The Eisenhower Years and the Cold War

Due this monday our tuesday

 Eisenhower and the Cold War

• Eisenhower's administration continued Truman's policy of containment

• Stalin's death in 1953 and Eisenhower's efforts gradually brought a thaw in Cold War tensions

• Containment remained the core of US foreign policy throughout the 1950s

• Definition the action of keeping something harmful under control or within limits.

Truce in Korea

• Eisenhower's first priority was to fulfill his pledge to go to Korea in December 1952 to negotiate peace

• Disagreement over POWs who didn't want to return to communist countries (China & N. Korea)

• Armistice signed on July 23, 1953

• Set boundary between North and South Korea close to 38th parallel

A armistice is a cease fire 

Taiwan became its own  chinese nation. 

They are helping north korea with the soviets

John Foster Dulles: Secretary of State

• Appointed to placate 'war hawk' Republicans

• Staunchly anti communist philosophy

• Called for "liberating" Eastern Europe and unleashing Chiang against communist China

• Condemned neutralism as "immoral"

• Advocated "brinkmanship" - never backing down in a crisis→

A war hawk is a person typically a position or public figure who strongly supports and advances for war aggressive military actions. 

Chining kai shek heed of the nationalist government in china from 1929 to 1949  and he was the head of supplementary the chinese nationalists government   

We took anything fluid related into europe. 

Eisenhower's Approach to Foreign Policy

• Preferred conciliatory policy to bring Cold War under control

• Feared nuclear war with USSR (who tested H-bomb in 1953) 

• Made key foreign policy decisions himself

• Did not intervene in Soviet suppression of East German riots (1953) or Hungarian and Polish revolts (1956)

Waging Peace: Eisenhower's Efforts

• Worked to reduce probability of mutual annihilation

• Proposed "atoms for peace" program In UN speech

• Concerns over radioactive fallout from atmospheric testing

• 1955 Geneva summit - first East-West summit since WWII

• "Spirit of Geneva" and talk of "peaceful coexistence"

The "New Look" Defense Program

• Emphasized nuclear weapons over conventional forces

• "More bang for the buck"

• Dulles negotiated 43 mutual defense pacts

• Stressed threatening Moscow with "massive retaliation"

• Aimed to deter USSR and reduce defense costs

• Describe the 3 

• The policy of deterrence, more bang for the buck. 

Shift of Cold War to the Third World

• Superpowers waged war by proxy in developing nations

• CIA fought covert war against perceived threats to US interests

• Local guerrillas and military juntas used in conflicts

Proxy war one or more major powers suport opposing sides in a conflict without directly engaging in military action. 

Military judges is a system of government led by a committee of military leaders.

The Clandestine CIA

• Allen Dulles named CIA head

• CIA involved in covert operations to topple regimes hostile to US

• 1953: CIA plot in Iran to overthrow government and reinstate the Shah (research and take notes on this event)

• 1953: CIA intervention in Filipino elections

• 1954: CIA-backed coup in Guatemala

Expansion of CIA Activities

• By 1957, over half of CIA personnel and 80% of budget devoted to covert action

• CIA subverted governments, bribed foreign politicians, subsidized foreign media and labor unions (research and take notes on specific examples) also known a operation mockingbird

• Eisenhower relied on CIA to bolster US allies and weaken enemies

Conflict in Vietnam: Background

• Vietnam became most extensive CIA operation

• US saw Indochina as strategically important after Mao's victory in China

• Truman provided military assistance to French fighting Vietminh

• By 1954, US aid covered 3/4 of French expenses in Vietnam

• French indochina, vietnam cambodia laos. 

Eisenhower and Vietnam

• Refused to commit US troops to help France at Dien Bien Phu

• "No one could be more bitterly opposed to ever getting the U.S. involved in a hot war in that region than I am"

• French surrendered at Dien Bien Phu on May 7, 1954

• Geneva conference divided Vietnam at 17th parallel

The "Domino Theory

• Eisenhower refused to sign Geneva Peace Accords

• Feared consequences of communist takeover in Vietnam

• Explained concerns through the "domino theory"

• Believed fall of Vietnam would lead to fall of neighboring countries to communism

Ngo Dinh Diem and South Vietnam

• CIA helped install Ngo Dinh Diem as leader of South Vietnam

• Diem was fiercely anti communist and Catholic

• CIA trained his forces and helped eliminate political opposition

• US blocked elections to reunify Vietnam as per Geneva agreements

• Stalin prevented A vote on reunification of korea because it probably would have voted for democracy esenhowever did the same with vietnam because it probably would have voted. 

Problems with Diem's Leadership

• Diem's autocratic style failed to rally public support

• His Catholicism alienated predominantly Buddhist population

• Refused land reform and allowed government corruption

• Viet Minh guerrillas began attacks in 1955

• National Liberation Front (NLF) organized in 1960

Who could 

Viet minh and NLF =  pro communist 

Crisis in the Middle East: Suez Crisis

• Gamal Abdel Nasser took power in Egypt in 1954

• US cancelled loan for Aswan Dam project

• Nasser nationalized Suez Canal in retaliation

• Israel, France, and Great Britain attacked Egypt in October 1956

US Response to Suez Crisis

• Eisenhower was enraged by invasion of Egypt

• US condemned the attacks and supported UN resolution

• Ordered Strategic Air Command to be on alert

• By March 1957, all invading forces had left Egypt

The Eisenhower Doctrine

• Announced in 1957 to fill "vacuum" in Middle East

• US would send military aid and troops to any Middle Eastern nation threatened by "international communism"

• Used in July 1958 to send marines to Lebanon

• US continued to interpret Third World nationalism as communist-inspired

Frustrations Abroad

• US interventions increased anti-American sentiment

• 1958: Crowds attacked VP Nixon's car in Peru and Venezuela

• 1959: Castro overthrew Batista in Cuba and denounced US imperialism

• 1960: Eisenhower cancelled visit to Japan due to anti-American riots

The U-2 Incident

• May 1, 1960: Soviets shot down U-2 spy plane over USSR

• Occurred two weeks before a scheduled summit with Khrushchev

• US initially denied espionage, claiming weather data collection

• Khrushchev revealed captured pilot and spy equipment

• Paris summit collapsed as a result

Eisenhower's Farewell Address

• Delivered three days before leaving office

• Warned of the "military-industrial complex"

• Highlighted the growing influence of defense industry on American life and policy

• Called for balanced national programs between public and private economies