The USA and the Cold War (1952-1960)

Question 1

Why was Ike expected to be good at handling international relations?

Answer 1

He was the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe during the war

Question 2

Who was John Foster Dulles?

Answer 2

• Secretary of State appointed by Ike
• He was very anti-communist
• The older brother of Allen Dulles (Director of the CIA)
• A strong advocate for brinkmanship and massive retaliation

Question 3

When did Stalin die and who replaced him?

Answer 3

Stalin died in March 1953 and was replaced by Nikita Khrushchev

Question 4

What is Mutually Assured Destruction?

Answer 4

MAD is the concept that if two opposing sides use nuclear weapons, both would be completely destroyed.

Question 5

What was the Space Race?

Answer 5

It was a competition between the US and the Soviet Union to achieve major space exploration milestones during the Cold War

Question 6

What did the USSR launch into Space?

Answer 6

• In October 1957, they launched Sputnik, a satellite, into space (orbited around the earth until January 1958
• In November 1957, they launched a Sputnik 2 which contained a dog named Laika

Question 7

What was the US response to Soviet success in the space race?

Answer 7

• They responded with a US Vanguard TV3 rocket satellite in Dec 1957
• It blew up after 4ft in the air on live television
• The press gave it names like ‘Flopnik’ and ‘Kaputnik’

Question 8

What was the Arms Race?

Answer 8

• It began after Truman dropped the atomic bombs in 1945
• By 1953, both sides had hydrogen bombs with 7 times more power than that dropped on Hiroshima
• There was also the development of ICBMs which raised concern in the US

Question 9

What are ICBMs?

Answer 9

ICBMs are long-range missiles that can carry nuclear warheads across continents

Question 10

What was the ‘New Look’ policy?

Answer 10

• Also known as ‘more bang for buck’
• Ike’s national security strategy which focused on reducing military spending by relying on nuclear deterrence rather than conventional forces (proposed by Dulles)

Question 11

What was the ‘On the Cult of Personality and its Consequences’ speech?

Answer 11

Also known as the ‘secret speech’, it was given by Khrushchev to Congress in 1956, denouncing Stalin’s ways

Question 12

What was the reaction in East Europe to the secret speech?

Answer 12

It increased the belief that destalinisation would occur and there were increasing protests in Poland and Hungary

Question 13

What was the Hungarian Uprising?

Answer 13

• In October 1956, the Hungarian leader Rakosi was replaced by Imre Nagy, who promised free elections and that Hungary would leave the Warsaw Pact
• Hungarians expected US support and believed Khrushchev would relax Stalinist control so there were increasing protests

Question 14

How did Khrushchev respond to the Hungarian Uprising?

Answer 14

• He feared that Hungary leaving the Warsaw Pact would create a hole in the Iron Curtain, so he responded by sending troops to the country in November 1956
• 3000 Hungarians were killed and 200,000 fled to Austria

Question 15

What was Ike’s reason for not getting involved in Hungary?

Answer 15

• He stated that there was nothing in the Truman Doctrine that warranted going to war
• The US’ lack of aid showed that Europe was indeed split in two

Question 16

What happened in Berlin in the 1950s?

Answer 16

• In November 1958, Khrushchev demanded that Western powers leave West Berlin in 6 months
• Ike responded by holding the 1959 Geneva Conference (nothing was solved)
• Khrushchev then went to the US in September 1959 on an 11-day tour and agreed at Camp David that there would be no deadline to exit Berling

Question 17

What was the U-2 Crisis?

Answer 17

• In May 1960, the Soviet Union shot down a U2 spy place
• Khrushchev thought Allen Dulles had done it, as the US announced that a weather plane had been lost near the Turkish Soviet borders (they believed the captain to be dead)
• When Khrushchev presented the captain, Gary Powers, alive, Ike admitted to organising the mission, as it was a ‘distasteful necessity

Question 18

How did Ike deal with the Korean War?

Answer 18

• In 1952, Ike visited Korea and decided that measures were required
• In 1953, an armistice was signed which left the Korean Peninsula divided into the North and the South on the 38th Parallel
• His success in Korea strengthened his hand in domestic and foreign affairs

Question 19

What happened in Taiwan?

Answer 19

• Mao had claimed that Taiwan was part of China and Truman was willing to let it be retaken
• Jiang Jieshi’s willingness to allow the country to be used as a US base for Naval operations gave them a degree of protection
• Mao ordered the shelling of two islands controlled by Taiwan in 1954 and Ike responded by securing the Formosa Resolution in January 1955 which provided for the defence of Taiwan
• Dulles also suggested that the US was considering using nuclear power on China
• China eventually ceased the shelling

Question 20

What happened in Vietnam?

Answer 20

• In 1954, the war between Ho Chi Minh and the French was going badly for the Europeans
• Ho Chi Minh was in a strong position after defeating the French at Dien Bien Phu in May 1954
• In July 1954, it was decided that Vietnam would be partitioned and there would be a general election by July 1956
• However, when Ngo Dinh Diem took power in the 1955, the US supported his regime as he was anti-communist, even though he was unjust to the Buddhist population

Question 21

What was going on in the Middle East in the 1950s?

Answer 21

• Left-leaning leaders like Mossadegh in Iran were seen as susceptible to communist influence
• This led to Dulles approving a CIA plot to depose of Mossadegh in 1953

Question 22

What was CENTO and when was it created?

Answer 22

It was created in 1955 as a defence alliance between Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, and the United Kingdom to counter Soviet influence in the Middle East.

Question 23

When was the Suez Crisis and what happened?

Answer 23

• July 1956
• Nasser, the Egyptian leader, nationalised the Suez Canal to use the money raised by it to fund the Aswan Dam
• Britain and France retaliated by striking a deal with Israel whereby the latter would attack Egypt, Britain and France would call for a ceasefire and then bomb Cairo under the pretext of trying to maintain peace
• Ike responded by using financial pressures to force Britain and France to withdraw as he didn’t want to be associated with imperialism

Question 24

What was the Eisenhower Doctrine?

Answer 24

• A doctrine issued in January 1957 which committed the USA to assist any nation requesting assistance against armed aggression from communist countries
• Congress provided $200 million for it