Eisenhower

America wanted new leadership  Many believed Truman’s foreign policy was not working  Truman decided not to run again  Republicans nominated Dwight D. Eisenhower, general who organized D-Day invasion

Eisenhower  Eisenhower believed military might AND a strong economy were needed to win the Cold War  Introduced new policy of Massive Retaliation: threatening the use of nuclear weapons if a communist state tried to use force in order to gain land

Weapons, Weapons, more Weapons  Eisenhower began developing Intercontinental ballistic missiles  These ICBMs were created in order to deliver bombs anywhere in the world  Started a program to build submarines who could launch nuclear missiles

Sputnik!!!  Soviets launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth  This freaked out the United States  They took it as a sign that the United States was falling behind the Soviet Union in missile technology

Congress’ Reaction  Created National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to coordinate research in rocket science and space exploration  Created National Defense Education Act (NDEA) which provided funds for education and training in science, math, and foreign languages

Brinkmanship  “The willingness to go to the brink of war to force the other side to back down”  Many argued that this type of policy is too dangerous  Why?  Eisenhower threatened nuclear war several times during a crisis

The Korean War ends  Eisenhower visited Korea and was convinced too many soldiers were dying and we were not winning  Threatened China with nuclear attack  Border was created between North and South Korea near the 38 th parallel  There is a demilitarized zone between the two countries

The Taiwan Crisis  Who was hanging out in Taiwan?  China threatened to take two islands away from the Nationalists  Eisenhower asked Congress to allow the use of force to help defend Taiwan  Hinted again with the nuclear attack  China backed down

Suez Crisis  Eisenhower wanted to prevent the Arabs from aligning with the USSR  We offered to help Egypt pay for the construction of the dam on the Nile  We had to withdraw our offer  Egypt then went and took control of the Suez Canal to pay for their dam

How well do you think that went over?  British/French troops invaded Egypt  Eisenhower claims they made a mess  USSR threatened to attack Britain and France with rockets  British/French pressured to call off invasion  Arabs began accepting Soviet aid