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Eisenhower, Kennedy and the Cold War

Eisenhower, Kennedy and the Cold War. The “New Look” in Foreign Policy: Cutting the Cost of Containment. Nuclear build-up, arms race Strengthening of CIA Smaller conventional forces Covert operations: Iran (1953), Guatemala (1954). The “Missile Gap”. Sputnik Crisis (1957) NASA (1958).

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Eisenhower, Kennedy and the Cold War

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  1. Eisenhower, Kennedy and the Cold War

  2. The “New Look” in Foreign Policy: Cutting the Cost of Containment • Nuclear build-up, arms race • Strengthening of CIA • Smaller conventional forces • Covert operations: Iran (1953), Guatemala (1954)

  3. The “Missile Gap” Sputnik Crisis (1957) NASA (1958)

  4. Cold War Freeze • Khrushchev’s visit to the United States, 1959 • The U-2 Crisis • Crisis over West Berlin

  5. Cuba Castro takes power, January 1959 Nationalisation of American-owned businesses Embargo CIA encouragement of Cuban exiles

  6. 1954: Dien Bien Phu; the Geneva settlement and creation of US client state • 1956: US & DVN cancel elections, second Indo-China war begins

  7. Vietnam US support for Diem regime in the South: 1 Billion dollars in aid (1955-1961)

  8. # • Bi-partisan foreign policy: Ike and JFK support Diem regime • “We shall pay any price, bear any burden…” (JFK)

  9. June 16, 1963: Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc self-immolates in Saigon

  10. “Vietnam represents the cornerstone of the Free World in Southeast Asia, the keystone of the arch, the finger in the dyke.” Senator John F. Kennedy, to American Friends of Vietnam meeting, 1956

  11. The “Military-Industrial Complex” “Its pervasive influence is felt in every city, every statehouse, every office of the government… In the councils of government we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex… We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert an knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty can prosper together.” Eisenhower, Farewell Address, 1961

  12. The Kennedy Family, Hyannis Port, 1948

  13. http://livingroomcandidate.movingimage.us/election/index.php?nav_action=election&nav_subaction=overview&campaign_id=167http://livingroomcandidate.movingimage.us/election/index.php?nav_action=election&nav_subaction=overview&campaign_id=167 • Kennedy’s claims: • The ultimate Cold Warrior • Centrist, embodiment of the liberal consensus • New generation… a “New Frontier”

  14. Kennedy’s Narrow Victory: Charisma Money Nixon’s awkwardness Tactical shoring up of New Deal coalition: release of King, nomination of Johnson

  15. Foreign Policy:The Context • Khrushchev’s unpredictable behaviour • JFK’s personality: machismo • Politics: assert presidential power • Anti-communism in United States, intensified by “missile gap” • “Domino theory”: third world as Cold War battleground • Preoccupation with US “credibility” • The “military-industrial” complex and Walter Heller’s “military Keynsianism”

  16. Foreign Policy:Bay of Pigs Invasion (April 1961)

  17. Foreign Policy:Covert Operations • LAOS: Bay of Pigs probably prevented US forces being sent in great numbers to Laos, but a “covert” CIA-led war was intensified there and continued into 1970s • Operation Mongoose: “My idea is to stir things up on the island with espionage, sabotage, general disorder.” (RFK, Nov 1961)

  18. Foreign Policy: Cuban Missile Crisis (October 1962)

  19. “Ex-Comm” (of the NSC) during the “thirteen days”, October 1962

  20. JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis • Moderation compared to hawks on Ex-Comm: resisted invasion, or retaliation after shooting-down of U-2 • Aided by Khrushchev’s recklessness and strategic errors • But JFK’s Cuban policy may have provoked crisis in the first place • Reckless strategy of publicly humiliating Khrushchev

  21. Foreign Policy:JFK on Vietnam • “pay ANY price, bear ANY burden….”? • on sending combat troops to support Diem (1962): “its like taking a drink. The effect wears off, and you have to take another…” • “I don’t think that the war can be won out there. In the final analysis, it is their war.” (September 1963) • “We dare not weary of the task [in Vietnam]” (planned remarks in Dallas, Nov 22, 1963)

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