Eisenhower's 'New Look' Policy
Before Eisenhower 🔥
Diplomats Who Shaped US Foreign Policy
- Before the term 'Truman doctrine' was coined, there were many diplomats who influenced Truman's actions against the expansionist threat communism was perceived to be.
- Kennan's Long Telegram (February 1946): warned that the USA may have to engage in 'direct conflict' with the communists.
- Churchill's Iron Curtain (March 1946): likened the communist threat to the fascist one, remarking that, just as the Nazi's engaged in territorial expansion, so too were the communists - as they attempted to create a 'glacis of states', otherwise known as the 'iron curtain'.
- Combined, these both shaped US foreign policy, resulting in the 'Truman Doctrine'. Truman had used impressive means of power before with the nuclear bomb droppings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but arguably, that was done to stop WW2 in a speedy fashion. Alternatively, his 'doctrine' served a much different role than the direct means of conflict the USA had used prior - instead of 'rolling back' communism, he wanted to 'contain' communism.
- This would upset much of the American political establishment over time, because of:
- The loss of "our China".
- The China White Paper (1949) shifted the military failure onto the domestic and ideological conflicts within China.
- It instead exposed the ideological constraints of US containment - and the failure of regimes that were overly dependent on US establishment figures (rather than the support of the civil population).
- The China White Paper (1949) shifted the military failure onto the domestic and ideological conflicts within China.
- The inability for the US to unite Korea in a speedy timeframe.
- Ergo, the 'Truman Doctrine' was seen, overtime, as a failed policy that resulted in stalemates - this made Truman seem 'soft on communism'.
- This is further supported when we look at McCarthy; McCarthy had said that the US' foreign policy was too 'Europe centred' (as supported by the fall of China), and thus, he argued that foreign policy in Asia should not just be an extension of the tactics used in Europe.
- McCarthyism: communism was everywhere, there were '200 communists in govt.' -> HUUAC.
- This is further supported when we look at McCarthy; McCarthy had said that the US' foreign policy was too 'Europe centred' (as supported by the fall of China), and thus, he argued that foreign policy in Asia should not just be an extension of the tactics used in Europe.
- Ergo, the 'Truman Doctrine' was seen, overtime, as a failed policy that resulted in stalemates - this made Truman seem 'soft on communism'.
- The loss of "our China".
- This would upset much of the American political establishment over time, because of:
- Combined, these both shaped US foreign policy, resulting in the 'Truman Doctrine'. Truman had used impressive means of power before with the nuclear bomb droppings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but arguably, that was done to stop WW2 in a speedy fashion. Alternatively, his 'doctrine' served a much different role than the direct means of conflict the USA had used prior - instead of 'rolling back' communism, he wanted to 'contain' communism.
The Loss of 'Our China':
- China was at the heart of this.
- Jiang had immense military backing from the United States, and by 1948, he had received over $3,000,000,000 in economic aid.
- Despite this, Jiang was immensely unpopular.