The Cold War and Civil Rights 249the voting habits of union members. Those who had voted Republican
in the past now switched to the Democratic Party.
Th e Co ld Wa r between the Soviet Union and the West intensi-
fied in early 1947 , when the Russians lent their support to a communist-led
rebellion against the Greek government and demanded territory from
Turkey and the right to construct naval bases in the Bosporus. Presi-
dent Truman responded promptly by asking Congress to appropriate
$ 400 million for military and economic aid to Greece and Turkey. “I
believe,” he declared, in what would be called the Truman Doctrine,
“that it must be the foreign policy of the United States to support free
peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities
or by outside pressures.” Through an amendment proposed by Senator
Arthur H. Vandenberg to the effect that the United States would with-
draw its aid to Greece and Turkey when the Security Council of the
United Nations gave evidence that it could act and resolve the matter,
the Greek and Turkish Aid measure passed Congress overwhelmingly
in May 1947. This bill marked a radical departure from traditional
American foreign policy. It was a clear statement that the United States
would not stand idly by as Europe attempted to recover from World
War II and the Soviet Union sought to expand its power and infl uence
worldwide. Truman’s speech defi ned the communist threat as a global
danger and became the future rationale for U.S. military intervention
in both Europe and Southeast Asia. The assistance given to both Tur-
key and Greece helped those countries fight off Russian pressure, and
the Greek civil war ended in 1949.
But the near-disasters that had developed in Turkey and Greece
could not compare to the problem facing the countries of Western Eu-
rope. France, England, Italy, and Germany, among others, faced bank-
ruptcy, and in France and Italy their dire predicament was a clear signal
of a possible communist takeover. The United States had already pro-
vided some assistance in the form of loans, but it was not enough. The
new Secretary of State, George C. Marshall, then devised a plan,
which he outlined in a speech at Harvard University on June 5 , 1947 , by
which the United States would assist European nations to rebuild their
shattered economies, provided they came up with a comprehensive