Korean War Essay

I. 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 nuclear weapons. 2. Would allow the U. S. to destroy the S. U. C. Khrushchev 1. Sputnik. a. Sent the U. S. into a deep emotional depression despite the U. S. New Look policy. D. Thesis. 1. After the Suez crisis, Eisenhower and Khrushchev could never completely trust each other again; their relations from then on became based on brinkmanship and their ability to avoid war. II. Dien Bien Phu and South Vietnam. A. Dien Bien Phu (1954) 1. Isolated garrison north of Hanoi. a. French put their best troops there and dared the Viet Minh to come after them. b. By April the French were losing. i. The fall of the garrison would mean the end of French rule in Vietnam. ii. Dulles and Eisenhower saw a victory for Communist aggression and a failure of containment. B. The Splitting of South Vietnam III. Dulles Plan (January 1954) A. Massive retaliation 1. Used as the chief instrument of containment. a. Never used for liberation. b. Used much less after the Soviets were also able to threaten the U.S. with destruction. 2. Three instances of the use brinkmanship. a. Korea (February 1953). b. Vietnam (April 1953). c. Formosa Straits (January 1955). IV. Quemoy and Matsu (January 1955) A. Eisenhower 1. Determined to hole Quemoy and Matsu. a. Believed they were integral to the defense of Formosa. i. 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. i. Chinese pressure on the islands lessened and the crisis receded. ii. 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. d. 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. a. 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 theS. U. (Soviets give Nassar guns). a. Nassar seizes the Suez Canal in response. i. 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. a. Issue an ultimatum, arranged in advance with Israel. i. Warn combatants to stay away from the Suez Canal. ii. Nassar ignores the ultimatum, so Europeans begin bombing Egyptian military targets. 3. U. S. introduces a resolution in the U. N. General Assembly. a. Urge a truce and impose an oil embargo on Britain and France. b. 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. iii. 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 worldi â„ ¢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. a. Soviets would not challenge the West’s vital interests. b. 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.