Tuesday, May 1, 2012

The Cold War, Fifties Style

Judge Eisenhower's handling of the Cold War. Does he manage it well? What could he have done better? (Honors)

7 comments:

Tina Miles said...

He tried containing communism and it wasn't enough but it remained. Eisenhower increased the American reliance on a nuclear shield. If America or it's interests were attacked, Eisenhower would have atomic bombs prepared. Eisenhower practiced the use of deploying soldiers in Indochina instead of using atomic bombs. If he was that afraid of communism spreading, then I don't there would be a better way to handle the cold war. In his inaugural address, he said "Forces of good and evil are massed and armed and opposed as rarely before in history. Freedom is pitted against slavery, lightness against dark." Anyone who makes a speech like that could not handle the cold war a different way. He was afraid of Soviet domination and communism in other countries like Vietnam and Korea.

Imani Palmer said...

Eisenhower managed to stabilize defense spending, keeping it at roughly half. The doctrine of massive retaliation proved to be dangerously flawed, however, because it effectively left Eisenhower without any options other than nuclear war to combat Soviet aggression. This dilemma surfaced in 1956, for instance, when the Soviet Union brutally crushed a popular democratic uprising in Hungary. Despite Hungary’s request for American recognition and military assistance, Eisenhower’s hands were tied because he knew that the USSR would stop at nothing to maintain control of Eastern Europe. He could not risk turning the Cold War into a nuclear war over the interests of a small nation such as Hungary.

naiah Thorne said...

Eisenhower's basic commitment to contain communism remained, and to that end he increased American reliance on a nuclear shield. The Manhattan Project during World War II had created the first atomic bombs. Eisenhower, kept budget spendings under control, by proposing a policy of "massive retaliation."Under this doctrine, the United States was prepared to use atomic weapons if the nation or its vital interests were attacked.Overall, his management of the cold war had flaws but it was the best that could have been done under the circumstances

Hunter Baylor said...

I agree with Tina because Eisenhower was afraid of Communism spreading and he was preparing for things that could happen unexpectedly. Eisenhower thought if he took precaution and did everything in his power to handle the Cold War, I think there will be nothing left to do.

Jade Green said...

From 1953 to 1961, Dwight D. Eisenhower led the country as president, and was very popular at the time. Forty years later, many feel he should still be held as one of the greatest presidents, while others feel that he was one of the worst presidents of all time. Also in agreement to what Tina said eisenhowers basic commitment to contain communism remained and he oncreased American reliance on a nuclear shield.In Europe, Eisenhower continued Truman's doctrine of containment. To reduce the number of Army units needed, he deployed large numbers of tactical nuclear weapons. He encouraged the Soviet controlled nations to rebel, but didn't do much to openly help them so not to risk war. When the Hungarians rebelled against the Soviets, Eisenhower did nothing as the Soviets crushed them. In conclusion , Eisenhowers approach to the cold war could've been handled betterbut he managed to do right by his country considering his conditions,

dana nguyen said...

Dwight D. Eisenhower was popular as president. There is often a debate on if he could possibly be one of the greatest presidents to be in office. Though it seemed like he won only based off of popularity, he actually attempted to do well as a president. Through a part of his presidency, Eisenhower focused on "containing communism" like the previous posts mentioned. After the completion of the Manhattan project and the dropping the two atomic bombs, this opened the doors to the new nuclear power that we could be capable of.

Aaliyah Smith-Israel said...

Dwight Eisenhower was a popular president of the 1950's based on the people's vote.I think that he completed his basic duties as a president.He won his presidency position by using the famous "I Like Ike" campaign.Even though he didn't demonstrate his political grounds in his campaign ,he focused on commercialism in order to attract the people of US to elect him on election day.I agree with Dana that he was trying to contain communism and after the Atomic bomb droppingss more capable of using new nuclear power in warfare.