The Truman Doctrine, 12th March 1947

American and British politicians were concerned about events in Greece and Turkey. Previously, Britain had been influential in the area but was no longer in a financial position to support governments who would be pro-Western. Communism had already spread to many of Greece’s neighbours and the Greek Communist Party was becoming ever more popular: there were concerns that Greece would fall to communism next.

The USA was the only Western ally in a financial position to stop this from happening. In March 1947, President Truman made a speech to the US Congress in which he promised that the USA would provide aid to any country taking a stand against communism. This was developed into The Truman Doctrine. The USA was now fully committed to a policy of containment, or stopping the spread of communism..