Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt--Coal Miners, Oil Producers Roll Out Time-Tested Strategy

March 14, 2024--Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Sowing fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) is a time-tested principle to rally support for or against an initiative, both in the public sector and the private sector. In the U.S., the template was created nearly eight decades ago, shortly after the end of World War II, when leaders in the State Department and the U.S. Senate told President Harry S. Truman that he needed to "make a speech and scare hell out of the country" if he wanted Congress to approve the Truman Doctrine to contain Soviet expansion. He did, and the plan became a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy.