Post-War Containment Policy Analysis

The post war period was filled with a vast amount of uncertain details about the future of the world. The United States had a new leader in Harry Truman who was thrown into the work that Roosevelt had been doing with Stalin and Churchill. Before his death Roosevelt had managed to negotiate terms with both the Soviet Union and Britain at the Yalta Conference. However, the Yalta Conference was more a foreshadowing of potential events and reactions than it was a peace settlement. The problem that no one chose to address was the emergence of two national super powers that not only had little trust for each other, but each had their own plans for a post war world. As a result, the eventual outcome was the containment policy. This policy was made with the hopes of combating the Soviet’s goals for the expansion of communism. The containment policy had an effect on many of the United States policies that were made in the post war period. Specifically the containment policy impacted the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, and NATO in its goals of containing the communist threat. …show more content…
Kennedy and Cohen write that Truman’s, “first dramatic move was triggered by word that heavily burdened Britain could no longer bear the financial and military load of defending Greece against communist pressures” (Kennedy and Cohen, 2013). This was done shortly after Truman enacted his policy to, “get tough with Russia” (Kennedy and Cohen, 2013). His response to the potential spread of communism in Greece was due to the fact that a communist Greece would be the first in a series of new communist countries. Consequently, his request for 400 million dollars towards this cause was quickly granted. The United States made it their goal to protect the interests of free countries who wished to resist