The Thawing of the Cold War

         QUESTION:     

Compare and contrast the Cold War foreign policies of TWO of the following presidents.

Harry Truman (1945–1953)

Dwight Eisenhower (1953–1961)

Richard Nixon (1969–1974)

           Right after World War II the US and the USSR started having ideological and political disputes over territories and communism. This became a full blown Cold War when Berlin was blockaded by the Soviets, but was aided by America with an airlift. As Winston Churchill said “an iron curtain had descended between the East and the West, communist and non-communist. Both Dwight D Eisenhower and Richard Nixon had different ways of dealing with the pose threat in America. Eisenhower had a policy of brinkmanship, while Richard Nixon believed in a state of detente. However, both believed that communism should be contained and that the United States must come out of the war as a victor.

              When Eisenhower became president, he had a specific policy to follow. Brinkmanship was the iea of constantly putting the enemy on edge. The use or possession of nuclear weapons would serve as both a threat an a  deterrent to the enemy. This was also known as “Mutually Assured Destruction”. In addition, under Eisenhower, America was spurred on an arms race, especially when the Soviets launchedSputnik. From then on, America raced to build weapons, and further technology in order to go into space. Ultimately, this was achieved in Kennedy’s presidency, where the Apollo Project sent man to the moon. Under Eisenhower, the US was constantly competing with the USSR to ensure that it would always have the upper hand. Falling behind would only mean failure an potentially destruction.

             Nixon’s approach to the Civil War was very different. Instead of threatening constantly, he decided on diplomacy.Nixon broke barriers when he went to China in what is known as the ping-pong diplomacy. The fact that Nixon went to China shows his willingness to compromise, since the United States hadn’t even recognized China because of its communist ideology. The visit was also a brilliant idea because it put the Russians in a bad spot; the USSR and China were not very fond of each other, so also having good relations with China also meant having good negotiations with the Soviets. Nixon and the leader of Russia, worked out an arguement called the SALT I treaty. This limited the amount of nuclear arms on both side, which ended tensions considerably and put the two superpowers at a detente. In other words, the United States and the Soviet Union coexisted and somewhat peacefully; although underlying tensions did exist, the surface was calm. Nixon’s diplomatic approach was suitable for the time.

            Although both presidents had their differences in foreign policy, they were quite similar in that both believed in the stop of communism. Eisenhower, a war general, had little qualms about containing communism for the purpose of covert operation. Nixon, too, was not afraid to use force. Having been a member of the anti-communist HUAC, he strongly believed in stopping it.Though Nixon had stated that America was beginning “Vietnamization”, or the gradual replacement of American troops with South Vietnam ones, he actually increased military presence to the many wars and secret attacks, Congress did pass the War Powers Act to limit the president, but Nixon still pushed for a no anti-communist agenda