Whan were the foreign policy successes, and what were the failures, of the Truman administration - Essay Example

There’s no even attitude to Truman’s foreign policy course. Some consider him as a president who surrendered millions of people to communism and sent thousands of Americans to death in Korea. Some believe that he contributed to the reconstruction of Europe and Japan, resisting Communism to the extent possible and creating NATO as body of collective security. To determine how successful or unsuccessful was international activities of Truman administration, we adopt the viewpoint of realist school which considers the U.S. as an ordinary country in pursue of self-interest the same way as other powerful countries.

Truman had to consider many issues in after-war period. Geo-political post-war landscape changed and the U.S had an opportunity to get a control of international situation of the day. On the other hand Truman had to consider how his foreign policy could effect domestic economic interests and influence public opinion of government officials, media and other powerful groups within the country. All in all Truman faced very difficult situation to handle. The competition between the Soviet Union and the United States began at the end of World War II.

Both of the states attempted to align the post-war international order with their interests. The focus of interest for the U.S. after the war was control over Europe, namely Truman was interested in Poland and future of Germany. Truman viewed Germany important to balance the power in Europe. Rising nuclear power of the U.S. gave Truman unprecedented confidence to “press European negotiations to impasse by refusing the Russians access to the Ruhr, rejecting even their low bid for $4 billion in industrial reparations, and withdrawing the Yalta accords.

” (Offner, 1999) However, Truman missed long-term benefits which he lost because of this policy. Zonal reparations, which America insisted on, hindered development of common economy for Germany and contributed to the further