How were the Truman Doctrine and policy of containment implemented in the period 1947-61?

After World War II ended, the United States entered into a period of time where there were many conflicts and confrontations with the Soviet Union. These confrontations often dealt with the spread of communism. In what became known as the Cold War, the United States tried to prevent communism from spreading.

One way we tried to prevent communism from spreading was to help countries to keep their economies strong. As a result of the Truman Doctrine, we provided aid to Greece and Turkey to keep them from becoming communist. This aid was successful in accomplishing this goal. We also developed the European Recovery Program, which offered aid to any countries that were fighting the spread of communism.

We also used the policy of containment to stop the spread of communism to other places. When the Soviet Union imposed the Berlin Blockade to try to force us out of West Berlin by cutting off all land routes into West Berlin, we developed the Berlin Airlift to fly supplies into West Berlin. We continued the Berlin Airlift until the blockade was removed. We went to the United Nations after North Korea invaded South Korea in June 1950 in an attempt to unite Korea into one communist nation. The United Nations created a multi-national military force, led by the United States, to help South Korea. With this help, South Korea remained noncommunist.

When President Eisenhower took office, he modified the containment policy by developing the policies of massive retaliation and brinksmanship. These policies relied on a nuclear deterrent to keep communism from spreading. We built up our nuclear arsenal and threatened to use atomic weapons to prevent communism expansion into Taiwan and to end a conflict in the Middle East. Eisenhower also used these concepts to help bring a negotiated peace agreement to end the conflict in Korea.

There were several actions that were used to prevent the spread of communism from 1947-1961.