The Cold War was the global conflict that dominated the twentieth century, and the strategy of containment was the U.S. response to the political, military, economic, and moral challenge posed by the Soviet Union. While surrounding himself with "wise men" such as George C. Marshall, Dean Acheson, and George F. Kennan, President Harry Truman was central to the new strategy and thus the subsequent remaking of both liberal internationalism and American foreign policy. How important was Truman in the critical period between 1945 and 1950? Was he the architect of containment or merely its administrator? What parts did top advisors play? What were the chief principles and policies of containment? Drawing on presidential archives and other primary sources, Elizabeth Edwards Spalding will illuminate Truman's understanding of foreign policy and his role in the Cold War and the strategy of containment, and consider the Truman legacy in the post-Cold War world and the war on terrorism.

Elizabeth Edwards Spalding is Assistant Professor of Government and Director of the Washington Program at Claremont McKenna College, where she teaches U.S. foreign policy and American government. The author of The First Cold Warrior: Harry Truman, Containment, and the Remaking of Liberal Internationalism (University Press of Kentucky, 2006), she has contributed to several volumes on the presidency and U.S. foreign policy and written for the Wilson Quarterly, Comparative Political Studies, Presidential Studies Quarterly, the Claremont Review of Books, and The Weekly Standard.

Session One

Focus: After Franklin Roosevelt's death in April 1945, Harry Truman was suddenly president. Many at the time considered him simplistic and unprepared, especially when it came to foreign policy, and had little hope that Truman could both win World War II and begin building a peaceful, prosperous postwar world. Truman's presidency quickly became defined by the Cold War, and again few thought he could meet the challenge. Truman went on to become our first cold warrior, and his approach underlay bipartisan foreign policy throughout the East-West conflict. In this session, we will explore Truman's understanding and framing of the Cold War and examine the main foreign policies of the first years of his presidency. How did Truman build on and depart from the liberal internationalism of Woodrow Wilson and FDR? What specifically distinguishes Truman's liberal internationalism? What were the core principles and goals embodied in the building blocks of containment: the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, and NATO? In what ways did Truman's thought and goals remain constant and develop over time?

Readings:

• Elizabeth Edwards Spalding, The First Cold Warrior: Harry Truman, Containment, and the Remaking of Liberal Internationalism (University Press of Kentucky, 2006), chapters 1-4, and 6.
• "Special Message to the Congress on Greece and Turkey: The Truman Doctrine," March, 12, 1947
• "St. Patrick's Day Address in New York City," March 17, 1948
• "Inaugural Address," January 20, 1949
• "Address on the Occasion of the Signing of the North Atlantic Treaty," April 4, 1949

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