Introduction A. Stalin died in March of 1953. 1. Korean War also ended. B. Eisenhower began a new military policy called the New Look.1. The key was American ability to build and deliver

                        a. Korea (February 1953).

                        b. Vietnam (April 1953).

3. Formosa Straits (January 1955).

IV. Quemoy and Matsu (January 1955)

        A. Eisenhower

                1. Determined to hole Quemoy and Matsu.

1. Believed they were integral to the defense of

Formosa.

1. If they fell, Formosa would fall,

jeopardizing the anti-Communist barrier and putting several countries in the West Pacific under Communist influence.

2. Asked Congress for a blank check because he was

afraid he wouldn’t have time to react if the Chinese attacked Quemoy and Matsu.

                3. Major war scare.

                        a. Eisenhower seriously considered dropping

                        nuclear weapons on the China mainland.

1. Chinese pressure on the islands

lessened and the crisis receded.

2. Brinkmanship succeeded.

V. Kremlin

VI. Stability of Eisenhower’s Government

        A. Eisenhower

                1. Improved Russian-American relations.

                        a. Avoided war and kept the arms race at a low

                        level.

                2. Strong position.

                        a. American GNP went up without inflation.

                        b. NATO was intact.

                        c. Western European economy continued to boom.

4. American military bases in the Pacific were

safe.

                        e. U.S. was military superior to the S.U.

VII. Khrushchev’s Secret Speech (February 1956)

        A. Secret speech

                1. Shocked the Party Congress by denouncing Stalin’s

                crimes.

                        a. Indicated that Stalinist restrictions would be

                        loosened.

                2. Russians dissolved Cominform (April 1956).

3. CIA got a copy of the speech and distributed it

around the world.

1. Khrushchev was forced to disband the old

Stalinist Politburo in Warsaw and let Wladyslaw Gomulka, an independent Communist, take power.

VIII. Suez Canal Crisis (1956)

        A. Suez Canal

                1. U.S. withdraws support from the Aswan Dam on July 19,

                1956 because of Nassar’s trading relationship with the

                S.U. (Soviets give Nassar guns).

                        a. Nassar seizes the Suez Canal in response.

1. British and French furious because

they are dependent on the canal for oil.

2. British and French begin plans of invasion of Egypt

without telling the U.S.

1. Issue an ultimatum, arranged in advance with

Israel.

                                i. Warn combatants to stay away from the

                                Suez Canal.

2. Nassar ignores the ultimatum, so

Europeans begin bombing Egyptian military targets.

3. U.S. introduces a resolution in the U.N. General

Assembly.

2. Urge a truce and impose an oil embargo on

Britain and France.

3. British tried to seize the canal, but the U.S.

forces them to return it to Egypt.

IX. Budapest Crisis (October 1956)

        A. Budapest

                1. Khrushchev gives power of the stalinist puppet

                dictators to Imre Nagy.

                        a. The Russians also withdrew their tanks from

                        around Budapest.

                2. Nagy withdrew Hungary from the Warsaw Pact.

                        a. Soviets attacked the Hungarians, killing

                        thousands.

        b. The U.S. never considered helping the

        Hungarians.

                                i. U.S. armed forces were not capable of

                                driving the Red Army out of Hungary,

                                except through a nuclear holocaust.

ii.Hungarians left to fend for

themselves against the Russians.

X. Eisenhower Doctrine (July 15, 1958)

        A. Eisenhower Doctrine

                1. Gave Eisenhower the authority to use U.S. armed

                forces in the Middle East if he deemed the necessity of

                assisting against armed aggression from any country

                controlled by international communism.

                        a. Sent the Marines into Lebanon to support

                        President Chamoun.

                                i. Intervention illustrated Eisenhower’s

                                methods.

                                ii. Unilateral action that risked war in

                                support of a less democratic government

                                threatened by pro-Nassar Arabs.

3. U.S. troops limited to taking the

airfield and the capital only.

XI. Sputnik (October 4, 1957)

        A. Sputnik

                1. S.U. successfully launched the world’s first man-

                made satellite.

                        a. Americans angry, ashamed, and afraid.

                2. The Gaither Report.

                        a. The published findings and recommendations of

                        the Ford Foundation.

                                i. Presented a dark picture of the future

                                of American security.

4. Sputnik had the effect of establishing ground rules

for the Cold War.

2. Soviets would not challenge the West’s vital

interests.

3. Eisenhower indicated that he didn’t want an

arms race and was eager for datente.

XII. Second Berlin Crisis (1956)

        A. Second Berlin crisis

                1. West Berlin an economic miracle.

                        a. Had become the greatest manufacturing city in

                        Germany.

b. Its GNP exceeded that of more than half the

members of the U.N.

                2. Khrushchev moved against West Berlin in late 1956.

                        a. Feared the growing rearmament of West Germany.

                                i. Adenauer, the West German leader, was

                                increasing the pace of rearmament.

                3. Free-city proposal.

                        a. Turn West Berlin into a free city and would

                        remove the troops from all alien countries.

                        b. Eisenhower rejected proposal.

                                i. Feared the Russians would frighten the

                                U.S. into an arms race that would

                                bankrupt the country.

                                ii. Khrushchev soon began to back down.