IB History Leaders - Truman Notes

Key Questions

1. How did Truman contribute to an increase in Cold War tensions 1945-53?
2. How did Truman contribute to a decrease in Cold War tensions 1945-53?
3. How does Truman compare with Roosevelt in shaping early Cold War dynamics?

Truman's Background and Rise to Power

1. Harry S. Truman served as Vice President for only 82 days before becoming president after Roosevelt's death on 12 April 1945.
2. Truman had little foreign policy experience and was not briefed on the Manhattan Project or key wartime negotiations until he took office.
3. Unlike Roosevelt, who had a personal rapport with Stalin, Truman was deeply suspicious of Soviet intentions from the outset.
4. His blunt personal style and reliance on hawkish advisers such as James Byrnes shaped a confrontational approach to the USSR.
5. Truman later wrote that he told Molotov to honour agreements on Poland, reportedly saying "I gave it to him straight" - setting the tone for US-Soviet relations.

The Potsdam Conference (July-August 1945)

1. At Potsdam, Truman met Stalin and Churchill/Attlee to discuss the post-war settlement for Germany and Europe.
2. Key disagreements emerged over reparations, the future of Poland, and the extent of Soviet influence in Eastern Europe.
3. Truman informed Stalin of a powerful new weapon (the atomic bomb); Stalin - via espionage - already knew of the Manhattan Project.
4. The conference revealed a clear shift from wartime cooperation to growing suspicion and rivalry between the USA and USSR.
5. Potsdam confirmed that each power would take reparations from its own zone, effectively beginning the economic division of Germany.

The Atomic Bomb Decision (August 1945)

1. Truman authorised the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima (6 August) and Nagasaki (9 August 1945) to force Japan's surrender.
2. The bombings demonstrated US technological superiority and alarmed the USSR, contributing directly to the start of the nuclear arms race.
3. Some historians argue the bomb was partly intended as atomic diplomacy - a way to strengthen the US bargaining position against the Soviet Union.
4. The decision accelerated Soviet nuclear research; the USSR tested its first bomb in August 1949, ending the US monopoly.
5. Truman justified the bombings as saving an estimated 500,000 American lives that a land invasion of Japan would have cost, but critics question these figures.

The Truman Doctrine (March 1947)

1. In March 1947, Truman addressed Congress and committed the USA to supporting free peoples resisting subjugation by armed minorities or outside pressures.
2. The immediate cause was the British withdrawal from Greece and Turkey, leaving those countries vulnerable to communist influence.
3. The doctrine established the principle of containment - preventing the spread of communism without directly rolling back existing communist states.
4. The USSR viewed the Truman Doctrine as a declaration of ideological warfare and responded by tightening control over Eastern Europe through the Cominform (1947).
5. The doctrine divided the world into two camps - free vs. totalitarian - setting the ideological framework for the entire Cold War.
6. The USA provided 400 million dollars in aid to Greece and Turkey, marking the first direct application of containment in practice.