the ma juror tif of his advisers think the united states should leave the city in the hands of the sovietsbut truman finds the resolve to stay. and he finds the resolve because he understands what is at stake. listen to harry truman. communism attacks our basic values, our belief in goshgd the belief in the dignity of man and human life, our belief in justice and freedom, he said. it attacks our institutions that are based on these values. it attacks our churches, our guarantees of civil liberty, our courts, our democratic form of government. the great purpose of the united states, he insists, is to defend the spiritual values, the moral code against the vast forces of evil that seek to destroy them. close quote. truman recognized that the nature of the threat to american security and american sovereignty, he recognized threat in part because he understood the great purpose of the united states. the berlin air lift began less than a week, less than a week after the soviet blockade. western pilots landing almost minute by minute to deliver 13,000 tons of goods per day. over the next year th