Harry Truman and a Time of Change

The American people would not of been able to trust a man who regretted or second-guessed his actions in a time of crisis. If Truman could live with the decisions he made, then America would undoubtedly support him in the future. .
             Harry Truman was always a president to carefully establish ideas with the help and support of his advisory groups. He was never one to come up with his own plans and go through with them independently. His strong connection with his advisers was crucial in drawing up a plan during the Potsdam conference. The end of World War II was also the end of a wartime alliance between America and Russia, as Truman and Stalin could not agree of the division of Europe (Divine 666). Their differences during this conference referred to the Russians wanting to rebuild their country with Germany, as Truman opposed, believing it would cost for the caring of the defeated Germans (Divine 666). Eventually a compromise was made, thanks to Truman's persistence and "banging through" multiple post war issues within a day or two (Divine 666). Effective discussion and focus were key traits in Truman to compromise with the distrusted Russians, and ultimately led to his major involvement in foreign relations.
             Foreign relations and the communist scare were the centerpieces during Truman's presidency. One of the most important tactics to counter communist influence was the introduction of the Marshall Plan (Divine 670). Many western European countries including England, Italy, and France were slowly recovering from the devastation of the war (Divine 670). Years of depression, food scarce, and resentment called for the growing interest in communist voting and expansion, especially in France and Italy (Divine 670). The Marshall Plan was organized to reverse the possibility of all of Europe drifting to communism (Divine 670). The plan, which allowed he United States to stimulate European trade while checking Soviet expansion, was at a standstill until a war scare was touched off by Czech coup in 1948 (Divine 670).