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Truman
Doctrine
1947
Mr.
President, Mr. Speaker, Members 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 wish to 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 and 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
per cent 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 the authority of
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 that 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 eighty-five per cent 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 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 can no longer extend financial or economic aid
to Turkey.
As
in the case of Greece, if Turkey is to have the assistance
it 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 a 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 on 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
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 for Greece and Turkey
amounts to little more than 1 tenth of 1 per cent 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 our
own 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.
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