The Truman Doctrine was an American foreign policy whose stated purpose was to counter Soviet geopolitical expansion during the Cold War. It was announced to Congress by President Harry S. Truman on March 12, 1947, further developed on July 4, 1948, when he pledged to contain threats in Greece and Turkey. Direct American military force was not involved, but Congress appropriated financial aid to support the economies and militaries of Greece and Turkey. More the Truman Doctrine implied American support for other nations threatened by Soviet communism; the Truman Doctrine became the foundation of American foreign policy, led, in 1949, to the formation of NATO, a military alliance, still in effect. Historians use Truman's speech to date the start of the Cold War. Truman told Congress that "it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures." Truman contended that because totalitarian regimes coerced free peoples, they automatically represented a threat to international peace and the national security of the United States.

Truman made the plea in the midst of the Greek Civil War. He argued that if Greece and Turkey did not receive the aid, they would fall to communism with grave consequences throughout the region; because Turkey and Greece were historic rivals, it was considered necessary to help both even though the crisis in Greece was far more intense. Critics of the policy have observed that the governments of Greece and Turkey were themselves far from democratic at this time, neither were facing Soviet subversion in the spring of 1949. Historian Eric Foner writes that the Doctrine "set a precedent for American assistance to anticommunist regimes throughout the world, no matter how undemocratic, for the creation of a set of global military alliances directed against the Soviet Union."For years, the United Kingdom had supported Greece, but was now near bankruptcy and was forced to radically reduce its involvement. In February 1947, Britain formally requested for the United States to take over its role in supporting the royalist Greek government.

The policy won the support of Republicans who controlled Congress and involved sending $400 million in American money but no military forces to the region. The effect was to end the Greek revolt, in 1952, both Greece and Turkey joined NATO, a military alliance, to guarantee their stability; the Truman Doctrine was informally extended to become the basis of American Cold War policy throughout Europe and around the world. It shifted American foreign policy toward the Soviet Union from anti-fascism ally to a policy of containment of Soviet expansion as advocated by diplomat George Kennan, it was distinguished from rollback by implicitly tolerating the previous Soviet takeovers in Eastern Europe. At the conclusion of World War II, Turkey was pressured by the Soviet government to allow Russian shipping to flow through the Turkish Straits, which connected the Black Sea to the Mediterranean; as the Turkish government would not submit to the Soviet Union's requests, tensions arose in the region, leading to a show of naval force on the side of the Soviets.

Since British assistance to Turkey had ended in 1947, the U. S. dispatched military aid to ensure. Turkey received $100 million in economic and military aid and the U. S sent the aircraft carrier Franklin D. Roosevelt; the postwar period from 1946 started with a "multi-party period" and the Democratic Party government of Adnan Menderes. Seven weeks after the Axis powers abandoned Greece in October 1944, the British helped retake Athens from the victorious National Liberation Front, controlled by the Greek Communist Party; this began with a mass killing of unarmed EAM supporters known as the Dekemvriana on December 3. The leftists attempted to retaliate, but were outgunned by the British-backed government and subjected to the White Terror. With the full outbreak of civil war, guerrilla forces controlled by the Greek Communist Party sustained a revolt against the internationally recognized Greek government, formed after 1946 elections boycotted by the KKE; the British realized that the KKE were being directly funded by Josip Broz Tito in neighboring Yugoslavia.

In line with the Churchill-Stalin "percentages agreement", the Greek communists received no help from the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia provided them support and sanctuary against Stalin's wishes. By late 1946, Britain informed the United States that due to its own weakening economy, it could no longer continue to provide military and economic support to royalist Greece. In 1946–47, the United States and the Soviet Union moved from being wartime allies to Cold War adversaries; the breakdown of Allied cooperation in Germany provided a backdrop of escalating tensions for the Truman Doctrine. To Truman, the growing unrest in Greece began to look like a pincer movement against the oil-rich areas of the Middle East and the warm-water ports of the Mediterranean. In February 1946, Kennan, an American diplomat in Moscow, sent his famed "Long Telegram", which predicted the Soviets would only respond to force and that the best way to handle them would be through a long-term strategy of containment, stopping their geographical expansion.

After the British warned that they could no longer help Greece, following Prime Minister Konstantinos Tsaldaris's visit to Washington in December 1946 to ask for American assistance, the U. S. State Department formulated a plan. Aid would be given to both Turkey, to help cool the long-standing rivalry between them. American policy makers recognized the instability of the region, fearing that if Greec

The 2006 United States Senate election in Michigan was held November 7, 2006. Incumbent Democratic U. S. Senator Debbie Stabenow won re-election to a second term. Debbie Stabenow, incumbent U. S. Senator Mike Bouchard, Oakland County Sheriff Leonard Schwartz and economist David Sole, President of UAW Local 2334 Dennis FitzSimons, retiree Economic issues took front and center in the campaign, as Michigan's unemployment rate was one of the highest in the nation. In July 2006, unemployment in Michigan stood at 7%, compared with a 4.7% rate nationwide. Pessimism about the state's economic future had left Michigan ranked 49th nationally between 2000 and 2005 in retaining young adults. Since its peak, Detroit had lost over a million people. Bouchard claimed that the incumbent had accomplished nothing, dubbing her "Do-Nothing Debbie." President George W. Bush raised $1 million for Bouchard. Complete video of debate, October 15, 2006 Complete video of debate, October 18, 2006 From a long way out Stabenow looked like she might be vulnerable.

President Bush came to Michigan to campaign for Bouchard, raising over $1,000,000 dollars for him. However Bouchard never won a single poll. By October the Republican Party, started taking resources out of Michigan to focus on closer races ceding the race to Stabenow. Stabenow would go on to win the election capturing nearly 57% of the vote. Stabenow did well throughout Michigan, but performed better in populated cities like Detroit, Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo. Bouchard did win a typical Republican area, he won in many rural areas around the state. However Bouchard failed to put a dent in Stabenow's lead due to her strong performance in populated areas. Bouchard conceded to Stabenow at 9:58 P. M. EST; the following results are official. Stabenow for Senate Bouchard for Senate Schwartz for Senate Sole for Senate FitzSimons for Senate

The Hep Stars is the eponymous second studio album by Swedish pop group Hep Stars, released in December 1966 on Åke Gerhard's Olga Records. In contrast to their heavier and more rhythm and blues based sound of their debut album We And Our Cadillac, songs on The Hep Stars varies between pop on songs such as "Lady Lady" to psychedelia on "Consolation"; the album marks keyboardist Benny Andersson's songwriting debut, as five tracks on it are credited to him. "Isn't It Easy To Say" is the first collaboration by him and future ABBA-bandmate Björn Ulvaeus. It features two hit singles, "Wedding" and "Consolation", which both reached peak position on the Kvällstoppen chart for 4 and 10 weeks respectively; the album itself peaked at number 12 on the same chart. Which at the time was a huge feat for an album; this had only been achieved with the album Revolver by the Beatles