was fired by Truman on insubordination charges. A cease fire was made in 1953. This reestablished the 38th parallel. During this war, the U.S. lost about 60,000 troops. What results did we get? No border changes, a small containment of Communism that probably would not have made much difference to the U.S. anyway. Only the death of Americans was gained.The next result of the Truman Doctrine was the Vietnam War. This was another Anti-Communist containment war. Ho Chi Minh had invaded South Vietnam. It began with the Gulf of Tonkin incident where Vietnamese Torpedo boats attacked U.S. destroyers. From there, more and more troops were poured into Vietnam. U.S. began bombing raids in 1965. By the end of` that year more than 200,000 troops were in Vietnam. In 1968, 525,000 troops were there. Several peace treaties were given by the U.S. but were refused by the Vietnamese. The Tet offensive renewed a slowing war effort and eventually led to the end of an all-out U.S. involvement in 1973. At the end of our withdrawal nearly 60,000 troops were killed and this time we had not even saved the country we were defending. The veterans received nearly no welcome because the public was not interested in fighting a war too far away to matter.One great event that has cause the U.S. to increase world aid and involvement was the collapse of the Soviet Union. We were then no longer fighting to contain Communism, but instead to maintain Democracy everywhere.The Truman Doctrine has impacted everyone in the U.S. and nearly every country in the world since 1947. Some critics rebuke the Doctrine: "Critics blamed involvement in Korea and Vietnam on the Truman Doctrine. Without the Doctrine the U.S. might have minded its own business." (McCullough, 571) While other critics argue: "Truman was trying to restore the European Balance of Power and had neither the intention nor the capability of policing the world." (McCullough, 571) He may have not had that intention,...
