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The Cold War

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How did Harry Truman influence the Cold War?

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Harry Truman significantly influenced the Cold War as U.S. President from 1945 to 1953, initiating key policies that shaped the conflict's early years. Truman's strong opposition to communism led to the Truman Doctrine, which pledged U.S. support to countries threatened by communism, effectively starting the Cold War. His policies, including the Marshall Plan and containment strategy, aimed to curb Soviet influence. Truman's decision to commit troops to Korea further exemplified his commitment to stopping communism's spread.

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Harry Truman was deeply involved in the Cold War and had a great impact on that conflict because he was the President of the United States during the earliest years of the Cold War.

Harry Truman was President of the United States from 1945 (when President Franklin D. Roosevelt died) until 1953.  It was during this time that the Cold War began.  Truman was involved because he was the leader of the United States, which was the leading country on the democratic/capitalist side of the Cold War. 

Truman had many impacts on the Cold War.  In a sense, you can say that he caused (along with Josef Stalin) the Cold War to begin.  If Truman had not been strong in his opposition to the spread of communism, the Cold War might not have started.  If, for example, Truman had not issued his Truman Doctrine, which said that the US would...

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help support any countries that were in danger of being taken over by communist forces, the Cold War might not have begun.

Thus, Harry Truman was a very important figure in the Cold War.  He was President of the United States when the conflict began and the conflict might not have begun had it not been for Truman.

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How did President Harry S. Truman influence the Cold War?

While some historians have suggested that the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan was motivated by Truman's desire to check the Soviets, this is a somewhat controversial notion.  For this answer we will stick to more concrete facts.  Truman came to believe that it was in the best interests of the United States to stop the spread of communism and the influence of the Soviet Union. At the Potsdam Conference in the summer of 1945, differences in how postwar Europe surfaced between Truman and Stalin.  This is particularly true of the question of the Polish border and the shape that postwar Germany would take. After the war, Truman adopted a policy of containment that would dominate American foreign policy for the better part of four decades.  The policy stated that the United States had an interest in stopping the spread of communism to new areas.  The Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan were also American financial commitments to aid economically distressed countries in an effort to stop the spread of communism.  Harry Truman put the containment policy into action when he committed troops to South Korea in response to communist aggression on that peninsula.  

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