Harry S. Truman

==== Marshall Plan, Cold War, and China ====
[[File: Charles Griffith Ross.jpg|thumb|Truman's press secretary was his old friend [[Charles Griffith Ross]]. He had great integrity but, says Alonzo L. Hamby, as a senior White House aide he was, "A better newsman than news handler, he never established a policy of coordinating news releases throughout the executive branch, frequently bumbled details, never developed&nbsp;... a strategy for marketing the president's image and failed to establish a strong press office."{{sfn | Hamby |1995|p=310}}]]

As a [[Wilsonian]] internationalist, Truman supported Roosevelt's policy in favor of the creation of the United Nations and included [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] on the delegation to the first [[UN General Assembly]].{{sfn|Roosevelt|1961}} With the Soviet Union expanding its sphere of influence through Eastern Europe, Truman and his foreign policy advisors took a hard line against the USSR. In this, he matched U.S. public opinion which quickly came to believe the Soviets were intent upon world domination.{{sfn | Dallek|2008|pp=56–57}}

Although he had little personal expertise on foreign matters, Truman listened closely to his top advisors, especially [[George Marshall]] and [[Dean Acheson]]. The Republicans controlled Congress in 1947–1948, so he worked with their leaders, especially Senator [[Arthur H. Vandenburg]], chairman of the powerful Foreign Relations Committee.<ref>{{cite journal|first1=James M. |last1=McCormick|first2=Eugene R.|last2=Wittkopf|title=Bipartisanship, partisanship, and ideology in congressional-executive foreign policy relations, 1947–1988|journal=[[The Journal of Politics]]|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|location=Chicago, Illinois|volume=52|issue=4 |date=November 1990|pages=1077–1100|doi=10.2307/2131683 |jstor=2131683 |s2cid=154839304 |url=https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1026&context=pols_pubs }}</ref> He won bipartisan support for both the [[Truman Doctrine]], which formalized a policy of Soviet containment, and the [[Marshall Plan]], which aimed to help rebuild postwar Europe.{{sfn | Freeland|1970|p=90}}{{sfn|Roberts|2000}}

To get Congress to spend the vast sums necessary to restart the moribund European economy, Truman used an ideological argument, arguing that communism flourishes in economically deprived areas.{{sfn| Holsti | 1996 | p=214}} As part of the U.S. [[Cold War]] strategy, Truman signed the [[National Security Act of 1947]] and reorganized military forces by merging the [[United States Department of War|Department of War]] and the [[United States Department of the Navy|Department of the Navy]] into the National Military Establishment (later the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]]) and creating the [[United States Air Force|U.S. Air Force]]. The act also created the [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) and the [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]].{{sfn|Dallek|2008|pp=62–63}} On November 4, 1952, Truman authorized the official, though at the time, confidential creation of the [[National Security Agency]] (NSA).<ref>{{Cite web |title=National Security Agency/Central Security Service > Helpful Links > NSA FOIA > Declassification & Transparency Initiatives > Historical Releases > Truman |url=https://www.nsa.gov/Helpful-Links/NSA-FOIA/Declassification-Transparency-Initiatives/Historical-Releases/Truman/ |access-date=August 28, 2023 |website=www.nsa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Glass |first=Andrew |date=November 4, 2010 |title=The National Security Agency is established, Nov. 4, 1952 |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2010/11/the-national-security-agency-is-established-nov-4-1952-044671 |access-date=August 28, 2023 |website=POLITICO |language=en}}</ref>

Truman did not know what to do about China, where the [[Kuomintang|Nationalists]] and [[Chinese Communist Party|Communists]] were fighting a large-scale [[Chinese Civil War|civil war]]. The Nationalists had been major wartime allies and had large-scale popular support in the United States, along with a powerful lobby. [[Marshall Mission|General George Marshall spent most of 1946 in China]] trying to negotiate a compromise but failed. He convinced Truman the Nationalists would never win on their own and a very large-scale U.S. intervention to stop the Communists would significantly weaken U.S. opposition to the Soviets in Europe. By 1949, the Communists under [[Mao Zedong]] had won the civil war, the United States had a new enemy in Asia, and Truman came under fire from conservatives for [[Loss of China|"losing" China]].<ref>May, Ernest R. (2002) "1947–48: When Marshall Kept the U.S. out of War in China." ''Journal of Military History'' 66#4: 1001–1010. [http://www.marshallfoundation.org/newsroom/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/01/May-2002.pdf online]</ref>