Truman's Speech To An American

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This extract comes from a speech delivered by President Truman in which justify America’s involvement in the Korean War and defends his wider foreign policy of global containment. This speech was delivered after the US public via the radio on the 11th of April 1951. The Korean War began on 25 June 1950 when the North Korean army invaded South Korea and the United States intervened soon after, following the vote of the United Nation’s Security Council, with a press release written by President Truman being sent out on the 30 June 1950. The date of April 1951 can be viewed as significant as Truman relieved Douglas MacArthur from his position as the leader of the United Nations Command in the Korean War. MacArthur was fired as he wanted to engage in all-out with China which contradicted with Truman’s policy of winding down the war effort to avoid triggering World War Three. This would shape the content of Truman’s speech as he would aim to defend his position regarding Korea as Truman had publicly undermined it by releasing a statement on 24 March which contradicted Truman. …show more content…
Truman uses historical events to add credence to America’s involvement in the Korean War by stating ‘if they had followed the right policies in the 1930s…there probably would have been no World War II.’ Truman was criticising the policy of appeasement that was employed by the Allies prior to the outbreak of World War Two. This suggests that Truman believed that intervening in Korea and defeating the Communists would prevent a potential world war from

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