Cold War -- Eisenhower Years• T.S. – Explicitly assess information and draw

conclusions• Objective- to understand how The Cold War shaped foreignpolicy throughout the 1950s

Cold War under Eisenhower• Brinkmanship: taking the country to the brink of war

to avoid war (Sect. of State Dulles)• Massive Retaliation: a US nuclear arsenal may be a

cheaper alternative to large-scale conventional forces• Soviet Aggression: met with nuclear threat

Eisenhower Foreign Policy: Containment

• Korea Truce in 1953• Hungary (1956)• Suez Crisis (1956)• Eisenhower Doctrine (aid to M. East) -the US would use force to help any Middle Eastern

nation threatened by communism—usually meant using the CIA

Eisenhower Foreign Policy: Containment • CIA Covert Operations:• Iran (1953)• Guatemala (1954)• Vietnam (1954) US provides $ to S. Vietnam, installs Diem

• U2 spy plane incident (1960)• cancels summit on nuclear test bans

Guatemala

• A dictator came to power on a platform to reduce poverty• Wanted to redistribute land• American Fruit company, US firm, is the largest landholder• CIA trained mercenaries and US fighter planes toppled the government• Land is redistributed, but a military dictatorship took over• 1954– CIA helped overthrow the new leader• Our involvement there – economic, and to protect from perceived communism

Latin America

• Guatemala (1954)• Cuba (1959)

The ragtag rebel army  funded by the CIA.

Castro Speaking to supporters

CIA

Korea

• Truman = limited war• During Eisenhower, the domino theory takes root—if one country fell

to communism, the rest would fall like dominoes (VN)• IKE personally went to make sure 38th parallel was maintained by

troops

Asia• Domino Theory• Korea Truce (1953)• Vietnam (1954)• SEATO

Armistice Signed in Korea

Diem

SEATO in Blue

Hungary - 1956

• People in Poland, Czech, and Hungary resented USSR rule• Hungarians revolted, Khrushchev responded with force• Hungary tried to withdraw from the Warsaw pact• Ike opted NOT to support the rebels for fear of starting WWIII• Because of this and the U2 spy plane incident, Ike withdrew from the

Test Ban Treaty Summit

Europe• Hungary 1956• U2 spy plane incident (1960)—set

back talks between Khrushchev and IKE

Francis Gary PowersSpy Plane

Hungarian revolution

U2 Incident

• The 1960 U-2 incident occurred during the Cold War on 1 May 1960, during the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower and during the leadership of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, when 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 United States and prompted a marked deterioration in its relations with the Soviet Union.

Suez Canal 1956-1957

• Nasser (Egypt) – tried to use the US/USSR rivalry to his advantage• US/GB initially offered to fund a dam on the Nile• It’s nationalized = placed under gov’t control• IKE refuses to support Brit and French (who had joined forces with

Israel)• Significance – first time oil as a resource is used as a bargaining tool

for diplomacy

Iran -

• Brings the first involvement of the CIA in the overthrow of a foreign government• US wanted to replace a Marxist leader• We install Shah Rezi Pahlavi• He will remain in power there until 1979

Middle East

• Iran (1953)• Suez Crisis (1956)• Eisenhower Doctrine • Lebanon (1958)

Suez Canal

Eisenhower sends troops and aid to Lebanon.

Shah Pahlavi

Cold War competition = Progress Through Science

Cold War competition = Progress Through Science

1951 -- First IBM Mainframe Computer

1952 -- Hydrogen Bomb Test

1953 -- DNA Structure Discovered

1954 -- Salk Vaccine Tested for Polio

1957 -- First Commercial U. S. Nuclear Power Plant

1958 -- NASA Created

1959 -- Press Conference of the First 7 American Astronauts

Progress Through Science Progress Through Science

1957 Russians launch SPUTNIK I

1958 National Defense Education Act

R.I.P. Laika

Progress Through Science Progress Through Science

UFO Sightings skyrocketed in the 1950s.

War of the Worlds

Hollywood used aliens as a metaphor

for whom ??

Progress Through Science Progress Through Science

Atomic Anxieties:

“Duck-and-Cover Generation”

Atomic Testing:

1946-1962 U. S. exploded 217 nuclear weapons over the Pacific and in Nevada.

The 50s Come to a CloseThe 50s Come to a Close

1959 Nixon-Khrushchev “Kitchen Debate”

Cold War -----> Tensions

<----- Technology

& Affluence

Cold War competitive energies

• Space race/technologies• reflected in the rise of science fiction• Kitchen debates—Nixon and Khrushchev• http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=176

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6RLCw1OZFw (1:30 minutes in for tv remark)

Eisenhower Legacy

• Eisenhower warns of the growing power of the “military-industrial Complex”:• connection of the Armed Forces and Defense Industries

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y06NSBBRtY