Stalin Chokes on the Truman Doctrine
President Truman’s March 1947 address to a joint session of Congress outlines a new approach to US foreign policy, which would become known as the Truman Doctrine. By pledging US economic and military assistance to nations resisting communism, either by internal insurrection or by foreign influence, Truman’s speech is the first major commitment of the United States to a policy of containment. Both the text and an recording of Truman’s address are available from the Miller Center at the University of Virginia.