Two Nations Live on the
Edge
H-Bomb
• 1 Million tons of TNT
– 67 times stronger
than Little Boy
• U.S. exploded the
first H-Bomb on
Nov. 1, 1952
• Soviets: Aug. 1953
Republicans plan for ’52 Election
• Truman decides not to
run again
– Approval rate at an all
time low of 23%
– Spread of Communism
– Korean War
• Dem. Adlai Stevenson,
Gov. of Ill.
• General Dwight D.
Eisenhower
President Eisenhower
• Ike’s approach:
“dynamic
conservatism”
• Conservative w/$
• Liberal w/human
beings
Brinkmanship
• John Foster Dulles,
Sec. of State
– U.S. use all forces
(even atomic)
against an aggressor
• Brinkmanship:
Willingness to go to
the edge of an allout war.
• Soviets followed
suit.
The Warsaw Pact
• Stalin dies in ’53
• West Germany joins
NATO in ’55.
• Fearful, the Soviets
formed the Warsaw
Pact
– Military alliance
w/seven E. European
nations.
The Hungarian Uprising
• Hungary dominated by
the Soviet Union
– Hungarians wanted
Democracy
• November, 1956: Soviet
tanks invaded the
country and killed
30,000 people
• U.S. / NATO did
nothing (failure of the
Truman Doctrine)
Nikita Khrushchev
The Space Race
• October 4, 1957:
Soviets launched
Sputnik
– Triumph in Soviet
technology
• January 31, 1958:
First U.S. satellite
- Led to an increase in
math and sciences
in the school
system
U-2 Spy Plane Incident
• CIA flew spy missions
over the Soviet Union
starting in the mid.
1950’s
• 1960’s: Ike wanted the
flights discontinued.
– Summit to be held on the
arms race.
• May 1: Francis Gary
Powers shot down over
the Soviet Union.
• Flights stopped,
Khrushchev called off
the summit
• 1960’s opened
w/heightened pressure