Asks 400 Million to Aid Greece and Turkey

             Congress Fight Likely But Approval Is Seen

             NEW POLICY SET UP

             President Blunt in Plea to Combat 'Coercion' as World Peril

             PLANS TO SEND MEN

             Goods and Skills Needed as Well as Money, He Tells Congress

                By Felix Belair Jr.

                Special to The New York Times

                Washington, March 12 - President Truman outlined a new foreign policy for the
                United States today. In a historic message to Congress, he proposed that this country intervene
                wherever necessary throughout the world to prevent the subjection of free peoples to
                Communist-inspired totalitarian regimes at the expense of their national integrity and importance.

                In a request for $400,000,000 to bolster the hard-pressed Greek and Turkish governments
                against Communist pressure, the President said the constant coercion and intimidation of free peoples
                by political infiltration amid poverty and strife undermined the foundations of world peace and
                threatened the security of the United States.

                Although the President refrained from mentioning the Soviet Union by name, there could be no
                mistaking his identification of the Communist state as the source of much of the unrest throughout the
                world. He said that, in violation of the Yalta Agreement, the people of Poland, Rumania and
                Bulgaria had been subjected to totalitarian regimes against their will and that there had been similar
                developments in other countries.

                Cardinal Points of Departure

                As the Senate and House of Representatives sat grim-faced but apparently determined on the
                course recommended by the Chief Executive, Mr. Truman made these cardinal points of departure
                from traditional American foreign policy:

                "I believe 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.

                "I believe that our help should be primarily through economic and financial aid which is essential to
                economic stability and orderly political processes."

                In addition to the $400,000,000 to be expended before June 30, 1948, the President asked
                Congress to authorize the detail of American civilian and military personnel to Greece and
                Turkey, upon the request of those countries. The proposed personnel would supervise the use of
                material and financial assistance and would train Greek and Turkish personnel in special skills.

                Lest efforts be made to cast him in the role of champion of things as they are, the President
                recognized that the world was not static and that the status quo was not sacred. But he warned that
                if we allowed changes in the status quo in violation of the United Nations Charter through such
                subterfuges as political infiltration, we would be helping to destroy the Charter itself.

                Aware of Broad Implications

                President Truman said he was fully aware of the "broad implications involved"
                if the United States went to the assistance of Greece and Turkey. He said
                that, while our aid to free peoples striving to maintain their independence
                would be primarily financial and economic, he reminded Congress that the
                fundamental issues involved were no different from those for which we fought
                a war with Germany and Japan.

                The standing ovation that marked the close of the President's address was
                echoing through the Capitol corridors as he left the building to motor to the
                National Airport, where he left by plane for Key West, Fla., for a four-day
                rest on orders of his personal physician, Brig. Gen. Wallace Graham.

                The President appeared tired from the ordeal of his personal appearance
                before the joint session, but evidently satisfied that the specific
                recommendations of his message, with its delineation of the implications of a
                new policy, had temporarily discharged the obligation of the Executive. It was
                the turn of Congress to make the next move.

                That move was not long in the making. Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg,
                chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, called a meeting of his group
                for tomorrow morning to consider the President's proposals. The House
                Foreign Affairs Committee was to consider the kindred $350,000,000
                appropriation for destitution relief in liberated countries.

                In the sharp and conflicting reaction to the President's program, many voices
                were raised on each side of the Capitol in approval and in criticism. However,
                there was little doubt that the vast majority in both houses would reflect the
                wishes of their leaders and go down the line for the new policy and the added
                financial responsibility it implied.

                Would Bar Any Coercion

                Apparently conscious of the advance demands by Senator Vandenberg and
                others that he set forth the full implications of his recommendations, President
                Truman explained that one of the primary objectives of our foreign policy had
                been the creation of conditions in which this and other nations would work out
                a way of life free from coercion by outside influences.

                It was to insure the peaceful development of nations, free from coercion, that
                the United States had taken a leading role in the establishment of the United
                Nations, Mr. Truman went on. And the United Nations was designed to
                provide a lasting freedom and independence for all its members.

                But these objectives could not be attained, said the President, "unless we are
                willing to help free peoples to maintain their free institutions and their national
                integrity against aggressive movements that seek to impose upon them
                totalitarian regimes."

                Anticipating criticism, not long in developing, that his proposals to lend
                $250,000,000 to Greece and $150,000,000 to Turkey would "by-pass the
                United Nations," Mr. Truman explained that, while the possibility of United
                Nations aid had been considered, the urgency and immediacy were such that
                the United Nations was not in a position to assist effectively.

                The President made it clear that the responsibilities he asked Congress to face
                squarely had developed suddenly because of the inability of Great Britain to
                extend help to either the Greek or Turkish Government after March 31. He
                said the British withdrawal by March 31 foreshadowed the imposition of
                totalitarian regimes by force in both countries unless the United States stepped
                in to support the existing Governments.

                The President reiterated that it was a serious course on which he was asking
                Congress to embark. But he said he would not ask it except that the
                alternative was much more serious. The United States contributed
                $341,000,000,000 toward the winning of World War II, the President
                recalled.

                Although there was a note of apology for the present Greek Government,
                which the President conceded had made mistakes, it was described as a
                freely elected one.

                The Greek government, he said, represents 85 per cent of the members of the
                Greek Parliament. He recalled that 692 American observers had been present
                in Greece when the Parliament was elected and had certified that the election
                represented a fair expression of the views of the Greek people.

                Although the President did not specify the allocation of the $400,000,000 it
                has been generally understood that the Administration intends to use
                $250,000,000 for Greece and $150,000,000 for Turkey. He asked further
                authority to permit the speediest and most effective translation of the funds
                into "needed commodities, supplies and equipment," which was taken to refer
                to the supply of surplus war equipment to the Greek Army out of United
                States Army supplies in Europe.