Dwight David “Ike” Eisenhower was a five star general and the military commander of the allied forces in Europe during World War Two. Eisenhower would ride his wartime success to become the leader of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. In ardent opposition of isolationism, he would enter the race for the presidency in 1952. Eisenhower once said, “The only way to win World War Three is to prevent it.”1 This sentiment would guide his foreign policy in office as he extended American ties around the globe and worked to avoid another major conflict in the world, while also aggressively promoting democracy. Eisenhower would likely not have assumed the presidency had it not been for his pledge to rebuke isolationism. In the 1952 Republican Primary, Eisenhower’s main opponent was Senator Robert Taft of Ohio, who came from the wing of the Republican party that had preached isolationism in the decade following World War II. In his speech accepting the Republican nomination in Chicago in 1952 Eisenhower said, “... you have summoned me on behalf of millions of your fellow Americans to lead a great crusade -- for freedom in America and freedom in the world.”2 After unpopular incumbent Democratic President Harry Truman decided not to seek office again, Eisenhower defeated the Democratic nominee Adlai Stevenson in the 1953 General Election. He further denounced isolationism in his inaugural address, stating, “To produce this unity, to meet the challenge of our time, destiny has laid upon our country the responsibility of the free world’s leadership.”3 Eisenhower had won the presidency due in part to his opposition to isolationism and had set the stage for his administration’s foreign policy to engage around the world in fights for freedom. 1 Evan Thomas, “The Only Way to Win World War III is to Prevent It” (HistoryNet) ​ ​ 2 Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Address Accepting the Presidential ​ Nomination at the Republican National Convention in Chicago (The American Presidency Project) ​ 3 Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Inaugural Address (The American ​ ​ Presidency Project) On July 27, 1953 the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea was agreed to by the two nations, China, and the United Nations. The United States supported the democratic regime of the South, going so far as to proclaim an ‘Aid to Korea’ Week in 1953 “as a practical demonstration of our friendship and sympathy for the people of the Republic of Korea.”4 Eisenhower had promised an end to the conflict in the peninsula during his campaign and succeeded when the Korean Armistice was signed. His Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, claimed that the threat of using nuclear weapons ended fighting and prevented a larger conflict. This was the first time Eisenhower threatened the use of nuclear weapons, and thus the birth of Brinkmanship.5 Pointing out that “only courage and sacrifice can keep freedom alive upon the earth” he emphasized that “we have won an armistice on a single battleground--not peace in the world.”6 While happy that conflict had ended in one corner of the world, Eisenhower would not hesitate to secure freedom elsewhere. Eisenhower, wanting to avoid other direct conflict, would turn to covert operations early in his administration in order to further America’s interests abroad. For example, in Iran in 1953, Eisenhower’s CIA overthrew the Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh whom the United States feared could be a potential ally of communists as well as undermining the power of the American’s puppet leader, Shah Mohammed Reza.7 The next year, Eisenhower would again call on the CIA to overthrow the democratically elected president of Guatemala, Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, a Marxist whom the Eisenhower administration viewed as a potential communist 4 Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Proclamation 3018 - Aid to Korea Week ​ (The American Presidency Project) 5 Department of State, Foreign Policy under President Eisenhower (Office of the Historian) ​ ​ 6 Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Radio and Television Address to the ​ American People Announcing the Signing of the Korean Armistice (The American Presidency Project) ​ 7 Chester J. Pach, Jr., Dwight D. Eisenhower: Foreign Affairs (University of Virginia, Miller Center) ​ ​ threat. After Eisenhower had cut off military supplies to the country, they received weapons from communist Czechoslovakia.8 This was the final straw leading to the CIA’s aid to revolutionaries which succeeded in a regime change. The United States showed its willingness to prop up a monarchy, in Iran, and overthrow a fairly elected ruler, in Guatemala, in the name of countering communism. Eisenhower had been a strong supporter of reuniting East and West Germany in an effort to rid Western Europe of communist influence. Thus, Eisenhower was supportive of West Germany joining NATO in May of 1955. His belief was “that only through cooperative strength developed in the free world could we really face up to this threat that the communist dictatorship posed to all free men.”9 Mere weeks after West Germany joined NATO, the Soviets, fearing a newly rearmed West Germany and united Europe, formed the Warsaw Pact with communist Eastern European nations.10 The pact centralized nations under Moscow and guaranteed mutual defense in the event of an attack on any member. The pact was also used to suppress anti-communist dissent, such as in Hungary in 1956. When the citizens of Hungary took to the streets to protest their communist regime, Eisenhower expressed support for them, saying, “The United States considers the development in Hungary as being a renewed expression of the intense desire for freedom long held by the Hungarian people.”11 However, the Soviet military arrived in the country to quell discontent and return order. Though claiming they were mobilizing in order to prevent an invasion from foreign 8 Chester J. Pach, Jr., Dwight D. Eisenhower: Foreign Affairs (University of Virginia, Miller Center) ​ ​ 9 Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Remarks of the President During ​ Secretary Dulles’ Television Report on His European Visit (The American Presidency Project) ​ 10 Department of State, The Warsaw Treaty Organization, 1955 (Office of the Historian) ​ ​ 11 Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Statement by the President on the ​ Developments in Hungary (The American Presidency Project) ​ nations it was clear that the Soviets had been sent in to assure that the citizens would not overthrow the communist government. The Eisenhower administration condemned this as “an occupation of Hungary by the forces of an alien government for its own purposes.” However, the United States would not intervene in the affair, not wanting to risk a full scale conflict that could cause potential nuclear war. While Eisenhower declined against engaging in a full scale conflict in Hungary, having resolved a conflict in Korea already, he would set the table for a full scale conflict in Vietnam after his administration had ended. The Indochina War, fought by the French in an effort to keep their regional colonies began in 1946; Eisenhower decided against sending troops but bankrolled as much as 75% of the cost of war by 1954.12 After the Geneva Conference that year Vietnam was split into a pro-communist North and a Western-friendly South. The next year aid began to Ngo Dinh Diem’s South Vietnamese government. Though the salvaging of the anti-communist South was seen as a victory at the time, the partioning of the country and the United States’ political involvement in the region stemming from this administration would lead to America’s further involvement in the region, namely the Vietnam War. Elsewhere in Asia, Eisenhower was even more determined to deter communist influence. The communist government of the People’s Republic of China had by 1954 taken control of all of mainland China and focused their sights on Taiwan; the chain of islands east of the Taiwan Strait were the last foothold of territory controlled by the anti-communist Chinese Nationalists. The communists began shelling the islands with artillery and preparing for a full-scale invasion of the islands. Asked what would his response would be in the event of a communist Chinese 12 Chester J. Pach, Jr., Dwight D. Eisenhower: Foreign Affairs (University of Virginia, Miller Center) ​ ​ invasion of Taiwan, Eisenhower pledged support to the nationalists, saying that “any invasion would have to go through the 7th fleet.”13 Emboldened by a nearly unanimous vote of approval on a Joint Resolution to defend the area in the event of a conflict, Eisenhower went as far as to threaten the use of nuclear weapons before the communists backed off and both sides were able to avoid a major conflict.14 This was a prime example of Brinkmanship, despite not directly involving the Soviet Union, as the threat of nuclear weapons halted the territorial advancement of a communist regime. Tensions in the Middle East flared up in 1956 when the Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal in retaliation for the United States cutting off economic aid, an action taken after Egypt had recognized the People’s Republic of China as sovereign. The British saw this as a vital loss to the economy of their Asian colonies and, along with the French, opposed Nasser’s brash rhetoric of anticolonialism. They were joined by Israel, insecure about their position surrounded by Muslim nations, in a military conflict on the Sinai Peninsula.15 Eisenhower, unaware of their plans, was upset as he feared that Nasser’s influence in the region would increase. Eisenhower resolved the conflict before it got out of hand by forcing the three invading nations to withdraw and recognize Egypt’s sovereignty.