This essay will deal with U.S President Harry S. Truman, 1945-53. I will be dealing with how Truman changed the foreign policy decision making process and its significance for the preceding four decades. Most importantly the foreign policy which was enacted whilst in his time in office and how it changed U.S. Foreign Policy precedent, leaving a legacy spanning four decades in U.S. Foreign Policy.
Prior to the twentieth century the U.S. had the policy of isolationism, attempts by Woodrow Wilson after the First World War to establish collective security and international relations. …show more content…
‘Reference to religious values and symbols has since been common in the discourse of American politics and foreign policy.’ This factor must be taken into consideration to understand how Truman was allowed to enact foreign policy as he did. The American sense of being on a historical moral mission provided each individual with the justification to engage in the Cold War to defeat the moral evil of communism, if the United Stated wasn’t not as deeply religious and tied under God they may not have been as supportive in the containment of communism. Truman gained popular support from using religion to unite the population under a moral banner, religion was since used in order to provide an explanation and gain support for any actions taken in U.S. foreign policy.
Truman’s foreign policy was ‘merely swift reaction to immediate crises; they were not the product of an overall American strategy. Such a coherent strategy came only after a reassessment of Soviet foreign policy that placed the Soviet Union’s actions in eastern Europe and beyond in historical perspective.’ The Soviet Union attempted to create buffer states for security, so exploited the post war situation in his occupied territories to in-act puppet communist government. …show more content…
It was also the first time America massively intervened in other nation’s civil wars, justified on the basis’ of anti-communism. This set the precedent for the future, Truman transferred the power over foreign policy decisions to the president from the Congress in enacting the Truman doctrine. In addition Americans would intervene in similar wars for the same reasons for the next four decades. Truman cemented these new trends into American foreign policy. The Truman doctrine insight an American crusade against the evil that was communism, everyone to follow Truman decision to stop the spread of communism continued even after he left office. Across the next four generations the cold war continued and the foreign policy goal to stop the spread of communism