Answer: President Harry Truman initially decided to "get tough" with the Soviet Union as part of his strategy to contain Soviet expansionism and limit the spread of communism around the world.
Explanation: this approach, known as the policy of containment, was a response to Soviet aggression in Eastern Europe and fears that communism would continue to spread. Truman believed that the United States needed to take a firm stance against the Soviet Union, both to protect American interests and to promote democracy and freedom globally. This approach would ultimately set the stage for the Cold War, a period of heightened political and military tension between the United States and the Soviet Union that lasted from the late 1940s until the early 1990s.