Doctrine enunciated by U.S. President Harry S Truman in a speech to Congress on March 12, 1947, proclaiming a U.S. commitment to aid noncommunist countries to resist expansion by the Soviet Union. Truman, announcing this plan to contain communism, declared that American policy was "to help free peoples to maintain their free institutions and their national integrity against aggressive movements that seek to impose upon them totalitarian regimes." He asked Congress for $400 million to defend Greece and Turkey from Soviet aggression. Congress approved the request in May 1947, signaling a departure from the former policy of noninvolvement in European affairs.
Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Member of the Congress of the United
States:
The gravity of the situation which confronts the world today
necessitates my appearance before a joint session of the Congress.
The foreign policy and the national security of this country are
involved.
One aspect of the present situation, which I present to you at this time
for your consideration and decision, concerns Greece and Turkey.
The United States has received from the Greek Government an urgent
appeal for financial and economic assistance. Preliminary reports from
the American Economic Mission now in Greece and reports from the
American Ambassador in Greece corroborate the statement of the Greek
Government that assistance is imperative if Greece is to survive as a
free nation.
I do not believe that the American people and the Congress wish to turn
a deaf ear to the appeal of the Greek Government.
Greece is not a rich country. Lack of sufficient natural resources has
always forced the Greek people to work hard to make both ends meet.
Since 1940, this industrious, peace loving country has suffered
invasion, four years of cruel enemy occupation, and bitter internal
strife.
When forces of liberation entered Greece they found that the retreating
Germans had destroyed virtually all the railways, roads, port
facilities, communications, and merchant marine. More than a thousand
villages had been burned. Eighty-five percent of the children were
tubercular. Livestock, poultry, and draft animals had almost
disappeared. Inflation had wiped out practically all savings.
As a result of these tragic conditions, a militant minority, exploiting
human want and misery, was able to create political chaos which, until
now, has made economic recovery impossible.
Greece is today without funds to finance the importation of those goods
which are essential to bare subsistence. Under these circumstances the
people of Greece cannot make progress in solving their problems of
reconstruction. Greece is in desperate need of financial and economic
assistance to enable it to resume purchases of food, clothing, fuel and
seeds. These are indispensable for the subsistence of its people and
are obtainable only from abroad. Greece must have help to import the
goods necessary to restore internal order and security so essential for
economic and political recovery.
The Greek Government has also asked for the assistance of experienced
American administrators, economists and technicians to insure that the
financial and other aid given to Greece shall be used effectively in
creating a stable and self-sustaining economy and in improving its
public administration.
The very existence of the Greek state is today threatened by the
terrorist activities of several thousand armed men, led by Communists,
who defy the government's authority at a number of points, particularly
along the northern boundaries. A Commission appointed by the United
Nations Security Council is at present investigating disturbed
conditions in northern Greece and alleged border violations along the
frontier between Greece on the one hand and Albania, Bulgaria, and
Yugoslavia on the other.
Meanwhile, the Greek Government is unable to cope with the situation.
The Greek army is small and poorly equipped. It needs supplies and
equipment if it is to restore authority to the government throughout
Greek territory.
Greece must have assistance if it is to become a self-supporting and
self-respecting democracy.
The United States must supply this assistance. We have already extended
to Greece certain types of relief and economic aid but these are
inadequate.
There is no other country to which democratic Greece can turn.
No other nation is willing and able to provide the necessary support for
a democratic Greek government.
The British Government, which has been helping Greece, can give no
further financial or economic aid after March 31. Great Britain finds
itself under the necessity of reducing or liquidating its commitments in
several parts of the world, including Greece.
We have considered how the United Nations might assist in this crisis.
But the situation is an urgent one requiring immediate action, and the
United Nations and its related organizations are not in a position to
extend help of the kind that is required.
It is important to note that the Greek Government has asked for our aid
in utilizing effectively the financial and other assistance we may give
to Greece, and in improving its public administration. It is of the
utmost importance that we supervise the use of any funds made available
to Greece, in such a manner that each dollar spent will count toward
making Greece self-supporting, and will help to build an economy in
which a healthy democracy can flourish.
No government is perfect. One of the chief virtues of a democracy,
however, is that its defects are always visible and under democratic
processes can be pointed out and corrected. The government of Greece is
not perfect. Nevertheless it represents 85 percent of the members of
the Greek Parliament who were chosen in an election last year. Foreign
observers, including 692 Americans, considered this election to be a
fair expression of the views of the Greek people.
The Greek Government has been operating in an atmosphere of chaos and
extremism. It has made mistakes. The extension of aid by this country
does not mean that the United States condones everything that the Greek
Government has done or will do. We have condemned in the past, and we
condemn now, extremist measures of the right or the left. We have in
the past advised tolerance, and we advise tolerance now.
Greece's neighbor, Turkey, also deserves our attention.
The future of Turkey as an independent and economically sound state is
clearly no less important to the freedom-loving peoples of the world
than the future of Greece. The circumstances in which Turkey finds
itself today are considerably different from those of Greece. Turkey
has been spared the disasters that have beset Greece. And during the
war, the United States and Great Britain furnished Turkey with material
aid.
Nevertheless, Turkey now needs our support.
Since the war Turkey has sought additional financial assistance from
Great Britain and the United States for the purpose of effecting that
modernization necessary for the maintenance of its national integrity.
That integrity is essential to the preservation of order in the Middle
East.
The British Government has informed us that, owing to its own
difficulties, it can no longer extend financial or economic aid to
Turkey.
As in the case of Greece, if Turkey is to have the assistance if needs,
the United States must supply it. We are the only country able to
provide that help.
I am fully aware of the broad implications involved if the United States
extends assistance to Greece and Turkey, and I shall discuss these
implications with you at this time.
One of the primary objectives of the foreign policy of the United States
is the creation of conditions in which we and other nations will be able
to work out a way of life free from coercion. This was fundamental
issue in the war with Germany and Japan. Our victory was won over
countries which sought to impose their will, and their way of life, upon
other nations.
To ensure the peaceful development of nations, free from coercion, the
United States has taken a leading part in establishing the United
Nations. The United Nations is designed to make possible lasting
freedom and independence for all its members. We shall not realize our
objectives, however, unless we are willing to help free peoples to
maintain their free institutions and their national integrity against
aggressive movements that seek to impose upon them totalitarian regimes.
This is no more than a frank recognition that totalitarian regimes
imposed upon free peoples, by direct or indirect aggression, undermine
the foundations of international peace and hence the security of the
United States.
The peoples of a number of countries of the world have recently had
totalitarian regimes forced upon them against their will. The
Government of the United States has made frequent protests against
coercion and intimidation, in violation of the Yalta agreement, in
Poland, Rumania, and Bulgaria. I must also state that in a number of
other countries there have been similar developments.
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 and
financial aid which is essential to economic stability and orderly
political processes.
The world is not static, and the status quo is not sacred. But we
cannot allow changes in the status quo in violation of the Charter
of the United Nations by such methods as coercion, or by such
subterfuges as political infiltration. In helping free and independent
nations to maintain their freedom, the United States will be giving
effect to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
It is necessary only to glance at a map to realize that the survival and
integrity of the Greek nation are of grave importance in a much wider
situation. If Greece should fall under the control of an armed
minority, the effect upon its neighbor, Turkey, would be immediate and
serious. Confusion and disorder might well spread throughout the entire
Middle East.
Moreover, the disappearance of Greece as an independent state would have
a profound effect upon those countries in Europe whose peoples are
struggling against great difficulties to maintain their freedoms and
their independence while they repair the damages of war.
It would be an unspeakable tragedy if these countries, which have
struggled so long against overwhelming odds, should lose that victory
for which they sacrificed so much. Collapse of free institutions and
loss of independence would be disastrous not only for them but for the
world. Discouragement and possibly failure would quickly be the lot of
neighboring peoples striving to maintain their freedom and independence.
Should we fail to aid Greece and Turkey in this fateful hour, the effect
will be far reaching to the West as well as to the East.
We must take immediate and resolute action.
I therefore ask the Congress to provide authority for assistance to
Greece and Turkey in the amount of $400,000,000 for the period ending
June 30, 1948. In requesting these funds, I have taken into
consideration the maximum amount of relief assistance which would be
furnished to Greece out of the $350,000,000 which I recently requested
that the Congress authorize for the prevention of starvation and
suffering in countries devastated by the war.
In addition to funds, I ask the Congress to authorize the detail of
American civilian and military personnel to Greece and Turkey, at the
request of those countries, to assist in the tasks of reconstruction,
and for the purpose of supervising the use of such financial and
material assistance as may be furnished. I recommend that authority
also be provided for the instruction and training of selected Greek and
Turkish personnel.
Finally, I ask that the Congress provide authority which will permit the
speediest and most effective use, in terms of needed commodities,
supplies, and equipment, of such funds as may be authorized.
If further funds, or further authority, should be needed for the
purposes indicated in this message, I shall not hesitate to bring the
situation before the Congress. On this subject the Executive and
Legislative branches of the Government must work together.
This is a serious course upon which we embark.
I would not recommend it except that the alternative is much more
serious.
The United States contributed $341,000,000,000 toward winning World War
II. This is an investment in world freedom and world peace.
The assistance that I am recommending to Greece and Turkey amounts to
little more than 1/10 of 1 percent of this investment. It is only
common sense that we should safeguard this investment and make sure that
it was not in vain.
The seeds of totalitarian regimes are nurtured by misery and want. They
spread and grow in the evil soil of poverty and strife. They reach
their full growth when the hope of a people for a better life has died.
We must keep that hope alive.
The free peoples of the world look to us for support in maintaining
their freedoms.
If we falter in our leadership, we may endanger the peace of the world -
- and we shall surely endanger the welfare of this Nation.
Great responsibilities have been placed upon us by the swift movement of
events.
I am confident that the Congress will face these responsibilities
squarely.
Note: For the President's statement upon signing the bill endorsing the
Truman Doctrine, see Item 100.