Eisenhower and the Cold War
Chapter 27 Section 4
Notes 6.0
Objective…
• Trace the continuing events and
policies of the Cold war through
the Eisenhower administration…
What were Eisenhower’s views
on the Cold War?
• Experience working with the
Soviets
• Viewed cold war stalemate as a
permanent state between US and
USSR
• Relied more on CIA and nuclear
weapons
• Fostered growth of militaryindustrial complex
• Warned against dangers of
growing military spending
What was the “New Look” ?
• Reduce military spending by
relying on atomic and air
superiority
• Reduce spending on conventional
forces
• “get more bang for the buck” –
Sec. of Defense Wilson
• Increased reliance on nuclear
weapons and delivery systems
• Stabilized military spending
Secretary of
State John
Foster Dulles –
policy of
Brinksmanship
What is the policy of
brinksmanship?
• Willingness to go to the edge of an all out
war
• Policy of John Foster Dulles - Secretary of
State for Eisenhower
– Anti-communist
– Cold war – a moral crusade
– Favored a “rollback” of communism as
opposed to containment
How did Eisenhower view the
“New Look”?
• Cautious
• Realized that reliance on nuclear weapons
could lead to a full-scale war
• East Berlin – 1953
– rebellion
– U.S. did nothing to stop the Soviets from
crushing the rebellion
What happened in Hungary in
1956?
• Revolt against Soviet domination
• Called for a democratic government and
Soviet troops to leave
• S.U. sent tanks to put down uprising
– 30,000 Hungarians killed
– 200,000 fled to the west
• U.S. did nothing – Hungarians
disappointed…
• U.N. condemned but took no action…
Budapest in 1956
Who was Nikita Khrushchev?
• Stalin’s successor
• Denounced Stalin
• Believed in the triumph of
communism
• Believed in peaceful coexistence
– compete economically and
scientifically
What was the
“spirit of Geneva”?
• 1955 – Eisenhower met with
Soviet leaders
• Proposed “open skies” – flights
over each others territory
• Soviets rejected
• Dialogue considered a step
toward peace
Thawing of the Cold War?
• S.U. withdrew troops from Austria in 1958
• S. U. suspended nuclear testing
• Khrushchev made a 12 day trip to U.S. in
1959
• 1960 – Khrushchev called for a summit
meeting in France to discuss German
reunification
• Eisenhower was invited to the S.U.
Ike and
Khrushchev
during his visit
to Camp
David
What ended the thaw?
• May 1, 1960 – a U-2 spy plane piloted by
Frances Gary Powers was shot down over
the S.U.
• Eisenhower denied we were spying
• Confronted with evidence
• Khrushchev demanded flights cease and
an apology
• We stopped flights – no apology
How did the U-2 affect our
relationship with the Soviet Union?
• Khrushchev called off the summit
conference and withdrew the
invitation to Eisenhower to visit
the S. U.
• Renewed tension between the
S.U. and the U.S.
How did the U.S. respond to
Sputnik?
• Shocked – concerned we were lagging
technologically behind
• Fear – Am. began building bomb shelters
• Passed the National Defense Education
Act of 1958
• Increased the military budget by $8 billion
• Accelerated the arms race
What is covert action?
• CIA activities
• Cheap, quick, and quiet way to
depose hostile regimes
• Destabilize third world governments
we thought were too radical
(intervening in elections)
• Allen Dulles – head of CIA
• Collect and analyze information
What were the U.S. actions in Iran?
• 1951 Mohammed Mossadegh - Prime
Minister of Iran nationalized oil fields
• British stopped buying Iranian oil
• U.S. feared Iran would go to S.U. for help
• CIA gave money to supporters of the Shah
of Iran
• Shah came back to power and turned oil
back to western interests
Mossadegh
was tried as a
traitor by a
military
tribunal
The Shah
of Iran
resumes
control with
U.S. aid
Trouble in the Suez?
• Soviet Union was gaining influence in
Egypt
• Nasser of Egypt seized the Suez Canal
from Great Britain and France
• Closed access to Israel
• G.B., France, and Israel attacked and
seized the Mediterranean end
• U.N. intervened – G.B., France, and Israel
withdrew
Nasser
How did the U.S. respond to the
Suez crisis?
• Eisenhower angry with allies – nearly
provoked a war with the Soviet Union
• U.S. concerned about increased prestige
of S.U. in Middle East
• Eisenhower Doctrine: U.S.
would defend the Middle East
against an attack by any
communist country
What covert actions did the U.S.
take in Latin America?
• Guatemala – 1954
• Eisenhower thought the government
Jacobo Arbenz Guzman had
communist sympathies
• Guzman pursued land reform
(threatening the United Fruit Co.) and
encouraged labor unions
Guatemala…
• CIA trained an army – invaded
Guatemala
• Guatemalan army would not defend
the president – he resigned
• Leader of the army- Carlos Castillo
Armas -trained by the CIA became
the dictator
Consequences of CIA intervention
in Guatemala?
• Widespread terror, unions outlawed,
thousands arrested
• Castillo Armas assassinated in 1957 – civil
war followed
• Suspicion and distrust in Latin America
toward U.S.
• Strong anti-American backlash – Nixon
stoned in Venezuela
Rebel Army
funded by
the CIA
Mob attacking Nixon in Caracas
How the U.S. become involved in
Vietnam?
• Vietnam – part of French colony of
Indochina
• During WWII – French Indochina was
occupied by the Japanese
• Ho Chi Minh – member of the
Indochinese Communist Party had
opposed French rule
• Ho Chi Minh formed the Vietminh – to
rid Vietnam of foreign rule
Vietnam …
• 1945 Japan was defeated
• Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam an
independent country
• France wanted her former colonies back
• U.S. gave massive military and economic
aid to France to restore her former colony
• Battle of Dien Bien Phu – 1954 France lost
Ho Chi Minh –
Communist
revolutionary or
nationalist
freedom
fighter?
What is the Domino Theory?
• The loss of one country to
communism would lead to the
loss of others
• Eisenhower feared the loss of
Vietnam would lead to the loss
of Laos, Cambodia, and
Thailand
What was decided at the Geneva
Conference?
• Cease –fire
• Temporary division line along the 17th
parallel dividing North and South Vietnam
• Communists in the North and a
government acceptable to the U.S. in the
South
• Elections in 1957 – and reunification
• U.S. refused to sign the accord
Ho Chi Minh in
the North
Diem
in the
South
The government of South Vietnam?
• Ngo Dinh Diem
– Former Japanese collaborator
– Catholic – country 90% Buddhist
– Corrupt and repressive government
• U.S. economic and military aid – CIA
covert activity
• 1956 – refused to hold election – knew
Diem would lose
• 1959 – civil war in South Vietnam
• 1963 assassinated in CIA supported coup
Beginnings of a peace movement?
• “New Look” not logical –
threatened the entire planet
• Radioactive fallout – move
toward ending nuclear
testing
• In Europe “Ban the Bomb”
• In the US, the National
Committee for the Sane
Nuclear Policy (SANE)
What was Ike’s warning upon
leaving the presidency?
• Doubts about the arms race
• Farewell Address – 1961 – warned against “the
potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced
power by the military-industrial complex”
•
A U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor over the Atlantic Ocean. Each plane costs
approximately $420 million
Read more: http://nation.time.com/2012/09/25/comparing-defensebudgets-apples-to-apples/#ixzz2PyDvVXJN