Eisenhower’s Cold War Policies Massive Retaliation

More bang for the buck Believed having a strong economy was as important as a strong military Wanted to show the world that with the free enterprise system America’s economy was strong Decided that rather than spending a lot of money on the military, America should invest in nuclear weapons Rather than fight lots of small wars like the Korean war, Eisenhower believed in “massive retaliation” or use nuclear weapons to threaten other countries.

Brinkmanship The nuclear arsenal went from about 1,000 bombs in 1953 to about 18,000 bombs in 1961 Critics of Eisenhower’s policy called it brinkmanship because it kept us on the brink of war all the time Eisenhower used the atomic bomb as a threat multiple times

Covert Operations Eisenhower sent CIA members into other countries mostly developing countries A lot of these countries looked to communism as the answer The CIA ran operations to overthrow anti-American leaders and replace them with pro- American leaders

Covert Operation in Iran The Iranian prime minister, Mohammed Mossadegh, was overthrown in a coup organized by the CIA who then returned the pro- American Shah to power

Guatemalan Covert Operations Communist leader, Jacobo Arbenz Guzman was elected president of Guatemala His land reform program took over the American owned United Fruit Company In 1954 communist Czechoslovakia delivered arms to Guatemala The CIA responded by arming the Guatemalan opposition and trained them in secret camps These forces invaded and Guzman left office

The Eisenhower Doctrine The president of Egypt worked with Jordan and Syria to spread pan-Arabism Eisenhower asked Congress to authorize the use of military force whenever the president thought it necessary to assist the Middle East resist Communist aggression

The Suez Canal Crisis 120 mile canal connecting the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea

Nikita Khrushchev At first Khrushchev was willing to work a little with the west Accused the capitalist countries of starting a feverish arms race In 1957 Sputnik was launched and Khrushchev boasted “We will bury capitalism, your grandchildren will live under communism He then later demanded that the allied troops withdraw from West Berlin Threatened Russia with NATO retaliation The Soviets backdowned

U-2 Plane American U-2 spy plane was shot down by the Soviets Eisenhower claimed it was a weather plane that strayed off course Khrushchev produced the pilot and The Paris Summit was a complete failure Everything looked pretty bleak