American History II: Note Set #31: Eisenhower & The Cold War
l Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (1890 – 1969), President: 1953 – 1961, Republican
l Won election due to his popularity from his role as Supreme Commander of Allied forces during WWII
l Determined to prevent the spread of communism, but also dedicated to scaling back military spending
l Chose to focus on nuclear weapons as a cheap way to deter communist aggression
l Nuclear Holocaust?
l After the Soviets acquired the atomic bomb, Americans became more worried about the possibility of a nuclear attack against the U.S.
l Many families constructed special underground bunkers (called "fallout shelters") which they stocked with food, water, and other essentials in case of an attack
l Cities also designated subway tunnels and other reinforced underground structures as public fallout shelters
l Students were taught in school how to “duck and cover” in the event of a surprise attack through training films and special drills
l While these efforts reassured the public, in reality they offered little real protection in the event of an actual nuclear attack
l The Nuclear Arms Race
l Both the Soviets and the Americans rapidly built enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world many times over
l “MAD” (Mutually Assured Destruction) was the theory that the more nuclear weapons both sides had, the safer the world was because it made a nuclear war unwinnable
l Brinksmanship Under Eisenhower
l Term originally coined by Eisenhower’s Secretary of State John Foster Dulles
l Brinksmanship was the practice of escalating international tensions to the brink of war, with the hope that the other side will "blink" and back down at the last minute and thereby give you an advantage in future negotiations
l Domino Theory
l Eisenhower believed strongly in the idea that if you let even a single nation fall to communism, then you would set off a chain reaction where its neighbors would also fall to communism (like dominos)
l To keep the "dominos" from falling, Eisenhower ordered the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to stage covert (secret) interventions in several countries
l In Iran, the CIA staged a coup to remove a popular Prime Minister who was willing to sell Iranian oil to the Soviets
l In Guatemala, the CIA trained opposition rebels to overthrow a pro-communist regime
l Communism in Cuba
l Many U.S. business held large investments in Cuba during the 1950s, but those investments were jeopardized when Cuba’s government was overthrown in 1959 by communist rebels under the leadership of Fidel Castro
l U.S. leaders were just as alarmed by the Cuban government's seizure of over $1 billion worth of American-owned property as they were by suddenly having a communist state 90 miles off the US coast
l The Eisenhower Doctrine
l In 1957, Eisenhower pledged American assistance to any nation in the Middle East which was threatened by communism
l Almost immediately, US forces were sent to Lebanon to help that government combat communist rebels
l The Suez Crisis
l The U.S. withdrew financial support from an Egyptian dam project over Egyptian weapons purchases that threatened Israel
l In response, Egypt confiscated the Suez Canal from French and British investors in order to raise funds for the dam
l Britain and France (as well as the Israelis) sent in paratroopers to retake the canal, leading the Soviets (who saw an opportunity to win Egypt as an ally) to threaten war
l Eisenhower forced Britain and France to withdraw, but the damage was already done - many Arab states, already upset by Western support of the Jewish state in Israel, now saw the West as the enemy and aligned themselves with the Soviets
l Nikita Khrushchev (1894 - 1971) Comes to Power in the Soviet Union
l Khrushchev emerged as head of the Soviet Union after a brief power struggle following the death of Josef Stalin in 1953
l Khrushchev was much more liberal than Stalin in Soviet domestic issues, but more also unpredictable in foreign policy, pushing the Soviet Union to the brink of war with the US on several occasions
l The U-2 Incident (1960)
l Just weeks before a major U.S.- Soviet peace summit, the Soviets shot down an American U-2 spy plane over their airspace and captured the pilot, Francis Gary Powers
l The incident marked a turning point in US-Soviet relations, as the peace summit was cancelled and the American pilot was tried as a spy and sentenced to prison (the Soviets later exchanged him for one of their own captured spies)
l The Federal Aid Highway Act (1956)
l Eisenhower authorized the spending of $25 billion in federal funds to build 41,000 miles of highways over a period of 20 years
l These interstate highways were built in order to allow the speedy movement of troops and supplies around the country in case of invasion or other national emergency
l The Space Race
l Both the US and USSR had captured German rocket scientists at the end of WWII and were pursuing missile technologies
l Starting in 1957, these technologies were used to compete against each other for control of outer space – a multi-billion dollar “space race” to see who could accomplish certain objectives or discoveries first
l The development of ICBMs (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles) allowed both sides to mount atomic warheads onto long-range rockets which could be launched against distant targets, as well as to launch objects into outer space
l Sputnik I (1957)
l The first man-made object to attain orbit around the earth (satellite)
l Sputnik I launched by the Soviets in Oct. 1957, followed by Sputnik II (which carried the first living creature into space, a dog named Laika) in November
l These launches triggered a panic in the US, as Americans worried that the Soviets were gaining a technological advantage over the US
l The National Defense Education Act (1958)
l Eisenhower dramatically increased spending on education, especially in science, math, and foreign languages
l Passed in response to the belief that the U.S. was falling behind the Soviets in scientific and technological fields
l The Act increased the number of high-school graduates who went on to college from less than 15% in 1950 to over 40% by 1970
l National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
l Created in 1958
l NASA was created as a civilian agency to take over space exploration programs from the various military branches and increase coordination and efficiency