President Harry S Truman
Special Message to the Congress on Greece and Turkey
The Truman Doctrine
12 March 1997
(As delivered in person before a joint session of Congress)
Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Congress of the United States:
The gravity of the situation which confronts the world today necessitates
my appearance before a joint session
of the Congress.
The foreign policy and the national security of this country are involved.
One aspect of the present situation, which I present to you at this
time for your consideration and decision,
concerns Greece and Turkey.
The United States has received from the Greek Government an urgent appeal
for financial and economic
assistance. Preliminary reports from the American Economic Mission
now in Greece corroborate the statement
of the Greek Government that assistance is imperative if Greece is
to survive as a free nation.
I do not believe that the American people and the Congress wish to turn
a deaf ear to the appeal of the Greek
Government.
Greece is not a rich country. Lack of sufficient natural resources has
always forced the Greek people to work
hard to make both ends meet. Since 1940, this industrious, peace loving
country has suffered invasion, four
years of cruel enemy occupation, and bitter internal strife.
When forces of liberation entered Greece they found that the retreating
Germans had destroyed virtually all the
railways, roads, port facilities, communications, and merchant marine.
More than a thousand villages had been
burned. Eighty-five percent of the children were tubercular. Livestock,
poultry, and draft animals had almost
disappeared. Inflation had wiped out practically all savings.
As a result of these tragic conditions, a militant minority, exploiting
human want and misery, was able to create
political chaos which, until now, has made economic recovery impossible.
Greece is today without funds to finance the importation of those goods
which are essential to bare
subsistence. Under these circumstances the people of Greece cannot
make progress in solving their problems
of reconstruction. Greece is in desperate need of financial and economic
assistance to enable it to resume
purchases of food, clothing, fuel and seeds. These are indispensable
for the subsistence of its people and are
obtainable only from abroad. Greece must have help to import the goods
necessary to restore internal order
and security so essential for economic and political recovery.
The Greek Government has also asked for the assistance of experienced
American administrators,
economists and technicians to insure that the financial and other aid
given to Greece shall be used effectively in
creating a stable and self-sustaining economy and in improving its
public administration.
The very existence of the Greek state is today threatened by the terrorist
activities of several thousand armed
men, led by Communists, who defy the government’s authority at a number
of points, particularly along the
northern boundaries. A Commission appointed by the United Nations Security
Council is at present
investigating disturbed conditions in northern Greece and alleged border
violations along the frontier between
Greece on the one hand and Albania, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia on the
other.
Meanwhile, the Greek Government is unable to cope with the situation.
The Greek army is small and poorly
equipped. It needs supplies and equipment if it is to restore authority
to the government throughout Greek
territory.
Greece must have assistance if it is to become a self-supporting and self-respecting democracy.
The United States must supply this assistance. We have already extended
to Greece certain types of relief and
economic aid but these are inadequate.
There is no other country to which democratic Greece can turn.
No other nation is willing and able to provide the necessary support for a democratic Greek government.
The British Government, which has been helping Greece, can give no further
financial or economic aid after
March 31. Great Britain finds itself under the necessity of reducing
or liquidating its commitments in several
parts of the world, including Greece.
We have considered how the United Nations might assist in this crisis.
But the situation is an urgent one
requiring immediate action, and the United Nations and its related
organizations are not in a position to extend
help of the kind that is required.
It is important to note that the Greek Government has asked for our
aid in utilizing effectively the financial and
other assistance we may give to Greece, and in improving is public
administration. It is of the utmost
importance that we supervise the use of any funds made available to
Greece, in such a manner that each dollar
spent will count toward making Greece self-supporting, and will help
to build an economy in which a healthy
democracy can flourish.
No government is perfect. One of the chief virtues of a democracy, however,
is that its defects are always
visible and under democratic processes can be pointed out and corrected.
The government of Greece is not
perfect. Nevertheless it represents 85 percent of the members of the
Greek Parliament who were chosen in an
election last year. Foreign observers, including 692 Americans, considered
this election to be a fair expression
of the views of the Greek people.
The Greek Government has been operating in an atmosphere of chaos and
extremism. It has made mistakes.
The extension of aid by this country does not mean that the United
States condones everything the Greek
Government has done or will do. We have condemned in the past, and
we condemn now, extremist measures
of the right or the left. We have in the past advised tolerance, and
we advise tolerance now.
Greece’s neighbor, Turkey, also deserves our attention.
The future of Turkey as an independent and economically sound state
is clearly no less important to the
freedom-loving peoples of the world than the future of Greece. The
circumstances in which Turkey finds itself
today are considerably different from those of Greece. Turkey has been
spared the disasters that have beset
Greece. And during the war, the United States and Great Britain furnished
Turkey with material aid.
Nevertheless, Turkey now needs our support.
Since the war Turkey has sought additional financial assistance from
Great Britain and the United States for the
purpose of effecting that modernization necessary for the maintenance
of its national integrity.
That integrity is essential to the preservation of order in the Middle East.
The British Government has informed us that, owing to its own difficulties,
it can no longer extend financial or
economic aid to Turkey.
As in the case of Greece, if Turkey is to have the assistance it needs,
the United States must supply it. We are
the only country able to provide that help.
I am fully aware of the broad implications involved if the United States
extends assistance to Greece and
Turkey, and I shall discuss these implications with you at this time.
One of the primary objectives of the foreign policy of the United States
is the creation of conditions in which we
and other nations will be able to work out a way of life free from
coercion. This was a fundamental issue in the
war with Germany and Japan. Our victory was won over countries which
sought to impose their will, and their
way of life, upon other nations.
To ensure the peaceful development of nations, free from coercion, the
United States has taken a leading part
in establishing the United Nations. The United Nations is designed
to make possible lasting freedom and
independence for all its members. We shall not realize our objectives,
however, unless we are willing to help
free peoples to maintain their free institutions and their national
integrity against aggressive movements that
seek to impose upon them totalitarian regimes. This is no more than
a frank recognition that totalitarian
regimes imposed upon free peoples, by direct or indirect aggression,
undermine the foundations of
international peace and hence the security of the United States.
The peoples of a number of countries of the world have recently had
totalitarian regimes forced upon them
against their will. The Government of the United States has made frequent
protests against coercion and
intimidation, in violation of the Yalta Agreement, in Poland, Rumania,
and Bulgaria. I must also state that in a
number of other countries there have been similar developments.
At the present moment in world history nearly every nation must choose
between alternative ways of life. The
choice is too often not a free one.
One way of life is based upon the will of the majority, and is distinguished
by free institutions, representative
government, free elections, guarantees of individual liberty, freedom
of speech and religion, and freedom from
political oppression.
The second way of life is based upon the will of a minority forcibly
imposed upon the majority. It relies upon
terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio, fixed elections,
and the suppression of personal freedoms.
I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.
I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way.
I believe that our help should be primarily through economic and financial
aid which is essential to economic
stability and orderly political processes.
The world is not static, and the status quo is not sacred. But we cannot
allow changes in the status quo in
violation of the Charter of the United Nations by such methods as coercion,
or by such subterfuges as political
infiltration. In helping free and independent nations to maintain their
freedom, the United States will be giving
effect to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
It is necessary only to glance at a map to realize that the survival
and integrity of the Greek nation are of grave
importance in a much wider situation. If Greece should fall under the
control of an armed minority, the effect
upon its neighbor, Turkey, would be immediate and serious. Confusion
and disorder might well spread
throughout the entire Middle East.
Moreover, the disappearance of Greece as an independent state would
have a profound effect upon those
countries in Europe whose people are struggling against great difficulties
to maintain their freedoms and their
independence while they repair the damages of war.
It would be an unspeakable tragedy if these countries, which have struggled
so long against overwhelming
odds, should lose that victory for which they sacrificed so much. Collapse
of free institutions and loss of
independence would be disastrous not only for them but for the world.
Discouragement and possible failure
would quickly be the lot of neighboring peoples striving to maintain
their freedom and independence.
Should we fail to aid Greece and Turkey in this fateful hour, the effect
will be far reaching to the West as well as
to the East.
We must take immediate and resolute action.
I therefore ask the Congress to provide authority for assistance to
Greece and Turkey in the amount of
$400,000,000 for the period ending June 30, 1948. In requesting these
funds, I have taken into consideration
the maximum amount of relief assistance which would be furnished to
Greece out of the $350,000,000 which I
recently requested that the Congress authorize for the prevention of
starvation and suffering in countries
devastated by the war.
In addition to funds, I ask the Congress to authorize the detail of
American civilian and military personnel to
Greece and Turkey, at the request of those countries, to assist in
the tasks of reconstruction, and for the
purpose of supervising the use of such financial and material assistance
as my be furnished. I recommend that
authority also be provided for the instruction and training of selected
Greek and Turkish personnel.
Finally, I ask that the Congress provide authority which will permit
the speediest and most effective use, in terms
of needed commodities, supplies, and equipment, of such funds as may
be authorized.
If further funds, or further authority, should be needed for the purposes
indicated in this message, I shall not
hesitate to bring the situation before the Congress. On this subject
the Executive and Legislative branches of
Government must work together.
This is a serious course upon which we embark.
I would not recommend it except that the alternative is much more serious.
The United States contributed $341,000,000,000 toward winning World
War II. This is an investment in world
freedom and world peace.
The assistance that I am recommending for Greece and Turkey amounts
to little more than 1/10 of 1 percent of
this investment. It is only common sense that we should safeguard this
investment and make sure that it was not
in vain.
The seeds of totalitarian regimes are nurtured by misery and want. They
spread and grow in the evil soil of
poverty and strife. They reach their full growth when the hope of a
people for a better life has died.
We must keep that hope alive.
The free peoples of the world look to us for support in maintaining their freedoms.
If we falter in our leadership, we may endanger the peace of the world
– and we shall surely endanger the
welfare of this Nation.
Great responsibilities have been placed upon us by the swift movement of events.
I am confident that the Congress will face these responsibilities squarely.