Foreign Policy: Evaluating Nixon's and Eisenhower's Use of Power
Modern Presidency
Research Paper
Foreign Policy: Evaluating Nixon’s and Eisenhower’s’ Use of Power
Both President Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon were presidents during the cold war. Their uses of presidential power within foreign policy greatly shaped the United State’s strategies in cold war politics. Comparing their actions as Chief Diplomat, Chief Legislator, Chief Executive and Commander in Chief shows how they have used both their formal and informal powers to lead the nation. President Eisenhower was much more successful in gaining congress approval through working with them yet had much more trouble dealing with peace abroad. Nixon was able to use powers to make successful gains within the cold war abroad, yet had trouble working with others at home.
As Chief Diplomat, Dwight Eisenhower vocalized the domino theory, meaning that if one country fell to communism this would lead to the fall of another country and so on (Skidmore 2004, 259). During his presidency, he believed that many nations were susceptible to Soviet sponsored Communism and that proactive United States commitment to world affairs would deter this effect. He theorized that communication between the Soviet Union and the United states was critical to the safety of the world, even if both countries were stocking up on nuclear weapons (PBS Eisenhower 2002, 1).
Using his formal powers as Chief diplomat, Eisenhower tried to make an executive agreement with the USSR. Open Skies was the name of this first proposal to the USSR, he proposed this at the 1955 Geneva Convention. His plan included each nation giving one another a full description of their military facilities, and allowing one another to conduct aerial inspections to make sure that the descriptions provided were correct. This plan was rejected by the Soviets because they had previous knowledge of the whereabouts of the United States military facilities (PBS Eisenhower 2002, 1).
Eisenhower used his powers of executive
Research Paper
Foreign Policy: Evaluating Nixon’s and Eisenhower’s’ Use of Power
Both President Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon were presidents during the cold war. Their uses of presidential power within foreign policy greatly shaped the United State’s strategies in cold war politics. Comparing their actions as Chief Diplomat, Chief Legislator, Chief Executive and Commander in Chief shows how they have used both their formal and informal powers to lead the nation. President Eisenhower was much more successful in gaining congress approval through working with them yet had much more trouble dealing with peace abroad. Nixon was able to use powers to make successful gains within the cold war abroad, yet had trouble working with others at home.
As Chief Diplomat, Dwight Eisenhower vocalized the domino theory, meaning that if one country fell to communism this would lead to the fall of another country and so on (Skidmore 2004, 259). During his presidency, he believed that many nations were susceptible to Soviet sponsored Communism and that proactive United States commitment to world affairs would deter this effect. He theorized that communication between the Soviet Union and the United states was critical to the safety of the world, even if both countries were stocking up on nuclear weapons (PBS Eisenhower 2002, 1).
Using his formal powers as Chief diplomat, Eisenhower tried to make an executive agreement with the USSR. Open Skies was the name of this first proposal to the USSR, he proposed this at the 1955 Geneva Convention. His plan included each nation giving one another a full description of their military facilities, and allowing one another to conduct aerial inspections to make sure that the descriptions provided were correct. This plan was rejected by the Soviets because they had previous knowledge of the whereabouts of the United States military facilities (PBS Eisenhower 2002, 1).
Eisenhower used his powers of executive
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