When Harry Truman left the presidency he was had a terrible popularity rate and for years was rated as one of the least successful presidents in United States history. Becoming president after the death of FDR during World War II he surprisingly was re-elected for a second term in 1948. During his second term Truman would contribute to the start of the Cold War and left office highly regarded as one of the least popular presidents of all time. Many factors contributed to this, many having to do with the begging of the cold war.
After Truman's death in 1972 he started to get recognition has an honorable president. At the end of the cold war many argued that his policies and ideas at the begging were responsible for the war ending in U.S victory. It can be said that Truman was ahead of his time when it came to how he handled the start of the cold war. It can also be said that he got lucky with his policies and his mistakes did not cost him as much as they could have. In the end it seems his successes out did his failures and his public image is much stronger then it was when he was alive.
During the first stages of the Cold War many disapproved of Harry Truman and felt his mistakes in handling the situation were costly. Truman did make mistakes and miss-handled many situations at the begging of the War. One of his first failures can be his handling of Stalin and the polish government. Truman tried to “get tough” with Stalin and force him to allow free open elections in Poland which would have led to a democratic polish government and eventually another ally for the U.S. Stalin never budged and many felt it was due to Truman being weak. Truman was viewed as weak through out his second term by many people around him including Joseph McCarthy who accused Truman of allowing communist subversion in the U.S government. General Macarthur saw Truman has weak during the Korean War. The Korean War is another one of Truman's failures. The Korean War was an attempt to hold back North Korea from spreading their communist influence in to South Korea.
The war ended in the loss of many American lives and only to leave Korea in a stalemate close to were the war started. The Korean War was responsible for a rapid decline in Truman's public approval because he ended up firing General Macarthur for insubordination. Macarthur was a beloved General who was a world ware II hero. Another noted Truman Failure was that many felt he was responsible for the loss of China. Truman was criticized for getting involved in Chinas fight to retain its non communist government. Truman started to aid the Chiang Kai-shek led Chinese government who was fighting communism. Truman faltered because this was a weak corrupt group who had no chance to fight Mao Zedong's communist group who controlled much of china already. China eventually went to Mao and became communist. The blame was put on Truman by many Americans; china was the key to a communist free peaceful world. These failures and mistakes cost Truman the Public approval for the time he was in office and up and until his death.
Truman was very active in cold war strategy and he took many steps to develop a strategy that was reflected through out the rest of the Cold War. After World War II is became clear that the U.S would never feel safe or function freely as long as the Soviet Union was in control of Eastern Europe and was a strong communist power. Truman's first step against communist was the idea of containment. It is the idea that if the U.S could contain and isolate communism it would eventually fail and eliminate itself. The policy was introduced by George Kennan and was highly embraced by Truman.
Containment argued that the primary goal of the United States should be to prevent the spread of communism to non-communist nations; that is, to contain communism within its borders. This was a plan that would hopefully eventually eliminate any communist threat and it would become the basis for American foreign policy for years to come. The idea of stopping communism was very appealing to Truman because it was viewed as an enemy and a threat to America. Another policy Truman embraced was the Marshall plan. This plan was to send aid and relief to any European country that wanted it. All soviet free European countries accepted the aid. The purpose of this plan was to spark the European economy and rebuild the demolished region. Europe suffered greatly from destruction after World War II. The economy was in shamble and many people were homeless and starving. This plan was to help rebuild and help the people. Other motives for the Marshall Plan were to eliminate communist appeal in the highly vulnerable Western Europe and to spark the American economy through new European industry. Another action Truman led was the Berlin Air-lift.
