Document Type
Thesis
Degree
Master of Arts (MA)
Major/Program
History
First Advisor's Name
William O. Walker III
First Advisor's Committee Title
Committee Chair
Second Advisor's Name
Rebecca Friedman
Third Advisor's Name
Kenneth Lipartito
Date of Defense
7-18-2002
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate how the Truman administration used fear to generate popular support for its Cold War foreign policies. Three issues were examined through the use of published government documents, personal memoirs, and weekly periodicals to assess the responses of the American public: the enactment of universal military training (UMT), the Soviet detonation of an atomic device, and the Truman administration's decision to build the hydrogen bomb. This study shows that the changing attitudes in the Truman administration toward the Soviet Union occurred in a climate of fear. Through press releases and by exerting influence on the media, the administration attempted to control the information the public received. Through the use of propaganda, the Truman administration pursued the implementation of UMT, generated fear of the Soviet Union after its detonation of the atomic bomb, and gained relative public support for the decision to build the hydrogen bomb.
Identifier
FI14050436
Recommended Citation
Barrella, Jessica Rose, "Fear and U.S. foreign policy during the Truman administration, 1945-1952" (2002). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1404.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1404
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