Chapter 8 Eisenhower, Dulles and the irreconcilable conflict
During the 1952 election Eisenhower tried to please both sides of the political spectrum by saying 'until the enslaved nations of the world have in the fullness of freedom the right to choose their own path, for then, and then only, can we say that there is a possible way of living peacefully and permanently with Communism. This statement was liked by the strong anti-communist feeling of the Republicans and of people that have eastern Europe descent in them as Eisenhower didn't want to abandon eastern Europe. The statement was also supported by people who were anti-war, they didn't fear communism to the same extent as some people and felt that they could live side by side with Communism. Eisenhower and his soon to be Dulles hated the idea of containment as they felt that it was immoral that countries that had already fell to communist were doomed to stay communist and that it was a treadmill policy. They liked the idea of roll back in eastern Europe and Asia as they felt that they 'have no intention to sacrifice the East to gain time in the West'. This led to Eisenhower winning a landslide victory being a general in WW2 , the strong speeches and the McCarthy charges. Was Eisenhower going to stick to roll back?
No. To start with he followed the status quo with the idea of containment. By the time that Eisenhower became president in January 1953 the Americans and the UN forces had been fighting in Korean for two and a half years with little progress. There was pressure from many different Republicans who wanted lower taxes as they felt that a high federal government was immoral but as the same time Republicans wanted him to use roll back and to free the whole of Korea. Eisenhower did not want to use the atomic bomb. In the end Eisenhower signed the armistice agreement to divide Korea into North and South along the 38th parallel, this angered MacArthur. In practice Eisenhower and Dulles had almost the same Foreign policy of containment.
The one way that Truman and Eisenhower was different was around the NSC 68 document. This document Truman agreed with the idea of spending twenty percent of the GDP on arms and spending 50 billion dollars to supply troops. This was rejected by Eisenhower who had a new look which was literally called the 'new look'. This idea was to reduce the amount of troops the US had around the world and to focus on the importance of nuclear weapons by creating smaller atomic bombs that could be used on the battlefield. This was done to convince the world that the USA was serious about using atomic weapons. This relates to the idea of Brinkmanship of in the words of Dulles 'The ability to get to the verge without getting into war'. This lead to the defense budget remained between 35 to 40 billion dollars. This idea was that between 1953 and 1955 the US could of destroyed the Soviet Union without them attacking back on the same scale as their atomic weapons were not developed enough.
This happened with the Chinese in the Korea in January 1953 when peace talks stalled. This happened because the Chinese wanted all their men that were prisoners of war but the US wanted to give the prisoners a choice known as voluntary repatriation when they pick to either stay in South Korea if they don't want to stay in communism. To hurry up the process Eisenhower hinted that they could use atomic weapons if they did not come to peace quickly and that they can 'under circumstances of our own choosing'. This led to by Feb 1953 the Chinese agreed to put it into the hands of international, neutral authorities. This was one of the examples of brinkmanship.
Another example of brinkmanship was in Vietnam. This was with the French fighting for control against the communist Ho Chi Minh's Viet Minh. Truman was sent 60 million dollars of support to the French . Eisenhower labled Ho as a communist agent. The war was not going well for the French by early 1954 as Ho had control over half of the countryside. Dulles met with congressional leaders who did not want a repeat of the Korea war. Air Force Chief of staff Nathan Twining suggested to drop 3 atomic bombs on the Viet Minh around Dien Bien Phu ( to help the French garrison) but Eisenhower was against this. This led to there being a Korean style armistice agreed at the Geneva conference were the French withdraw from the area in the North (which ended their rule of Indochina) and Vietnam was divided along the 17th parallel with the Communist North led by Ho Chi Minh and the South was capitalist and was led by Ngo Dinh Diem.
In May 1955 West Germany joined NATO leading to East Germany joining the Warsaw Pact in the same month. This lead to the meeting in July 1955 between Eisenhower and Khrushchev in July 1955 called the Geneva meeting. This was the first meeting since Potsdam and Dulles wanted a united Germany under NATO. The Russians were not going to give into this. Not much was achieved at the summit meeting and Eisenhower had failed to free the communist satellite states which he had promised all the time.
No. To start with he followed the status quo with the idea of containment. By the time that Eisenhower became president in January 1953 the Americans and the UN forces had been fighting in Korean for two and a half years with little progress. There was pressure from many different Republicans who wanted lower taxes as they felt that a high federal government was immoral but as the same time Republicans wanted him to use roll back and to free the whole of Korea. Eisenhower did not want to use the atomic bomb. In the end Eisenhower signed the armistice agreement to divide Korea into North and South along the 38th parallel, this angered MacArthur. In practice Eisenhower and Dulles had almost the same Foreign policy of containment.
The one way that Truman and Eisenhower was different was around the NSC 68 document. This document Truman agreed with the idea of spending twenty percent of the GDP on arms and spending 50 billion dollars to supply troops. This was rejected by Eisenhower who had a new look which was literally called the 'new look'. This idea was to reduce the amount of troops the US had around the world and to focus on the importance of nuclear weapons by creating smaller atomic bombs that could be used on the battlefield. This was done to convince the world that the USA was serious about using atomic weapons. This relates to the idea of Brinkmanship of in the words of Dulles 'The ability to get to the verge without getting into war'. This lead to the defense budget remained between 35 to 40 billion dollars. This idea was that between 1953 and 1955 the US could of destroyed the Soviet Union without them attacking back on the same scale as their atomic weapons were not developed enough.
This happened with the Chinese in the Korea in January 1953 when peace talks stalled. This happened because the Chinese wanted all their men that were prisoners of war but the US wanted to give the prisoners a choice known as voluntary repatriation when they pick to either stay in South Korea if they don't want to stay in communism. To hurry up the process Eisenhower hinted that they could use atomic weapons if they did not come to peace quickly and that they can 'under circumstances of our own choosing'. This led to by Feb 1953 the Chinese agreed to put it into the hands of international, neutral authorities. This was one of the examples of brinkmanship.
Another example of brinkmanship was in Vietnam. This was with the French fighting for control against the communist Ho Chi Minh's Viet Minh. Truman was sent 60 million dollars of support to the French . Eisenhower labled Ho as a communist agent. The war was not going well for the French by early 1954 as Ho had control over half of the countryside. Dulles met with congressional leaders who did not want a repeat of the Korea war. Air Force Chief of staff Nathan Twining suggested to drop 3 atomic bombs on the Viet Minh around Dien Bien Phu ( to help the French garrison) but Eisenhower was against this. This led to there being a Korean style armistice agreed at the Geneva conference were the French withdraw from the area in the North (which ended their rule of Indochina) and Vietnam was divided along the 17th parallel with the Communist North led by Ho Chi Minh and the South was capitalist and was led by Ngo Dinh Diem.
In May 1955 West Germany joined NATO leading to East Germany joining the Warsaw Pact in the same month. This lead to the meeting in July 1955 between Eisenhower and Khrushchev in July 1955 called the Geneva meeting. This was the first meeting since Potsdam and Dulles wanted a united Germany under NATO. The Russians were not going to give into this. Not much was achieved at the summit meeting and Eisenhower had failed to free the communist satellite states which he had promised all the time.
Well done Edward - this is a brilliant effort. You have summarised the chapter really well and I hope that it has helped to develop your understanding of the period. Very impressed.
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