Before the end of the World War Two, the relationship between the US, Britain and USSR went on very well. However, the attitudes of USSR and US had a big U-turn from the Potsdam conference since US saw the communists as a big threat to them. Eventually by early 1946, The Long Telegram laid the basis for the policy of containment against communism.One specific reason why there was such a big change from the Potsdam conference is that the leaders of Britain and the US were different. Harry Truman who had been working as the vice president before the death of Franklin Roosevelt was now the US president. However, Truman wasn't prepared ...view middle of the document...
The US was a very democratic and capitalist country, but on the other side, the USSR had the communist system. The idea of communism meant economical corruption to Truman and American people. George Kennan, Deputy Chief of Mission in the US Embassy in Moscow, sent the Long Telegram to Truman in February 1946 and it analyzed the Soviet foreign policy which emphasis on the role of communist ideology. Kennan saw the leadership of the USSR as suspicious and aggressive, threatening the USA. When Truman read this, he's attitude towards Soviet Union was then even stronger. He wanted to safeguard US's interest, so the basis of Containment was set up. He also didn't want the mistake that Chamberlain did in the past decade to go over again; he's policy was "Iron Fist" against appeasement to avoid another Hitler.Secondly, the East European countries, which were agreed to be under USSR control during the Yalta conference in 1945 between Roosevelt and Stalin mainly, had no democracy at all. The elections they had were all unreliable under the coalition parties to support communists. The Four Freedoms and democracy that the USA was fighting for, which Truman didn't see in Albania and Bulgaria, was therefore under threats. The Four Freedoms were: Freedom from Want, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religious Belief and Freedom of Fear.These events have eventually built up the policy of containment to bring a high international tension between countries. Later, the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan was used against the USSR.
