How did Truman and Eisenhower's foreign policies compare? Explain.

Answer: Truman and Eisenhower's foreign policies both focused on containing the spread of communism during the early years of the Cold War but differed in their approaches and the strategies they employed.

Truman's foreign policy is often associated with the Truman Doctrine and containment. In 1947, Truman declared that it would be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures, which was a direct response to the threat of Soviet expansion into Greece and Turkey. The Marshall Plan, another key element of Truman’s foreign policy, provided economic assistance to help rebuild Western European economies in the hopes of preventing the spread of communism.

Moreover, Truman was instrumental in the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949, a military alliance aimed at countering Soviet power in Europe. The Korean War (1950-1953) also fell under Truman's watch, which saw the U.S. leading a United Nations force in support of South Korea against the communist North Korea and its Chinese allies.

Eisenhower, who became President in 1953, continued the policy of containment but with a somewhat different strategy known as "massive retaliation." This policy suggested that the United States would respond to communist threats not just with conventional forces, but also with nuclear weapons if necessary. This was part of his New Look defense policy, which aimed at deterring the Soviet Union and reducing military spending by relying more heavily on nuclear arms.

Eisenhower also launched the doctrine named after him, the Eisenhower Doctrine, which extended the Truman Doctrine to the Middle East, pledging U.S. support to regional countries resisting communism. Furthermore, under Eisenhower’s administration, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) became more active in covert operations to prevent the spread of communism in places like Iran and Guatemala.