Eisenhower and Dulles: Roll-back, brinkmanship, and the New Look:
Khrushchev and co-existence:
Other factors which encouraged a change in international relations:
- Eisenhower was elected president in 1952
- He had a distinguished military background
- Commanded allied armies in Normandy in 1944
- End of WWII he served the US Army's chief of staff and commander-in-chief of NATO
- He was unlikely to be criticised as "soft on Communism"
- Him and his Secretary of State, Dulles, were fully anti-communist - Roll-back
- 1952 Presidential election campaign, Dulles talked about a "roll-back"
- To liberate East European Countries that were held by the soviets, but it never happened
- No attempt under Eisenhower was made to free countries from Soviet control
- US quietly encouraged rebellions in Eastern Europe in 1953-1956, but did not use these opportunities to extend its spheres of influence - New Look
- Under Eisenhower, the US administration developed a policy of containment of "New Look"
- This meant preventing the extension of Soviet Communism outside the areas where it was already established
- In the belief that without any opportunity to expand, the Soviet System would collapse on itself
- Eisenhower put his containment by:- Setting up alliances to encircle the Soviet Union, eg. SEATO
- Using military power to protect vulnerable areas, eg. West Berlin
- Assisting forces that were fighting communism, eg. Diem's government in Southern Vietnam
- Using the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) for covert operations more extensively than had been done before
- Initiating an increased reliance on nuclear weapons
- National security document in 1953 stated: "The US will consider nuclear weapons to be available for use of other munitions - Brinkmanship
- Involving threats of massive retaliation as an instrument of containment
- Eisenhower was also aware of the dangers from the nuclear weapons; prepared to negotiate with the Soviet Union despite Brinkmanship
- This was called US-Soviet summits in 1955 and 1959
Khrushchev and co-existence:
- US-Soviets summits took place because of:
- Due to Eisenhower's willingness to negotiate
- Due to the attitudes of the new leaders in Soviet Union - Death of Stalin in 1953 and removal of Stalin's chief of secret police Beria
- Soviet foreign policy came under the control of Malenkov, Khrushchev and Bulganin; collective leadership - Peaceful Co-existence
- Malenkov's "New Course":
- With the West
- Picked up by Khrushchev after winning leadership
- Renamed it "peaceful co-existence"
- Move away from Leninist doctrine of the inevitability of war
- Meant that Capitalism and Communism should accept the continuing existence of one another rather than force to destroy one another
- Americans believed that through this Communism would collapse due to deprived expansionist opportunities
- Khrushchev declared that in any case Capitalism would die out due to its own inherent weaknesses
- No need to risk nuclear war - Khrushchev
- Leader of Soviet Union
- By 1957, he moved away from Stalin's rule by terror
- Introduced "de-Stalinization," put forward by his "secret speech" in February 1956
- Criticised Stalin's excessive use of terror and leadership style
- End to mass killings, prisoners freed
- Did not mean a loosening of control over satellite states eg. Hungary when it tried to introduce more liberal measures
Other factors which encouraged a change in international relations:
- Nuclear Holocaust
- Eisenhower and Khrushchev keen to avoid nuclear war
- Churchill also supported idea of more communication between East and West