Truman got us involved in Korea and then instead of running for reelection and finishing the job he started, he cut and run. Bush43 has stayed the course in Iraq and in the WOT. And he can't run for POTUS again.
And whether you call Presidential policy towards the USSR from 1946 to 1986, containment or detente, it was a form of appeasement, backed up by MAD. Reagan understood the failures of such policy and pushed the Soviet Union to final self-destruction. Something that all President's from Truman to Carter never fully understood.
In Truman’s defence, we were not psycically ready for another series of wars so soon after WWII. Its a wonder
that Korea turned out as a stalemate as opposed to a rout.
For that thank MacArthur, the Marines, and the troops who
hung in and did their duty. Politically it was a preview of
VN.
Truman got us involved in Korea and then instead of running for reelection and finishing the job he started, he cut and run.
Truman however has to get some credit for not yielding to the Soviets in 1946, when they tried to annex Northern Iran. The US then had the monopoly on nukes and Truman’s assurance that he won’t back down on Iran’s territorial integrity, was essential for the Soviet’s folding in on this issue. This was the only time Stalin withdrew from occupied territory he grabbed after the war. It ought to be stressed however that the Shah noted that it was the refusal of US Republicans, unlike the Democrats, to accomodate the Soviets that turned events around.