Share
Foreign Exchange
In February 1947, U.S. President Harry Truman huddled with his most senior foreign policy advisers, George Marshall and Dean Acheson, and a handful of congressional leaders. The topic was the administration’s plan to aid the Greek government in its fight against a communist insurgency. Marshall and Acheson presented their case for the plan.
Arthur Vandenberg, chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, listened closely and then offered his support with a caveat. “The only way you are going to get what you want,” he reportedly told the president, “is to make a speech and scare the hell out of the country.”
Over the next few months, Truman did just that. He turned the civil war in Greece into a test of the United States’ ability to confront international communism. Reflecting on Truman’s expansive rhetoric about aiding democracies anywhere, anytime, Acheson confessed in his memoirs that the administration had made an argument “clearer than truth.”
By Fareed Zakaria
RELATED TOPICS:
Former Bulldog QB Jake Haener: I Have a ‘Rare Form of Skin Cancer’
1 hour ago
The Many Names of GOP Vice Presidential Nominee JD Vance
2 hours ago
Companies Cut Prices to Boost Sales, Consumers Respond
2 hours ago
Warner Bros. Discovery Sues NBA for Not Accepting Its Matching Offer
3 hours ago
Will Bonta Election Lawsuit Reverse the Will of Fresno County Voters?
3 hours ago
Opening Ceremony Floats Down Seine as Paris Investigates Rail Sabotage
4 hours ago
Fresno Man Sentenced to 29 Years for Sexually Assaulting Children and Dog