Harry Truman

A very patriotic view of the Truman Doctrine may be a correct one but it is most certainly not the only opinion among authors and historians to date. Roger S. Whitcomb in his book argues that the Truman Doctrine needlessly harmed the United States and Soviet Union relations. Whitcomb among others argues that the Truman Doctrine was a poor decision on the president's part. He maintains that this doctrine presents a far too oversimplified view of the world. Russia as communist-evil and the United States as anti-communist-good are childish. Whitcomb further argues that this doctrine increased dramatically the hatred toward the United States by the Russians, and hastened the militarization of the Cold War . Since the Truman Doctrine was carried out and regardless of what side you take on its importance, it is apparent that the new foreign policy at the very least fueled the Cold War. .
             The Cold War, which essentially began in 1945 after the end of WW II, has been analyzed and over analyzed. Since the Cold War lasted for so long, engulfed in it is many other important historical factors. Midway through 1948 the Soviet Union began to blockade the City of Berlin. This obvious slap in the face to the post war agreement between Russia and the United Nations. This would turn into the Berlin Crisis, Truman played a crucial role in this crisis no matter which side you take. Harry Truman, a big advocate of the United Nations, acted by most accounts cautiously when it came to Berlin. Avi Shlaim wrote a book about the United States and the Berlin blockade where he defines why he thought Truman was cautious about Berlin. According to Shlaim there is not question that the airlift of supplies into Berlin was necessary and Truman and Great Britain did not act cautiously on that regard; it was however the fact that Truman decided to airlift instead of breaking the blockade forcefully that is debated in his book .