ABSTRACT
Starting with the proclamation of the Truman Doctrine in March 1947, and continuing for the next three years, the term was widely used by political figures across the political spectrum. In late January, Henry Wallace traveled to England, where he projected himself into an ongoing political controversy. He aligned himself and his followers with Richard Crossman and Koni Zilliacus, left-wing critics of the British Labor government's foreign policy, which, like that of the United States, was becoming increasingly anti-Soviet. Truman's rhetoric conferred the ultimate legitimacy on the term "totalitarianism" in the American political lexicon, as well as making the struggle against it the order of the day. Chester Bowles expressed what was later described as "the new spirit of Cold-War liberalism" in an opening address at the ADA congress that fiercely condemned both communist totalitarianism and Republican reaction.
