Watch the following video of Harry Truman as he addresses Congress on March 12, 1947.

The address to Congress that you have just witnessed became known as the Truman Doctrine. Below are images of the actual documents. Click on the documents below to highlight some of the important text of the document.

Now let's break down the Truman Doctrine and find out what it really means. Click on each topic and discover the major components of the Truman doctrine. Read them carefully. This information will help you with the final activity.

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I. Current Conditions

• Greece needs our (the US) help.
• It is a poor nation because it doesn't have any natural resources and it has been occupied by the enemy for the past four years.
• It is a desperate nation and we are the only "free" country that can help.
• Turkey also needs our help.
• The US must help both of these countries remain free.

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II. Reasons that the United States should help

• All countries should be free to choose a form of government.
• The Soviet Union has already violated the post-WWII conferences by not allowing free elections in the eastern European nations.
• If we don't help, then communism will spread throughout the Middle East.

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III. What the United States should do

• The United States needs to provide millions of dollars to help rebuild the infrastructure in each country.
• The United States needs to provide military and civilian personnel to help with these projects.
• The United States needs to keep communism from spreading to these countries.

Below is a container, how can this be related to the Truman Doctrine?
Click on the container below to learn more about the impact of the Truman Doctrine.

Activity:

Read the excerpt below from the Truman Doctrine and answer the questions that follow in your notes.

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 stability and orderly political process.

-President Harry S. Truman, March 12, 1947 in an Address Recommending aid to Greece and Turkey.

1. Who is Truman addressing in this speech?
2. What is Truman asking for in this speech?
3. What are the first and second "ways of life" that Truman refers to? Explain both ways.
4. Who is President Truman referring to when speaking of the two different "ways of life"?
5. Why are Greece and Turkey of interest to the United States?