The purpose of this article is to examine the impact of the Greek crisis on the formulation of US containment strategy after World War II. The author considers the evolution of perceptions of American diplomats, military and intelligence officers on the communist threat to Greece in the early Cold War period. It follows from our analysis that US officials’ perception of the Greek crisis can be described using the groupthink theory. The article reveals the contribution of different levels of US state mechanism to the containment doctrine development. The process of preparation of President Truman’s Congress speech on March 12, 1947 is also examined. The author shows that one of the reasons for the Cold War was a distorted US perception of the Soviet policy. The article is based on the documents of the US National Archive and Records Administration, the CIA Electronic Reading Room, the digital Harry S. Truman Library and published sources.
|
