<P> When a draft for Truman's address was circulated to policymakers, Marshall, Kennan, and others criticized it for containing excess "rhetoric ." Truman responded that, as Vandenberg had suggested, his request would only be approved if he played up the threat . </P> <P> On March 12, 1947, Truman appeared before a joint session of Congress . In his eighteen - minute speech, he stated: </P> <P> I believe 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 . </P> <P> I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way . </P>

In what five ways did the united states counter soviet threats to free nations