Harry Truman, European Hunger, and the Cold War

Harry Truman was the hugely unpopular, embattled, pugnacious American president as World War II ended. He faced nationwide strikes, consumer unhappiness with continued price controls, and a Republican Party sensing a vulnerable Democrat in the White House. Abroad, his problems were, if anything, bigger: Soviet threats to Greece and Turkey, communist parties in Western Europe verging on political power, continued economic weakness, deepening hunger in many parts of the world. This chapter describes how Truman sought—with considerable success—to deal with these threats. With the Truman Doctrine and the Point 4 program, considerable help from the deeply conservative ex-president Herbert Hoover, and grudging financing from Congress, Truman found ways to weaken the communist threat in Europe. In the process, he succeeded in providing enough food relief to nearly end the threat of famine in Europe. The last hurdle was finding a way to spur European economic recovery.