EISENHOWER, KENNEDY,
AND THE COLD WAR OF
THE 50S AND 60S
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Republican and 34th President
Wins 1952 election,
Richard Nixon is his
Vice President
Created NASA,
National Aeronautics
and Space
Administration for
space exploration
Texan
Eisenhower’s “New Look”
Eisenhower wanted to “roll back” the advances of
Communism abroad. After taking office in 1953,
he devised a new foreign policy tactic to contain
the Soviet Union and even win back territory that
had already been lost.
Devised primarily by Secretary of State John
Foster Dulles, this so-called New Look at foreign
policy proposed the use of nuclear
weapons/airpower and new technology rather than
ground troops and conventional bombs, all in an
effort to threaten “massive retaliation” against the
USSR for Communist advances abroad.
MASSIVE RETALIATION
ALL OR NOTHING APPROACH TO
WAR USE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS
TO STOP THE SOVIET UNION
In addition to intimidating the Soviet Union,
this emphasis on new and cheaper
weapons would also drastically reduce
military spending, which had escalated
rapidly during the Truman years.
As a result, Eisenhower managed to
stabilize defense spending, keeping it
at roughly half the congressional
budget during most of his eight years
in office.
U-2 INCIDENT
on May 1, 1960, during the presidency of
Dwight Eisenhower and during the
leadership of Soviet Premier Nikita
Khrushchev, a United States U-2 spy
plane was shot down over the airspace of
the Soviet Union.
The United States government at first denied the
plane's purpose and mission, but then was forced to
admit its role as a covert surveillance aircraft when the
Soviet government produced its intact remains and
surviving pilot, Francis Gary Powers, as well as photos
of military bases in Russia taken by Powers.
Coming roughly two weeks before the
scheduled opening of an East–West
summit in Paris, the incident was a great
embarrassment to the U.S. and prompted
a marked deterioration in its relations with
the Soviet Union.
Powers was convicted of espionage and
sentenced to three years of imprisonment
plus seven years of hard labor, but he was
released on 10 February 1962 during a
prisoner exchange with Soviet officer
Rudolf Abel.
John F. Kennedy
35th President Democrat
Pushed civil rights
Gave more money to
NASA
Assassinated in Dallas in
1963
New Frontier
Kennedy’s Agenda:
Kennedy hoped to increase aid to education
Provided health insurance to the elderly
Help migrant workers
Kennedy’s accomplishments:
Funds for Space exploration
Presidential Commission on the Status of
Women-gender discrimination
Cold War Moves into Space
1961- Yuri Gagarin (Soviet) became the
first person to orbit the earth
Kennedy became worried that the flight
would show the world that Communism
was better then Capitalism.
1962-John Glenn (American) Orbited the
Earth
1969- Armstrong, Aldrin walked on the
Moon
Cuban Missile
Crisis
•Standoff between
US and USSR
•Soviets built missile
bases on Cuba
•Brink of nuclear war
•U.S. PLACED A NAVAL
BLOCKADE AROUND CUBA
Bay of Pigs
Invasion
•US plan to
overthrow Castro
•Disaster
Cold War
in the 1960s
Berlin Wall
•Built to separate
communist and
non communist
Berlin
•Symbol of Cold War
Bay of Pigs Invasion
Cause
Castro’s seizure
of Am. property
and his
friendship with
Soviet leaders
Prevent other
revolutions
throughout Latin
Am.
Effect
USA lost prestige
European leaders
began doubting
JFK
Latin Am. countries
were angry over
America’s attempt
to overthrow a
government in the
W. Hemi
APPROX. 3 MINUTES
TO GET TO FL, AND 10
MINUTES TO TX
Berlin Wall
Cause
Soviets wanted to
stop the East
Germans from
crossing over to
W. Germany
through Berlin
Soviets wanted
division of Berlin
permanent
Effect
Wall is built to
separate
communist and
non-communist
Berlin
BERLIN WALL GUARD, 1964.
A border guard with binoculars in
front of the Berlin Wall near
Potsdamer Platz, 1964. Full
credit: gardi - ullstein bild / The
Granger Collection."
BRANDENBURG GATE, 1960s.
Barrier of barbed wire in front of
the Berlin Wall at the
Brandenburg Gate, 1960s. Picture
taken by Fritz Eschen. Full credit:
Eschen - ullstein bild / The
Granger Collection."
GERMAN BORDER GUARDS.
Border guards of the German
Democratic Republic (GDR) patrolling
in front of a roadblock made of
barbed wire, 1961. Full credit: Jung ullstein bild / The Granger Collection."
BERLIN WALL, 1961. Berlin residents at the
newly built wall; district boundary between
Kreuzberg and Mitte. View from Lindenstrasse
to Zimmerstrasse, August 1961. Full credit:
Jung - ullstein bild / The Granger Collection."
BORDER CROSSING, 1963.
Crossing the East
Gemany/West Germany
border on Invalidenstrasse,
1963. Full credit: Jung ullstein bild / The Granger
Collection."
BERLIN WALL:CHILDREN, 1962. A
group of children with bicycles at the
Berlin Wall, West Berlin, Kreuzberg.
Photograph, April 1962. Full credit:
Dieter Otto - ullstein bild / The
Granger Collection"
Cuban Missile Crisis
Cause
Soviets
were
building
missile
bases on
Cuba
Effect
Brought us to the
brink of nuclear war
with the Soviet
Union
Soviet Union backs
down and the U.S.
secretly removes
our missiles from
Turkey as well
CASTRO & KRUSHCHEV. Premier Fidel Castro of
Cuba and Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev greeting
each other in the General Assembly of the United
Nations, New York, Sept. 20, 1960.
Range of Soviet SS-4 medium-range ballistic missiles and SS-5 intermediate-range
ballistic missiles, if launched from Cuba.
CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS, 1962. Detail of the front page of The New
York Times for October 29, 1962, announcing the agreement of the
Soviet Union to remove its guided missiles from Cuba.