Brinkmanship

Secretary of State John Foster Dulles

President Eisenhower1953-1961

Eisenhower’s Foreign Policy

Brinkmanship: John Foster Dulles

• Mutual security agreements• Massive retaliation• M.A.D• *Domino Theory• CIA & covert operations• *Eisenhower Doctrine• “$ Diplomacy”

Eisenhower Doctrine• In January 1957 made a speech in Congress

where Eisenhower recommended the use of American forces to protect Middle East states against overt aggression from nations "controlled by international communism". He also urged the provision of economic aid to those countries with anti-communist governments. This new foreign policy became known as the Eisenhower Doctrine.

• In April 1957 help was given to King Hussein who was under threat from left-wing groups in Jordan. The following year, 10,000 marines went to the Lebanon to protect President Camille Chamoun from Muslim extremists. These two cases created a great deal of anti-Americanism in the Middle East and in 1959 it was decided that the Eisenhower Doctrine should be brought to an end.

1960s:Domino Theory

Foreign Policy “Hot Spots”

Foreign Policy “Hot Spots”

Middle East:

1953 CIA sponsored coup in Iran.

1956 Suez crisis

1958 Civil War in Lebanon

Europe

Latin America: 1948 OAS (organisation of American States)1954 CIA covert ops in Guatemala1950s Puerto Rican independence movement1959 Cuba- Castro & Communist revolutionAsia:

Korean War (ended 1953)Vietnam ( 1954 French exit, US involvement)Communist China

Brinksmanship – the willingness to go to war in hopes that the opposing side will back down. This was justification for the nuclear buildup during the

Cold War.

End of Korean War – When Eisenhower was elected he threatened to use nuclear weapons to end the

war. The Chinese and North Koreans agreed to the 38th Parallel.

Nikita Khrushchev – became the new Premier of the

Soviet Union after the death of Joseph Stalin.Summit meeting – a proposed meeting between Khrushchev and Eisenhower in Paris that never happened because the Americans were caught lying

about a U2 spy plane over Soviet airspace in 1959.Military Industrial Complex – when Eisenhower

stepped down from the Presidency he warned not to let the ones who build weapons have too much

power in government.

•President Eisenhower’s willingness to threaten nuclear war to maintain peace worried some people. Critics argued that brinkmanship, the willingness to go to war to force the other side to back down, was too dangerous. The Korean War ended with the signing of an armistice in 1953.

•This came after Eisenhower had gone to the brink & threatened to use nuclear weapons. •The battle line became the border between North Korea & South Korea. •Although there was no victory, it had stopped communism from spreading.

In 1954 China threatened to take over two of the islands from the Nationalists in Taiwan. Eisenhower threatened the use of nuclear weapons if China tried to invade Taiwan. China retreated.

•Eisenhower wanted to prevent Arab nations in the Middle East from aligning with the Soviet Union.

•To gain support, the United States offered to help finance the construction of a dam on the Nile River for Egypt.

•Congress forced the United States to withdraw the offer.

•Egyptians took control of the Suez Canal to use its profits to pay for the dam.

•British and French troops responded by invading the Suez Canal. Soviets threatened rocket attacks on Britain and France. •Eisenhower put American nuclear forces on alert, and through strong American pressure the British and French called off their invasion.

Fighting Communism Covertly

•Brinkmanship would not work in all situations, and it could not prevent Communists from revolting within countries. To prevent this, Eisenhower used covert, or hidden, operations conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). The CIA operations took place in developing nations, or those nations with mostly agricultural economies.

Fighting Communism Covertly: CIA operations took place in developing nations, or those nations with mostly agricultural economies.

Covert operations didn’t always work

•After Stalin died, Nikita Khrushchev became the new leader of the Soviet Union in 1956. He delivered a secret speech to Soviet leaders, which the CIA broadcast to Eastern Europe. •Eastern Europeans, frustrated by Communist rule, staged riots, & a full-scale uprising took place in Hungary. Soviet tanks entered Budapest, the capital of Hungary, & stopped the rebellion.

Eisenhower and Soviet leader Khrushchev agreed

to a summit in Paris in order to improve relations. Khrushchev stopped the summit after the Soviets shot down an American

spy plane piloted by Francis Gary Powers.

Tuesday, January 17, 1961: Eisenhower's farewell address

Tuesday, January 17, 1961: Eisenhower's farewell address

List of US presidents during the Cold WarFranklin Delano Roosevelt (1933-1945)Harry S. Truman (1945-1953)Dwight David Eisenhower (1953-1961)John Fitzgerald Kennedy(1961-1963)Lyndon Baines Johnson (1963-1969)Richard Milhouse Nixon(1969-1974)Gerald Rudolph Ford (1974-1977)James Earl Carter, Jr. (1977-1981)Ronald Wilson Reagan(1981-1989)____________________________________________________________________________________Herbert Walker Bush (1989-1993)William Jefferson Clinton (1993-2001)