March 12, 1947: Truman Doctrine and the Cold War

DATELINE: MARCH 12, 1947 -  The Truman Doctrine was a policy set forth by the U.S. President Harry Truman in a speech on March 12, 1947 stating that the U.S. would support Greece and Turkey with economic and military aid to prevent their falling into the Soviet sphere.^[Historians often consider it as the start of the Cold War, and the start of the containment policy to stop Soviet expansion.

President Harry S. Truman told Congress the Doctrine was "the policy of the United States to support free people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” Truman reasoned, because these "totalitarian regimes" coerced "free peoples", they represented a threat to international peace and the national security of the United States. Truman made the plea amid the crisis of the Greek Civil War (1946–1949). He argued that if Greece and Turkey did not receive the aid that they urgently needed, they would inevitably fall to communism with grave consequences throughout the region. Because Turkey and Greece were historic rivals, it was necessary to help both equally, even though the threat to Greece was more immediate.

For years Britain had supported Greece, but was now near bankruptcy and was forced to radically reduce its involvement. In February 1947, Britain formally requested the United States take over its role in supporting the Greek government.

The policy won the support of Republicans who controlled Congress and involved sending $400 million in American money, but no military forces, to the region. The effect was to end the Communist threat, and in 1952 both countries (Greece and Turkey) joined NATO, a military alliance that guaranteed their protection.

The Doctrine was informally extended to become the basis of American Cold War policy throughout Europe and around the world. It shifted American foreign policy toward the Soviet Union from détente (a relaxation of tension) to a policy of containment of Soviet expansion as advocated by diplomat George Kennan.

Tiananmen Square Massacre, June 4, 1989

Dateline: June 4, 1989. Tiananmen Square massacre. The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, also known as the June Fourth Incident in Chinese, were a series of demonstrations in and near Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China beginning on 15 April 1989.

In the late 1970s, the Chinese leadership of Deng Xiaoping implemented economic reforms, transitioning the nation from Maoist Communism into a "socialist market economy". By the late 1980s, grievances over inflation, limited career prospects for students, and corruption of the party elite were growing rapidly. Internationally, Communist governments were losing their grip on power in Eastern Europe. In April 1989, spurred by the death of deposed Communist Party General Secretary Hu Yaobang, mass gatherings and protests took place in and around Tiananmen Square. By 13 May there were over half a million protesters. The largely student-run demonstrations aimed for continued economic reform and liberalization,and eventually evolved into a mass movement for political reform and freedom of the press.Peaceful protests also occurred in other cities, such as Shanghai and Wuhan, while looting and rioting broke out in Xi'an and Changsha.

The movement lasted seven weeks after Hu's death on 15 April. Party authorities declared martial law on 20 May, but no military action took place until 4 June. Contrary to popular perceptions of the event, the violence did not occur during the protests on the actual square, but in the streets of Beijing, as the People's Liberation Army proceeded through the city to Tiananmen Square, using live fire, to clear the square of protestors. Major roles in sending the army to the protesters were played by Deng Xiaoping, Li Xiannian, Wang Zhen, Bo Yibo, Peng Zhen, Li Peng, and later, Yang Shangkun. The exact number of civilian deaths is not known, and the majority of estimates range from several hundred to thousands

There was widespread international condemnation of the government's use of force against the protesters.Western governments imposed economic sanctions and arms embargoes in response. Following 4 June, the government conducted widespread arrests of protesters and their supporters, cracked down on other protests around China, banned the foreign press from the country and strictly controlled coverage of the events in the domestic press. The Communist Party initiated a large-scale campaign to purge officials deemed sympathetic to the protests, and several senior officials, most notably Party General Secretary Zhao Ziyang, were placed under house arrest. The aftermath of the protests strengthened the power of socialist hardliners within the party opposed to Deng, and delayed further Chinese market reforms until Deng Xiaoping's 1992 southern tour.



In February 1987, the EDSA Revolution peacefully placed into power widow Cory Aquinoas the first female president of the Philippines. Ironically, in December 1990 Aquino welcomed the Chinese premier, Li Peng, to Manila after earlier having suspended official contacts in the wake of the June 1989 violence around Beijing's Tiananmen Square.