The Truman Doctrine has impacted everyone in the U.S. and nearly every country in the world since its declaration in 1947. Some critics castigate the Doctrine: "Critics blamed involvement in Korea and Vietnam on the Truman Doctrine. Without the Doctrine . . . the U.S. might have minded its own business." (McCullough, 571) While other critics argue: " Truman was trying to restore the European Balance of Power and had neither the intention nor the capability of policing the world." (McCullough, 571) He may have not had that intention, but that is exactly the Doctrine's ramification. All over the world U.S. troops sit waiting to protect Democracy. The Truman Doctrine ensures that even without a valid threat to U.S. security we must waste American lives to "protect the free peoples of the World." (McCullough, 571) Would the world have been a worse place if we had not acted to protect South Korea and South Vietnam? Would the U.S.S.R. have fallen due to its own economic instability and only fleeting control over its massive population? These questions can be cogitated but never answered. One thing is certain, people should not die for a cause that is nonexistent, or one that could have destroyed itself....
