"I believe it must be the policy of the United States to support free 
peoples who are . . . resisting attempted subjugation. . . . "
 
    With these words, Harry S. Truman announced a profound shift 
in U.S. foreign policy toward the Soviet Union, from a position of 
strained alliance to one of containment. Many historians have traced 
the beginning of the Cold War to this decisive speech and its policy 
aftermath.

    In this work, Denise M. Bostdorff considers President Truman's 
address to a joint session of Congress on March 12, 1947. She 
focuses on the public and private language that influenced 
administration perceptions about the precipitating events in Greece 
and Turkey and explores the news management campaign that set 
the stage for Truman's speech. Bostdorff even examines how the 
president's health may have influenced his policy decision and how 
it affected his delivery of the address and campaign for 
congressional approval.

    After a rhetorical analysis of the Truman Doctrine speech, the 
book ends with Bostdorff's conclusions on its short- and long-term 
impact. She identifies themes announced by Truman that resound in 
U.S. foreign policy down to the present day, when George W. Bush 
has compared his policies in the war on terror to those of Truman 
and members of his administration have compared Bush to Truman.

    This important work is a major contribution to scholarship on the 
presidency, political science, and public rhetoric.

_________________________________________________________

DENISE M. BOSTDORFF is a professor of communication at The 
College of Wooster (Ohio). She is the author of The Presidency and 
the Rhetoric of Foreign Crisis and is also a contributor to two 
volumes in Texas A&M University Press's Presidential Rhetoric 
Series. Her Ph.D. is from Purdue University.


Library of Presidential Rhetoric


What people are saying about this book

 " . . . Bostdorff provides a well-written, thorough, and thoughtful 
analysis of the Truman Doctrine speech. She locates the speech in 
both its historical and institutional contexts, arguing forcefully for 
the pivotal role rhetoric plays in our public affairs. . . . "—Mary E. 
Stuckey, author, Slipping the Surly Bonds

"This talented author has written the first full-length rhetorical 
analysis of the most important document produced by the Truman 
Administration. . . . And she has done it the proper way. . . . This 
is the book on the subject."—Robert H. Ferrell, author of Harry S. 
Truman: A Life