There would be no uncertainty about the U.S. commitment: Any Soviet attack on Western Europe would mean all-out conflict with the United States.23 At the same time, Truman opted not to make an all-out effort to prevent Communist victories in places considered less important or promising. Case in point: Washington did little to prevent Mao’s Communists from defeating Chiang’s Nationalists, on the assumption that an underdeveloped, poverty-stricken China didn’t weigh heavily on the scales of global power.
