How in line with Roosevelt does the text suggest Truman was?
The text suggests that, initially, Truman’s approach was more like
Roosevelt’s, but in reality, he continued Roosevelt’s fundamental policy
line with a firmer, more assertive tone once he had greater leverage
(especially the atomic bomb).
Firstly, Truman had the same fundamental objective as Roosevelt. The
text states that “the President’s decision to delay a confrontation with
Stalin implied no abandonment of this fundamental approach.” Truman
still aimed, as Roosevelt had, to secure a postwar Europe that was
politically and economically stable, with “reasonably representative and
Western-oriented governments.”
Furthermore, both Roosevelt and Truman recognised that the USSR would
dominate parts of Eastern Europe (“American policy makers
acknowledged… that ‘spheres of influence do in fact exist’”). Roosevelt
had endorsed this arrangement at Yalta, and Truman did not reverse it.
However, there are also some points of difference such as Truman’s firmer
tone. The text says Truman’s temporary tone had “been set aside only as
a tactical manoeuvre as the President awaited the outcome of the atomic
test.” Once the bomb was ready, he felt able “to take the offensive.”
How did Roosevelt’s death and Truman taking power change this?
Truman’s arrival did bring an early and concrete shift in policy from non-
involvement (Roosevelt’s approach) to limited but active intervention in
the Balkans.
Under Roosevelt, the text states that Roosevelt had chosen to stay out of
Balkan conflicts in “it was wise not to get into the Balkan mess … we have
taken that policy right from the beginning, Mr. Roosevelt having done it
himself.” This confirms that Roosevelt’s wanted to avoid confrontation in
the region.
However, with Truman, there was “a reversal of viewpoint.” The passage
says the State Department seized Roosevelt’s death as an opportunity to
persuade the new President to act in Eastern Europe and to implement
Yalta’s ideals of democratic governments and free elections. Although
Secretary Stimson warned against a “stampede into a Balkan row,”
Truman ultimately sided with the State Department, not Stimson. By late
May, he authorised visible military moves, described in “Truman had
moved five divisions to the Brenner Pass and had shifted part of the
Adriatic fleet north in a show of power which forced Tito to accept Western
control of the important port.”
Truman’s leadership quickly produced a real policy shift from Roosevelt’s
passive acceptance of Soviet control to active containment, at least in
