Truman would send American troops to help the United Nations defend South Korea against aggression from the North. He would join other Western leaders in establishing a new alliance, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. They established NATO to provide for the joint defense of Europe and North America.

Truman and later presidents would make decisions to send large amounts of economic and military aid to countries around the world.

Many of these decisions were necessary because of America's new responsibilities after World War Two as leader of the Western world.

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You can find our series online with transcripts, MP3s, podcasts and pictures at voaspecialenglish.com. And you can follow us on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. I’m Steve Ember, inviting you to join us again next week for THE MAKING OF A NATION -- American history in VOA Special English.

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Contributing: David Jarmul

This was program #202. For earlier programs, type "Making of a Nation" in quotation marks in the search box at the top of the page.