From that point forward, even after the Korean War had ended in July 1953, the United States’ military and national security spending remained at levels unthinkable prior to Korea. Indeed, the decisions made in 1950 stood practically unchallenged for nearly two generations. The historical significance is that it left a legacy of resentment and the imperfection of the United States domestic and foreign policies. Over the long haul of the Cold War, the Korean rearmament effort and the precedents it set came at a very high price, a price that went far beyond actual military expenditures. The economic, social, and political costs resulting from the decisions made during Korea are perhaps immeasurable, for there was no real “peace dividend” at the end of the Korean War. Pierpaoli references, Robert H. Wiebe observation that the Korean conflict resulted in the permanent institutionalization of an ongoing trend in twentieth-century American history which was the detachment of the government from the people. The Korean experience also solidified and institutionalized the Cold War mentality. Truman and his successors held the “vital center” of American politics by focusing much of the nation’s attention and…
The term "massive retaliation" was a term used to describe a policy. This policy enabled Eisenhower to cut the budget of military spending from a large 50 billion to a drastic change of 34 billion. The term "brinkmanship" was used to say the willingness to go to brink of war to force the other side to back down and argued that it was far to dangerous. Eisenhower used these concepts to help end the Korean War because he had in mind that with less of a military budget that there would be less supplies to carry on a war for much longer. He used brinkmanship to help end the Korean War by trying to get the opponents to back down from the war so that end result there would be no Korean War.…
John F. Kennedy, in his presidential inaugural address, affirmed America’s traditional values and stressed the importance of establishing peace between countries. In his speech, Kennedy emphasized the need for unity between the United States and Soviet Union as it is the best way to preserve tranquility and to protect the nation. He utilized the rhetorical device of anaphora to accentuate the actions necessary to ensure the success of creating strong relations between the United States and Soviet Union. Kennedy repeated the phrase,” let both sides,” along with an inspiring suggestion to promote the idea that peace will put a stop to major disputes and allow countries to cooperate. Kennedy also used his speech as a platform to convince the American…
This bomb was much more destructive than the Atomic bombs that fell on the Japaneses cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, ending World War Two. First came the Bay of Pigs, then the Cuban Missile Crisis and Quarantine. Any decision the president made would affect his the safety of the country. Kennedy tried to use his power properly in hopes of helping the country but executed attempts poorly, such as the Bay of Pigs.…
the reasoning behind massive retaliation and brinkmanship was to keep the soviet union from setting up communist governments within developing countries and it was also used to keep the soviet union from expanding their control into other countries. Eisenhower used these methods to threaten the soviet union whenever they were trying to get more land and setup more communist governments. Eisenhower used these methods in the Korean war to scare the north Koreans into stopping the fight and it worked because at that time the U.S was the only country that had the atomic bomb and the Koreans knew that the U.S used them before and they were scared so they stopped fighting and setup an agreement between the north and the south and created the demilitarized…
Previously criticizing Eisenhower for letting Communism spread Kennedy increased American commitment to Vietnam with the same world view as others at the time; a stand to communism must be made in order to contain it. Vietnam was chosen for its geographical reasons and with a long thin coast making access and retreat easy. Kennedy developed the idea of flexible response sending 700 advisers and 400 special services to train the ARVN troops. By 1961 he increased commitment and by 1962 12,00 advisers were in Vietnam. With flexible response and the Strategic Hamlet’s project Kennedy was looking at an outcome of real commitment to Vietnam.…
The post WWII United States was a time of great economic growth continued throughout the 50s and 60s. The four commanders in chiefs at the time all had policies that impacted the economy. Between presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson, president Eisenhower handled the economic, diplomatic, social, and political, challenges he faced during the time the best; Every other president had failed in one of the 4 for mentioned categories as opposed to Eisenhower, who was able to effectively handle his economic, diplomatic, social, and political, challenges and steer to country in the right direction.…
This probably influenced Kennedy's thoughts, and ideas for things like war, and helping other countries that were in need. Kennedy was inaugurated January 20, 1961. When JFK came into office, the United States and the USSR still felt tension between them that resulted in a Cold War. Another problem Kennedy had was his cabinet members, which all had different thoughts on every subject. For example his Secretary, Dean Rusk, believed that any communist plot should be stopped immediately because it could be a sign of them trying to take over the world. JFK elected Walt Rostow to be his presidential advisor. Rostow believed that the United States need to use their military power to cut off the supplies they’ve been giveing to the Vietcong. He also believed that they need to bombed North Vietnam, which make South Vietnam more modern. General Maxwell Taylor criticized Eisenhower’s conventional training efforts. McGeorge Bundy shared similar views as Rostow, except Bundy wanted to attack the Northern Viet Cong. the NSC advisor wanted to attack the Viet Cong…
QUESTIONS FROM INSTRUCTOR: During the first half of the twentieth century, two major global conflicts shattered the country's notions of peace and stability, prompting the United States to send money, munitions, and troops overseas. For this essay, consider the ways in which Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt approached foreign war.…
It’s a cold morning on November 29,1952 as I’m woken up by the radio announcing that President- Elect Truman was going to fly to Korea. I thought to myself he must have a death wish and is already becoming president. The Koreans despise the united states so much right now. I wondered what gave him that this crazy idea to fly and try to make peace with the Koreans. Then I started to remember when Eisenhower basically challenged him to come up with a different way to solve the problem.…
In 1969, Nixon built his presidential campaign on the idea of ending the Vietnam War. Early in his administration, the president outlined a foreign policy based on a "low profile" and on reductions in the U.S. role abroad. Many believe this was the reason for Nixon 's election. Fed up with the war in Vietnam, Americans were ready to get our soldiers home. Nixon considered his engagement strategy "peace with honor." Nixon 's priority was the settlement of the Vietnam crisis while using the "peace with honor" code. Nixon found an ally in Henry Kissinger who was the Nation Security Advisor and working together to end the crisis in Vietnam. One strategy was called "Vietnamization," a carrot on a stick method, which would to gradually move the troops away and force the South Vietnamese to fight for themselves in order to advance peace talks in Paris. (Davidson et al., 2002 pg 895) The truth of the matter is that Nixon continued with the Vietnam War for nearly four more years. Nixon 's "peace with honor" code or "policy of engagement" was similar to Truman and the Cold War. Truman used the treat of nuclear arms attacks to scare the communist bloc from expanding. When the "peace with…
Massive retaliation was the threat of using nuclear weapons that made the enemy thinks twice before attack. The policy, however, had two dangerous results. First, it gave the United States only two extreme ways of responding to a Communist attack: either fight a nuclear war or do nothing. Secondly, it gave the Soviet no choice but to better their research, which can be seen in Document E. With the "New Look" and massive retaliation, Eisenhower and his administration would be ready for communism when communism comes. However, the fear of the Soviet's nuclear weapon greatens.…
Kennedy promised that violence would take place if the aggression between the United States and the other nations did not stop. He said, “Let all our neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in the Americas. And let every power know that this Hemisphere intends to remain the master of its own house.”(Kennedy 9) This philosophy was the same as Theodore Roosevelt’s, “Walk softly but carry a big stick.” (Roosevelt).…
In 1957 Secretary of State John Foster Dulles addressed the Associated Press in a speech known as Dynamic Peace. In this speech Secretary Dulles seems to be trying to convince the American public why they must always be prepared to go to war even though it was not what America desired. He also explained how the Soviet Union would not want the free nations of the world to work together to arm themselves and be willing to protect each other from attack. “The Soviet rulers understandably prefer that the free nations should be weak and divided, as when the men in the Kremlin stole, one by one, the independence of a dozen nations. So, at each enlargement of the area of collective defense, the Soviet rulers pour out abuse against so-called "militaristic groupings." And as the free nations move to strengthen their common defense, the Soviet rulers emit threats. But we can, I think, be confident that such Soviet assaults…
Q2. In what ways were President Kennedy’s foreign policy decisions shaped by Cold War ideology?…