. In reality, the Truman Doctrine only covered Greece and Turkey, but the philosophy itself was enduring beyond only these two. The Truman Doctrine might be considered the official “declaration of cold war” that got the Cold War underway.
The Marshall Plan : Greece and Turkey were not the only countries faltering in the post World War II environment. It was because of Britain’s decline that the Truman Doctrine was necessary, and now it was necessary to recover Britain as well. Americans believed that all of Europe was susceptible to Soviet subversion, and that the problem was economic in nature. They threw more money.
European workers were demoralized, food was scarce, equipment was out of repair, and the European economy was in the crapper. Inclement weather worsened the situation. As is the case in any country suffering from harsh economy from this point onward, the Socialist Party, at this time the Communist Party, was growing in strength. The United States feared that if things continued as they were, Communism would spread throughout Europe, Northern Africa, and the World. The duty to contain Communism had just become more important.
Marshall created a plan to offer aid to any European country that wanted it, including Russia, as pjjmeans to combat communism. Before it was ever taken to a vote in America, the Soviet Union withdrew from the delibera-tions and refused aid, correctly seeing that it was an attempt to undermine Soviet power. It was not easy to get through Congress, but in 1948 a civil unrest in Czechoslovakia sparked a war scare and the proposal was passed with a heavy majority. American money fostered the industrialization of Europe and effectively neutered Communist influence outside of the Soviet Union’s sphere of control.