By proposing a program of $400 million in military and
economic aid to back anti-Communist forces in Turkey and Greece, United States
President Harry Truman created a prime model for Cold War containment of
Communism. Truman’s critics claimed that he was being unduly alarmist for
suggesting that the effect of failure would be “far reaching to the West as well
as to the East,” and some also blamed his words for promoting anti-Communist
hysteria in the United States. Most U.S. historians, however, view his response
as an appropriate reaction to Soviet expansionism. Herbert S. Parmet
Truman Doctrine
March 12, 1947
Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Congress of
the United States:
The gravity of the situation which confronts the world
today necessitates my appearance before a joint session of the Congress. The
foreign policy and the national security of this country are involved.
One aspect of the present situation, which I present to
you at this time for your consideration and decision, concerns Greece and
Turkey.
The United States has received from the Greek Government
an urgent appeal for financial and economic assistance. Preliminary reports from
the American Economic Mission now in Greece and reports from the American
Ambassador in Greece corroborate the statement of the Greek Government that
assistance is imperative if Greece is to survive as a free nation.
I do not believe that the American people and the
Congress wish to turn a deaf ear to the appeal of the Greek Government.…
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. A Commission appointed by the United
Nations Security Council is at present investigating disturbed conditions in
northern Greece and alleged border violations along the frontier between Greece
on the one hand and Albania, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia on the other.
Meanwhile, the Greek Government is unable to cope with
the situation. The Greek army is small and poorly equipped. It needs supplies
and equipment if it is to restore authority to the government throughout Greek
territory.
Greece must have assistance if it is to become a
self-supporting and self-respecting democracy. The United States must supply
this assistance. We have already extended to Greece certain types of relief and
economic aid but these are inadequate. There is no other country to which
democratic Greece can turn.
No other nation is willing and able to provide the
necessary support for a democratic Greek government.
The British Government, which has been helping Greece,
can give no further financial or economic aid after March 31. Great Britain
finds itself under the necessity of reducing or liquidating its commitments in
several parts of the world, including Greece.
We have considered how the United Nations might assist
in this crisis. But the situation is an urgent one requiring immediate action,
and the United Nations and its related organizations are not in a position to
extend help of the kind that is required.…
No government is perfect. One of the chief virtues of a
democracy, however, is that its defects are always visible and under democratic
processes can be pointed out and corrected. The government of Greece is not
perfect. Nevertheless it represents 85 percent of the members of the Greek
Parliament who were chosen in an election last year. Foreign observers,
including 692 Americans, considered this election to be a fair expression of the
views of the Greek people.…
Greece's neighbor, Turkey, also deserves our attention.
The future of Turkey as an independent and economically sound state is clearly
no less important to the freedom-loving peoples of the world than the future of
Greece. The circumstances in which Turkey finds itself today are considerably
different from those of Greece. Turkey has been spared the disasters that have
beset Greece. And during the war, the United States and Great Britain furnished
Turkey with material aid. Nevertheless, Turkey now needs our support.
Since the war Turkey has sought additional financial
assistance from Great Britain and the United States for the purpose of effecting
that modernization necessary for the maintenance of its national integrity. That
integrity is essential to the preservation of order in the Middle East.
The British Government has informed us that, owing to
its own difficulties, it can no longer extend financial or economic aid to
Turkey. As in the case of Greece, if Turkey is to have the assistance it needs,
the United States must supply it. We are the only country able to provide that
help.
I am fully aware of the broad implications involved if
the United States extends assistance to Greece and Turkey, and I shall discuss
these implications with you at this time.
One of the primary objectives of the foreign policy of
the United States is the creation of conditions in which we and other nations
will be able to work out a way of life free from coercion. This was a
fundamental issue in the war with Germany and Japan. Our victory was won over
countries which sought to impose their will, and their way of life, upon other
nations.
To ensure the peaceful development of nations, free from
coercion, the United States has taken a leading part in establishing the United
Nations. The United Nations is designed to make possible lasting freedom and
independence for all its members. We shall not realize our objectives, however,
unless we are willing to help free peoples to maintain their free institutions
and their national integrity against aggressive movements that seek to impose on
them totalitarian regimes. This is no more than a frank recognition that
totalitarian regimes imposed on free peoples, by direct or indirect aggression,
undermine the foundations of international peace and hence the security of the
United States.
The peoples of a number of countries of the world have
recently had totalitarian regimes forced upon them against their will. The
Government of the United States has made frequent protests against coercion and
intimidation, in violation of the Yalta agreement, in Poland, Rumania, and
Bulgaria. I must also state that in a number of other countries there have been
similar developments.
At the present moment in world history nearly every
nation must choose between alternative ways of life. The choice is too often not
a free one.
One way of life is based upon the will of the majority,
and is distinguished by free institutions, representative government, free
elections, guarantees of individual liberty, freedom of speech and religion, and
freedom from political oppression.
The second way of life is based upon the will of a
minority forcibly imposed upon the majority. It relies upon terror and
oppression, a controlled press and radio, fixed elections, and the suppression
of personal freedoms.
I believe that it must be the policy of the United
States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed
minorities or by outside pressures.
I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out
their own destinies in their own way.
I believe that our help should be primarily through
economic and financial aid which is essential to economic stability and orderly
political processes.
The world is not static, and the status quo is not
sacred. But we cannot allow changes in the status quo in violation of the
Charter of the United Nations by such methods as coercion, or by such
subterfuges as political infiltration. In helping free and independent nations
to maintain their freedom, the United States will be giving effect to the
principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
It is necessary only to glance at a map to realize that
the survival and integrity of the Greek nation are of grave importance in a much
wider situation. If Greece should fall under the control of an armed minority,
the effect upon its neighbor, Turkey, would be immediate and serious. Confusion
and disorder might well spread throughout the entire Middle East.
Moreover, the disappearance of Greece as an independent
state would have a profound effect upon those countries in Europe whose peoples
are struggling against great difficulties to maintain their freedoms and their
independence while they repair the damages of war.
It would be an unspeakable tragedy if these countries,
which have struggled so long against overwhelming odds, should lose that victory
for which they sacrificed so much. Collapse of free institutions and loss of
independence would be disastrous not only for them but for the world.
Discouragement and possibly failure would quickly be the lot of neighboring
peoples striving to maintain their freedom and independence.
Should we fail to aid Greece and Turkey in this fateful
hour, the effect will be far reaching to the West as well as to the East. We
must take immediate and resolute action. I therefore ask the Congress to provide
authority for assistance to Greece and Turkey in the amount of $400,000,000 for
the period ending June 30, 1948.…
In addition to funds, I ask the Congress to authorize
the detail of American civilian and military personnel to Greece and Turkey, at
the request of those countries, to assist in the tasks of reconstruction, and
for the purpose of supervising the use of such financial and material assistance
as may be furnished. I recommend that authority also be provided for the
instruction and training of selected Greek and Turkish personnel.
Finally, I ask that the Congress provide authority which
will permit the speediest and most effective use, in terms of needed
commodities, supplies, and equipment, of such funds as may be authorized.…
The seeds of totalitarian regimes are nurtured by misery
and want. They spread and grow in the evil soil of poverty and strife. They
reach their full growth when the hope of a people for a better life has died. We
must keep that hope alive. The free peoples of the world look to us for support
in maintaining their freedoms.
If we falter in our leadership, we may endanger the
peace of the world—and we shall surely endanger the welfare of this
nation.
Great responsibilities have been placed upon us by the
swift movement of events. I am confident that the Congress will face these
responsibilities squarely.
Source: National Archives and Records
Administration.
No comments:
Post a Comment