U.S. History 1877-Present 10.1: The Truman Doctrine

whether it was an external Soviet invasion or an internal rebellion by

communist groups. For example when the USSR supported communist rebels in

Greece and Turkey, Truman asked Congress to send money and military aid to help [Greece and Turkey appear over USSR flag]

Turkey and Greece beat the commies down. In return he got some Baklava! Another

thing the U.S. did was to create NATO - the North Atlantic Treaty Organization

in April 1949. No doubt NATO had a full plate, it was supposed to

keep its Western European member nations safe from Soviet invasion. It had to make

sure that fascist nationalism was stamped out in those nations and... it [Boot stand on 'fascism' and crushes it]

wanted to build unity amongst member nations. Of course Europe wasn't the only

place in the world that the U.S. was stressing out about, East and Southeast

Asia were both still kind of a mess after World War II. The Japanese

invasions of China the Philippines and Thailand hadn't done those nations any

favors. After the war China resumed the civil war between communists and

nationalists that had been going on before World War two started, and former [Footage of Mai Zedong]

colonies like French Indochina which we know today as Vietnam demanded their

freedom. So the superpowers took sides all over Asia, when Korea was divided after

the war the Soviet Union had control of the north while the U.S. had control of

the South. The Soviet Union supported the Chinese Communist led by Mao Zedong

while the U.S. supported the Chinese nationalists led by Chiang Kai-Shek and [USSR flag next to Mao and American flag next to Chiang]

the Soviets supported the communist Viet Minh in North Vietnam while the U.S.

installed a democratic government in South Vietnam. The U.S. decided in 1954

to make an Asian version of NATO which they called SEATO - The Southeast Asia

Treaty Organization. Well along with Britain and France and Pacific allies [SEATO logo]

Australia and New Zealand the U.S. included the Philippines, Thailand

and Pakistan as founding members. (Coughs) notice that there are only two Southeast

Asian members in that list.. Anyway the Philippines and Thailand joined because

they were worried about communism expanding out from China and North

Vietnam into their own nations. Pakistan joined mostly get cozy with the US which [Red circle depicting communism expands from China and covers the Philippines and Thailand]

it hoped would help in its order fights with India. The US and its Western Allies

as well as the Democratic powers in the region hoped that SEATO membership would [SEATO members stood together]

increase as other Southeast Asian Nations saw how sweet things were when

you sided with the U.S. but as Mick Jagger said you can't always get what you

want.. and Mick Jagger also said "where are me pants, I've gotta get on stage" [Mick Jagger with no clothes]

but that has nothing to do with this...