Chapter 8

• Dwight Eisenhower

  Military experience

  Driven by economic efficiency

  First Supreme Commander of NATO

  Republican presidential candidate in 1952

  President from 1953-61

  More aggressive against Communism to combat criticism of Truman
• John Foster Dulles

  US Secretary of State until 1959

  Experienced and good at foreign policy creation and negotiation

  Experienced in strategic planning

  Helped set up the UN Charter

  Hated Communism
• Eisenhower and Dulles: Foreign Policy

  - Rejected Truman's commitment to expanding US conventional forces regardless of the cost.

  - Containment policy was too limited and ineffective as the basis for foreign policy e.g. in Europe and Korea

  - Eisenhower promised not just containment but 'Rollback'

  - Dulles used brinkmanship as a diplomatic tool and threatened massive retaliation
• Eisenhower and Dulles: Foreign Policy: When was New Look unveiled

  - Eisenhower's New Look policy was unveiled in Oct 1953
• Eisenhower and Dulles: Foreign Policy: why did they not use force?

  - However, Eisenhower recognised the Soviet sphere of influence and never used force to ensure roll back. Knew if they used force, Soviets would retaliate.

  - Truman had used force and failed.
• The expansion of alliance systems

  Eisenhower placed greater importance on alliances than Truman.

  Compensating for a lack of US conventional forces

  Global network of alliances to encircle China and USSR.

  Reduce the involvement of US troops but US provided a nuclear umbrella (collective deterrence) to allow regional allies' troops to respond to communist aggression.
• US Alliance Systems: SEATO

  SEATO (South East Asia Treaty Organisation) formed in September 1954. Collective defence treaty.

  - Members: US, France, UK, Pakistan, Thailand, New Zealand, Australia

  Japan not a member

  Few common borders

  Some important states that might have been deemed in need of SEATO protection (From NV) were not members e.g. Burma, South Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia.
• FRG (Federal Republic of Germany): Who was the first Chancellor?

  Konrad Adenauer

  
  

  - committed anti-communist

  - supported Western orientated foreign policy aimed at strengthening West Germany and ensuring its security.

  - Oversaw economic and political recovery 1949- 1963, a period of intense Cold War confrontation

  
  

  - Recognised that the best way to strengthen his country was to align it with Western Powers
• FRG: Regeneration of Germany

  - Supported by the USA

  - -US saw a strengthened Germany as a safeguard against communist expansionism

  - Reliance on the US would prevent a resurgence of German Nationalism and militarism
• FRG: When did they join the Council of Europe and what advantages did this have?

  - Nov 1949, FRG joined Council of Europe and received the right to establish consulates (offices) in other countries.

  - Had the right to have direct representation on the Organisation of European Economic Cooperation (OEEC)

  - coordinated Marshall Aid

  - Economic links
• FRG: When did it become sovereign nation?

  - May 1952, the General Treaty, signed in Bonn, abolished the statute of occupation and thereby recognised the full sovereignty of the FRG.

  - In order to placate the French, Adenauer agreed to renounce nuclear weapons and keep the German Army limited in size and under strict civilian control

  - Therefore it was open for German Rearmament
• USA Alliance Systems: FRG & NATO: When did West Germany join NATO? USSR's reaction?

  - May 1955

  - Support of US pressure on the French to allow

  - USSR immediately recognised the sovereignty of GDR (East Germany) and created the Warsaw Pact

  - Underlined the US commitment to regional alliances designed to contain communism as effectively as possible and at lowest cost to US.

  - Also showed US commitment to centrality of Germany as a regional force
• USSR Alliance Systems: With China

  - Feb 1950, Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship = firm military commitment

  - May 1953, strengthened as USSR provide defence technology to China

  - Sept-Oct 1953, Khrushchev visits China to strengthen economic links between USSR and China to aid China's national security
• USSR Alliance Systems: Warsaw Pact

  - May 1955

  - Further consolidated USSR's relations with the satellite communist states of Eastern Europe

  - USSR saw it as legitimising its influence in Eastern Europe

  
  

  - Members: Hungary, Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, USSR, Albania

  
  

  - Presented as a collective security strategy and therefore a non-threatening alliance

  - Served as a military reinforcement of the USSR's satellite structure and consolidated the political and economic relationship between the USSR and its satellites
• Continuity of Policy from Truman to Eisenhower

  Eisenhower accepted much of what formed the basis of Truman's national security policy:

  
  

  - The USA must retain its influence in Western Europe and Asia

  - There should be a collective Western defence strategy, which included Germany and its economic and military potential

  - The Soviet threat was significant and the containment of Soviet territorial expansion was fundamental to US security interests

  - The USA must retain a strong nuclear arsenal and conventional forces in order to deter and counter Soviet opportunism.
• Differences between Truman and Eisenhower: Attitude to Containment

  - Eisenhower rejected Truman's commitment to a major expansion, regardless of cost, of US conventional forces.

  - Believed containment was limited in its effectiveness and insufficient for US foreign policy
• Eisenhower's 'New Look' Policy

  - Containment created a stalemate

  - Dulles wanted to 'roll back' communism and Moscow's power

  - Dulles believed that the security of US national interests and the guarantee of international peace were dependent upon reducing the dominance of Soviet communism globally.

  = Fundamental strand of 'New Look' policy

  - Only through peaceful means. It is significant that Eisenhower never attempted to undermine the USSR's sphere of influence or 'liberate' any pro-Soviet communist states
• Differences between Truman and Eisenhower: Massive Retaliation

  - Under Eisenhower, nuclear weapons assumed much greater significance as the basis for US national security strategy

  - Increased reliance on nuclear weapons, which was much less apparent under Truman's administration

  - Most cost-effective method of winning Cold War
• What did the NSC 162/2 report?

  Oct 1953

  - Emphasised the view that the most effective way to deter aggression against Western Europe was for the USA to forcefully display its determination to use nuclear weapons and its nuclear superiority against any aggressor
• Differences between Truman and Eisenhower: Brinkmanship

  - A strategy designed to convince one's opponent that there is a risk of war or actual conflict

  - One side shows no sign of backing down and this is used to force the other side into having to back down or face the prospect of actual conflict
• How did Eisenhower and Dulles use Brinkmanship?

  -Dulles believed that the USA's nuclear arsenal was not only a source of deterrence but also a diplomatic tool.

  - USA could use their nuclear strength to force agreements from communist opponents, up until the very point where nuclear war might break out

  - Dulles believed that this was essential in effective foreign policy and diplomacy against a potential aggressor.

  - Nuclear diplomacy = brinkmanship
• Differences between Truman and Eisenhower: Covert Operations

  - Eisenhower increasingly used CIA covert operations to influence International relations

  - The CIA became an instrument of American Foreign Policy - it was quick, cheap, and beyond the scrutiny of Congress

  - The CIA took secret action in Iran, Guatemala and the Congo to ensure American interests were maintained in those regions
• Differences between Truman and Eisenhower: Increased willingness to talk

  - Eisenhower was an 'instinctive peacemaker' and believed in personal diplomacy

  - 1955: US-Soviet summit in Geneva

  - 1959: Eisenhower and Khrushchev meet in USA

  - 1960: Paris summit

  - 1954: Dulles met Chinese minister over Vietnam
• Indochina/Vietnam 1945-54 Summary

  •After WW2 - French vs 'Vietminh' Communists

  •1954 - Battle of Dien Bien Phu (French defeat)

  •1954 - Geneva Conference

  •North = Communist (Ho Chi Minh)

  •South = Non-Communist (Diem)

  •Elections for united Vietnam - meant to happen in 1956: but the US vetoed them
• Describe the situation in French Indochina by 1950

  - USA supported independence from France for Indochina

  - Decolonisation - removal of French control, replaced by USSR

  - 1947: Laos and Cambodia granted autonomy

  - Build up of forces supported by USSR and West

  - Stalin and China supported Ho Chi Minh proclaiming the existence of Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945
• What is Indochina?


  A geographical entity used when collectively referring to Cambodia, Laos, NV, SV.

  - Colonies of France prior to Geneva agreement of 1954
• Why did the US decide to aid the French against the Democratic republic of Vietnam?

  - Southeast Asia was seen as a region that was vulnerable to the spread of communism

  - US commitment part of a wider Southeast Asia strategy based on containing communism by defending Japan, SK, Taiwan, rather just just to defend Vietnam by itself
• Why was Indochina important to American policy making?

  - Vietnam was geostrategically important as a useful market for Japanese goods and strengthening of Japan's economy

  - Application of the domino theory was implicit in this process
• By 1954, what percentage of the cost of the war was the USA paying?

  75%

  Eisenhower was opposed to using conventional forces to support the French
• What kind of solution did Eisenhower favour ?

  Diplomatic solution to protect Vietnam from communist control

  - Fulfil containment
• Who was General Matthew Ridgeway and what was his view on the situation?

  - Military career

  - Significant role during Eisenhower's administration

  - Often in conflict with Eisenhower

  - Opposed Eisenhower's determination to reduce conventional military troops - limited his influence

  
  

  - He favoured a diplomatic solution

  - Convinced Eisenhower that a war in Indochina would absorb US troops by divisions
• Why did the USA and USSR want a diplomatic solution to the situation?

  - Both wanted to appear moderate

  - Conflict = expensive

  -No one wants to be an aggressor
• What was the view of China to the situation?

  - Also wanted to appear moderate. Mao wants his image to be untarnished

  - also wanted diplomatic solution

  - Placed pressure on Ho Chi Minh to negotiate an end to the war with France
• What was the situation in Indochina by April 1954?

  - French were on the point of military defeat at the hands of the Viet Minh at Dien Bien Phu.

  - At this point, negotiations were convened in Geneva
• Viet Minh and Dien Bien Phu

  - Viet Minh = nationalist and communist military force in Vietnam

  - The battle at Dien Bien Phu proved to be a turning point and it paved the way for a French withdrawal and a divided Vietnam

  - March - May 1954

  - First time a non-European nationalist force had defeated elite troops from a European colonial power
• Ho Chi Minh

  - Staunch Communist and Nationalist

  - Engineered the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu

  
  

  - prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam from 1945 to 1955

  - president from 1945 until his death in 1969
• Ngo Dinh Diem

  - First president of the newly created South Vietnam from 1955

  - nationalistic, devoutly Catholic, anti-Communist
• Name the 2 leaders of Vietnam in 1954

  - Ho Chi Minh ( Communist - supported by the USSR and China) - Ngo Dinh Diem (capitalist - supported by the USA)
• What was the name of the conference convened in July 1954 to deal with Vietnam?

  Geneva Conference
• Where was Vietnam separated?

  17th parallel