In what year did the Truman Doctrine articulate U.S. policy?

• A. 1945
• B. 1947
• C. 1950
• D. 1960

Answer: (B)

The key idea here is containment—the idea that the United States would actively oppose the spread of communism and support free peoples resisting outside pressure. The Truman Doctrine articulated this approach in 1947, when President Harry S. Truman asked Congress for aid to Greece and Turkey. He argued that the U.S. should help nations threatened by subjugation or subversion by armed minorities or outside forces, to prevent the spread of Soviet influence.

This moment signaled a shift from wartime cooperation with other powers to an ongoing, proactive American foreign policy during the early Cold War. It laid the groundwork for later actions like the Marshall Plan and a broader strategy of containment.

Why the other dates don’t fit: 1945 is the end of World War II and predates the explicit policy framework of containment. 1950 is associated with the start of the Korean War, which tested containment but did not mark the articulation of the doctrine itself. 1960 is well into the Kennedy era, long after the Truman Doctrine introduced the policy.