Truman Doctrine

Plus, they were... geographically distant enough that even if, uh, America could base forces there in a perennial capacity, it wouldn't constitute a catastrophic threat or at least no greater a threat than, you know, the surface warfare vessels in, in, um, the South China Sea and what have you.

But, uh, as America took on the role of, as per the Truman Doctrine, of holding the line of the 17th parallel to preserve the status quo and getting commitments from the Republic of Korea as well as CETO, superficial as that alliance proved to be in terms of its military capabilities and political will therein, it had significance in terms of what was viewed as a legitimate application of force by America in a theater that therefore had not been viewed as within its precedent sphere of influence.

This delicate minuet was something that Ho didn't really have to continue because by default you were in the Soviet camp if you were resisting the United States and you didn't need to really declare allegiance to commitments beyond that.

And as Peking gravitated towards Washington, and as early as 68, late 68, early 69, There have been skirmishes between the People's Liberation Army and Soviet forces on the frontier.

Well, I question your history.

Yeah, I mean, y- you, your, your program is clearer than true, right? Well, where did that come from? That came from Acheson having to make the case with Truman for the Truman Doctrine, okay? These were not such easy decisions, and if you go back and, and, and, uh, at the time when, uh, Vandenberg said to Truman after Acheson spoke up at that meeting, he said, "Look, if you make that argument, uh, to Congress, you know, we'll support you." But if you go back and look at the speech that Truman gave- People applauded him as a courageous man, but the support wasn't exactly there.

It wasn't there in the Republican Party.

Sort of the difference between, uh, Vandenberg's position and Taft was very, very strong.

Back then we were actually super happy to align ourselves with our friends, I might say saviors, the United States.

The Truman Doctrine provided the economic capital we needed to rebuild all of this.

and the security guarantees that made disarmament affordable and frankly viable for a continent that had been at each other's throats for centuries.

The US was the de facto economic guarantor of the first Pokemon evolution of the European Union, the 1952 steel and coal community.

And in 1981, as the United States was launching a new crusade for freedom, Samuel Huntington, the professor of government at Harvard, said in a private but published discussion, interchange, you may have to sell intervention or other military action in such a way as to create the misimpression that it is the Soviet Union that you're fighting.

That's what the United States has been doing ever since the Truman Doctrine.

which is quite accurate and gives a certain insight into the nature of the Cold War, in particular into the nature of the war against Nicaragua, which is what he specifically had in mind.

Well, these concerns over controlling the public mind tend to rise to the surface, particularly after periods of wars and turmoil.

Well, Marshall's mission effectively is to first apply very strict conditions, as you were implying, on any aid, military aid to Chiang Kai-shek, and then eventually to cut him off, as the United States does in 1946.

I mean, with really extraordinary timing, we're all told about the kind of the chronology of the opening of the Cold War and the Truman Doctrine.

being announced and launched in February 1947.

Well, the Truman Doctrine didn't apply to China.

The United States had cut off China in 1946.

And some of this went back to the war years and China being really kind of cut out of lend-lease aid in any substantial way as early as 1943, 1944.