Editing Truman Doctrine (section)

==Truman's address==
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 | footer = Truman's 1947 message to Congress, recommending assistance to Greece and Turkey
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To pass any legislation, Truman needed the support of the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]], who controlled both houses of Congress. The chief Republican spokesman Senator [[Arthur Vandenberg]] strongly supported Truman and overcame the doubts of isolationists such as Senator [[Robert A. Taft]].<ref name=JTP/>{{rp|127}} Truman laid the groundwork for his request by having key congressional leaders meet with himself, [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]] [[George C. Marshall]], and Undersecretary of State [[Dean Acheson]]. Acheson laid out the "domino theory" in the starkest terms, comparing a communist state to a rotten apple that could spread its infection to an entire barrel. Vandenberg was impressed, and advised Truman to appear before Congress and "scare the hell out of the American people."<ref name=JTP/>{{rp|127–128}} On March 7, Acheson warned Truman that the communists in Greece could win within weeks without outside aid.<ref name=DM/>{{rp|545}}

When a draft for Truman's address was circulated to policymakers, Marshall, Kennan, and others criticized it for containing excess "rhetoric." Truman responded that, as Vandenberg had suggested, his request would only be approved if he played up the threat.<ref name=DM/>{{rp|546}}

On March 12, 1947, Truman appeared before a joint session of Congress. In his eighteen-minute speech, he stated:

{{Blockquote|I believe 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.<ref name=DM/>{{rp|547}}}}

The domestic reaction to Truman's speech was broadly positive, though there were dissenters. Anti-communists in both parties supported both Truman's proposed aid package and the doctrine behind it, and ''[[Collier's]]'' described it as a "popularity jackpot" for the President.<ref name=DM/>{{rp|548}}<ref name=JTP/>{{rp|129}} Influential columnist [[Walter Lippmann]] was more skeptical, noting the open-ended nature of Truman's pledge; he felt so strongly that he almost came to blows while arguing with Acheson over the doctrine.<ref name=DM/>{{rp|549}}<ref name="Herring" />{{rp|615}} Others argued that the Greek monarchy Truman proposed to defend was itself a repressive government, rather than a democracy.<ref name="Herring" />{{rp|615}}

Despite these objections, the fear that there was a growing communist threat almost guaranteed the bill's passage.<ref name="Herring" />{{rp|616}} In May 1947, two months after Truman's request, a large majority of Congress approved $400 million in military and economic aid to Greece and Turkey.<ref name="DM">{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/truman00mccu|url-access=registration|title=Truman|last=McCullough|first=David|date=1992|publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/truman00mccu/page/547 547–549]|isbn=978-0671456542 }}</ref>{{rp|553–554}}<ref name=JTP/>{{rp|129}} Increased American aid assisted the Greek government's defeat of the KKE, after interim defeats for government forces from 1946 to 1948.<ref name="Herring">{{cite book |last= Herring |first= George C. |title= From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776 |year= 2008 |location= New York |publisher= Oxford University Press |isbn= 978-0195078220 |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/fromcolonytosupe00herr }}</ref>{{rp|616–617}} The Truman Doctrine was the first in a series of containment moves by the United States, followed by economic restoration of Western Europe through the [[Marshall Plan]] and military containment by the creation of [[NATO]] in 1949.{{cn|date=January 2024}}