Directions: President Harry Truman began a new policy toward communism known as Containment. Learn about this policy and how it involved various strategies to prevent the spread of communism around the world. Then, for each document, describe how the US tried to contain communism in that region.

Truman used executive orders to initiate the demobilization of the armed forces and created "loyalty checks," firing thousands of Communist sympathizers from office. His firm opposition to the mandatory loyalty oaths for government employees cost him accusations that his government was being "soft" on communism.

The Truman Doctrine was a measure created by the United States that was intended to support "free peoples who are resisting attempts at subjugation by armed minorities or external pressure", as these regimes represented a threat to capitalism in the United States of America These guidelines are of fervent anti-communist tendency given the context in which they were located, to the point of persecutory fanaticism of any movement within the framework of the political left. They want to fight against the spread of Soviet influence and, above all, of communism in Western Europe.

The doctrine was specifically promulgated with the intention of providing interventionist support to governments that resisted against communism. Truman insisted that if Greece and Turkey did not receive the help they needed, they could inevitably fall into communism, the result being a ripple effect of acceptance of communism in the region.

The Americans began to install military bases in Greece and Turkey, thus increasing the number of soldiers in Western Europe. They forced the expulsion of communist influence in these two countries with financial aid from countries such as France, Italy, Belgium and Denmark. Upon enactment, $ 400 million in economic and military aid was awarded to Turkey and Greece. This doctrine would then prevail around the world, especially in Latin American countries, where the United States would play a predominant role in the politics of this region during the second half of the 20th century.

Explanation:

Initially, the containment doctrine involved, among other assumptions, the selection of vital areas for American security, prioritizing them according to their strategic relevance, which was directly linked to the vital American interests that could be affected. Thus, the area comprised by the countries of the Atlantic community, including the countries of South America, were selected as one of these vital areas, which should be kept away from Soviet influence.

The exposed geopolitical vision was theoretically related to the realistic current of international relations, for which military power assumed great importance. They considered that the containment of the communist threat should be dissociated from any assessment concerning the internal political organization of the states that made up the American sphere of influence, for which reason this aspect was alien to the consideration of American foreign policy.

Consequently, the doctrine of containment devised on these bases, advocated the conception of the balance of power in international relations, as well as that of military power.