President Harry Truman’s address to Congress on March 12, 1947, (Truman, a Democrat, was inaugurated on April 12, 1945) marked the start of the Truman Doctrine, which defined the U.S.’s attempts to contain the spread of communism. In a speech pledging financial support for Turkey and Greece, he said: ” ‘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. I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way. I believe that our help should be primarily through economic and financial aid which is essential to economic stability and orderly political processes.'”
– President Harry Truman, “Address of the President of the United States–‘Recommendation for Assistance to Greece and Turkey,'” March 12, 1947, Avalon Project, Avalon.Yale.edu, Accessed on 1/13/2016