Truman Doctrine

1947

Before a joint session of Congress, the President announced the new Truman Doctrine, ushering in an era of intense intervention on behalf of states with liberal economic and political institutions. Truman stated “I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” The Truman Doctrine was prompted by the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from its traditional great power role in the Near East. The immediate effect of the doctrine was a massive influx of military and economic aid to Greece and Turkey.

Time: Early War
Side: US
Ops: 1
Removed after event: Yes

As USSR

Experienced USSR players see Truman more as a deterrent than a threat.  You must be careful not to engage in an Ops war when you cannot account for its location: many a USSR player has overinvested into France only to see the President wipe out all of your hard work in one fell swoop.

If you draw Truman Doctrine, it’s not hard to dispose of.  Just make sure that you don’t have much influence in an uncontrolled country and it’s a null event.  If you have to get rid of an influence in Finland, oh well.  This becomes quite problematic after Independent Reds, when it will always have at least some impact, so try to get rid of Truman as soon as you possibly can.  Be thankful you drew it and not the US.

In rare circumstances where you cannot safely play Truman Doctrine, consider using Five Year Plan if you have it.  If you play Five Year Plan with only Truman Doctrine in your hand, you now have 3 Ops to deal with the President instead of just 1.

As US

After drawing Truman Doctrine, the US player should try to make something happen with it instead of holding onto it for later. This is because Truman Doctrine is nigh-useless in the USSR’s hands, and Truman is one of the few ways for the US to establish initiative in the Early War.  This normally means a AR7 play: break control of France, hold Truman Doctrine, and then headline it next turn.  (An example of this play: Annotated Game #1, Turn 2, AR6.)  It’s also possible (and much more rewarding) to pull this off against East Germany, but USSR players normally overprotect East Germany and make uncontrolling it much more difficult.

If you really can’t make anything happen with Truman, hope to draw it in the Late War.  Its power amplifies significantly when combined with all the other US Late War Europe events, so if you draw it with Chernobyl or Tear Down This Wall you can set off some real fireworks.

You can also engage in some Turn 1 shenanigans with Truman.  Against a USSR setup of 3 EGER / 3 POL / 4 FIN, place 1 influence into Finland and headline Truman to wipe out Finland.  Now De-Stalinization is pretty safe to play, since he has few good countries to move influence out of, and East European Unrest actually becomes relevant.  Ordinarily, though, the USSR won’t do such a rash opening setup, and in any event I prefer to hang onto Truman to try to do more damage with him elsewhere.