Denise Bostdorff featured on BBC’s The Forum for expertise on Truman Doctrine

Denise Bostdorff, professor of communication studies at The College of Wooster, served as a featured guest on The Forum, the flagship discussion program of BBC World Service in an episode of the podcast looking back at the Truman Doctrine and the start of the Cold War in honor of the 75th anniversary of the policy set forth in March 1947 in President Harry S. Truman’s address to the U.S. Congress. Bostdorff, who has done extensive research on crisis rhetoric in politics, offered her expertise on the Truman Doctrine, a subject she published a book about in 2008. She spoke with BBC from the sound studio in Wooster’s Digital Studio. She was joined on the podcast by historians Melvyn Leffler, Edward Stettinius Professor of History Emeritus at University of Virginia, and Vladislav Zubok, professor of international history at The London School of Economics and Political Science.  

“The Truman Doctrine speech was really part of a concerted crisis campaign that set the stage for routine episodes of what I would call presidential foreign crisis promotion and management in the decades that followed,” says Bostdorff, referencing the ability of rhetoric not only to persuade audiences but also to shape perceptions of reality. Coming two years after the end of World War II as President Harry Truman appealed for support in aiding the increasingly threatened democratic government of Greece, many historians attribute Truman’s address to the United States Congress in March 1947 as the start of the Cold War. The discussion in the episode, broadcast on Thursday, April 7, detailed how the speech and the policy were shaped by misunderstandings and exaggerated fears. “The Truman Doctrine’s depictions of these threatening scenes, promotion of insecurity, insistence that the U.S. must act immediately, have occurred regularly in the foreign policy and rhetoric of Cold War presidents who followed Truman, as well as later presidents,” says Bostdorff.  

Bostdorff expanded on the ideas shared on The Forum in an article she wrote for The Conversation by drawing parallels between the Truman Doctrine rhetoric on Greece and President Joe Biden’s early rhetoric on the Russia-Ukraine war. “[President Biden] is not the first U.S. president to face the challenge of mobilizing a nation to support—but not join—a war about democracy that carried the potential for wider conflict,” she wrote, explaining that familiarity with Truman’s language can add to understanding of Biden’s approach 75 years later. Both leaders used plain words to “appeal to Americans to support another nation’s independence, while simultaneously avoiding language that could spark further conflict.” 

Published April 7, 2022

Posted in News on April 7, 2022.