Harry S. Truman
The 33rd president of the United States
(1945-1953)

Aid to Greece and Turkey: The Truman Doctrine

On March 12, 1947, Truman requested that Congress grant considerable sums in economic aid to both Greece and Turkey. The speech acted as a forerunner to the announcement of the Marshall Plan in June. It also marked the moment when the United States fully committed itself to being the defender of the free world, with Truman declaring 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.”

Inaugural Address

In his inaugural address on January 20, 1949, Truman denounced communism as a “false philosophy” and laid out a plan for advancing “peace and freedom” based on respect for the United Nations, the Marshall Plan, a common defense of the North Atlantic, and a global development plan. He proclaimed that the United States’ allies “are the millions who hunger and thirst after righteousness.”