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…
The Vietnam War was the longest deployment of U.S. forces in hostile action in the history of the American republic. Although there is no formal declaration of war from which to date U.S. entry, President John F. Kennedy's decision to send over 2,000 military advisers to South Vietnam in 1961 marked the beginning of twelve years of American military combat. U.S. unit combat began in 1965 (Anderson, 1999). During this time there were many significant lessons that were learned and still affect the way that war’s are fought today. I will discuss the most significant lessons as it relates to diplomatic negotiations, presidential leadership, and cultural/social contexts. I believe that the single most significant lesson that I have learned this far about diplomatic negotiations during the Vietnam War is the American lack of a specific negotiating strategy.…
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.…
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.…
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.…
On October 22, 1962, President John F. Kennedy “informed the world” that the Soviets were building secretive missile bases in Cuba, very close to Florida. President Kennedy decided to take the peaceful route in handling is major crisis. As President, his first move was to talk to Premier Nikita Khrushchev and demand the removal of all missile bases, and “deadly content” in Cuba. Secondly, President Kennedy had “U.S. forces around the world…placed on alert. More than 100,000 troops deployed to Florida for a possible invasion of Cuba. Additional naval vessels were ordered to the Caribbean. B-52s loaded with nuclear weapons were in the air at all times.” (The World). He ordered a naval quarantine/blockade on Cuba to prevent Russian ships from bringing additional missile and construction materials to the island (Goldman).…
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).…
Q2. In what ways were President Kennedy’s foreign policy decisions shaped by Cold War ideology?…
“Flexible Response was no highly explicit theory written in a single authoritative source. Flexible Response was realistic in that nuclear weapons couldn’t be used. It tried to provide credible means to match non-nuclear escalation. The word “flexible” stressed the value of having “multiple options” available should a crises arise. Having multiple options was thought to enhance the credibility of the U.S. deterrent (reassuring allies while deterring the opponent). At the same time, however, flexibility made it also improbable that the U.S. would want or need nuclear attack” ( Nuclear Files, 2013).…
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.…
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…