Monday, April 21, 2014

The pros and cons of Eisenhower's New Look

Eisenhower and Dulles did not want to turn dramatically away from Truman's anti-communist stance, but they did want to change the direction of foreign policy to make it less expensive.  What, according to Dulles, were ways in which massive retaliation could reduce American military spending?  Why do you think the Soviets were reluctant to accept Eisenhower's plan for "Open Skies" after Stalin's death?

14 comments:

  1. Eisenhower absorbed the disadvantages of Truman's policy and even made more improvements. According to the material, one factor that sort of gave the US more power and deterrence was the massive retaliation, which involved the threat of nuclear weapon. Obviously the massive retaliation with nuclear weapon was truly terrifying, and it made the foreign policy much less expensive. The US and the Soviet Union were basically starting an arms race, and it was understandable that the Soviets were reluctant to accept Eisenhower's plan for "Open Skies" after Stalin's death because nobody would ever know what the other had for arms, it was absolutely dubious.

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  2. Eisenhower still was pursing Truman's plans and what he believed in. But Eisenhower also like Andrew said improvements. But Eisenhower had a big focus on nuclear weaponry. He believed nuclear weapons was the answer and he was totally for them. But also a huge amount of expensive were towards NASC and to help with the space race.

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  3. The New Look was the name given to the national security policy of the United States during the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. It reflected Eisenhower's concern for balancing theCold War military commitments of the United States with the nation's financial resources. The policy emphasized reliance on strategic nuclear weaponsto deter potential threats, both conventional and nuclear, from the Eastern Bloc of nations headed by the Soviet Union.

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  4. Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, and Eisenhower came up with a new doctrine that emphasized massive relation on the Soviets if they were to break the peace. Dulles believed that even though massive retaliation would, " prove scarcely less expensive, and considerably less practical on an array of conventional military means," it was the right thing to do. Eisenhower's open skies policy was when he decided that in order to maintain peace with the soviets, the U.S. would share military blueprints and within our own country we would provide the Soviets with aerial photography. Eisenhower believed that by doing these things, peace would remain between the U. S. and The Soviet Union. The Soviets were reluctant to accept Eisenhower's plan for open skies after Stalin's death because they were concerned that the U.S. would have to much information on them, leaving their government vulnerable.

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  5. What Eisenhower and Dulles said was that if the Soviet Union disrupted peace, there would be massive retaliation. This would be less expensive because it wouldn't be as expensive as typical military means. And now that more countries have nuclear weapons, countries are more scared to set off a chain of reactions. Basically, countries are holding each others triggers because if one shoots so does the other. This might bring peace or total world destruction. Eisenhower proposed to offer military decisions to the Soviet Union with proof of what the US was doing. If the Soviet Union complied, they would have to do the same. This means it would be difficult to spark any military action because each country knows what each other are going to do. The Soviet Union declined because they thought it would make them susceptible to danger, because too much information would have been shared.

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  6. According to Dulles some ways in which massive retaliation could reduce American military spending is by fighting in the air. Creating nuclear weapons suffeciently would decrease the amount of spending for the military. Fighting in the air is only limited while military on land is not. The soviets were reluctant to accept Eissenhower's plan for "open skies" because after Stalin died a lot was up in the air and the Soviets did not really know what we knew.

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  7. Both President Eisenhower and Secretary Dulles decided the most cost-effective way to still retain military prowess over the Soviets was to reduce the Army and Navy while increasing the Air Force and nuclear arsenal. This seemed most effective as the only way to get to Russia in a timely manner would be to fly, especially in the case of dropping bombs if need be.The Soviets, like anyone else, would of course be reluctant to give up military information to the enemy.

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  8. According to Dulles there were in the reading it says that he "announced in 1954 that the united states would henceforward rely less on conventional military forces and more on massive retaliation with nuclear bombs to support its international policies". The reading then goes on to say, "In fact, the policy of massive retaliation proved scarcely less expensive...". These quotes show that secretary Dulles thought that overtime the usage of the military would just die out because other forms of retaliation would be used like nuclear bombs, etc. that would in the long run cost far less to make then it would to fund an entire military for years.

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  9. Based on the reading, Eisenhower and Dulles declared that United States would rely less on military forces and nuclear bombs to support their foreign policy. However, they declared that instead of relying on military forces and nuclear bombs to support their foreign policy, they would strengthen Air Force. Eisenhower had proceeded with the open skies policy in order to maintain peace with the soviets. The Soviets accepted the plan of open skies when Stalin died.

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  10. Basically, Eisenhower decided that using the military was expensive ("a huge price tag") and that it was unconventional. What I got from the reading was that he wanted to replace it with nuclear bombs and sort of use the "mutual destruction" policy that we see today. (everyone has bombs and therefore if we shoot one, then they shoot more and everyone dies) Russia was obviously opposed to this because yes, the US would weaken its armed forces but then again we would have nukes instead which could be even more hurtful in the long run!

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  11. Dulles thought that it would be better to invest much more on nuclear weapons rather than more other military stuff. He said nuclear bombs and other nuclear weapons would be much more productive and effective than just doing war as a form of retaliation. It would take a lot of money to invest on nuclear stuff but as Meghan said, it is more efficient since in the long run it would be cheaper than spending on military stuff.

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  12. One of the significant elements of the Cold War is the nuclear weapon. After the election of Eisenhower, developing nuclear weapons became U.S.'s focus. Although nuclear weapons seem to be more expensive than military in the short term, they are more efficient and more pernicious in the long term. Furthermore, military will cause much more in the long term.
    Due to U.S., Soviet Union, China and other countries' passion on building their nuclear weapons, the world sunk into a peaceful horror. This will be either the end of the Cold War, or the end of the world.

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  13. The massive retaliation plan of Dulles is inferring the massive destructive a-bomb. It is quiet a bit of investment but it still is way less money than preparing a traditional battle and send the troops over the sea to other countries.
    The open skies, is a plan proposed by Eisenhower for the purpose of peace between US and USSR by disarm both side. However, USSR would not do it because he think that would put their country into a more vulnerable place.

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  14. The Eisenhower administration was pleased with Truman's tough, foreign policies on communism. However they were astonished by the huge price tag that went along with the Korean conflict. In fact, the Soviet's goal was to force their enemies to overextend their efforts leading to bankruptcy, at which point the USSR could issue a decisive blow. Eisenhower realized that all of Truman's foreign policies were not our choice, but were instigated by the Soviets, and he realized that the Cold War was a marathon and not a short sprint, so we couldn't over-exhaust ourselves. This is why he preferred to threaten the Soviets with a massive nuclear retaliation if they breached the peace. The use of a nuclear deterrent would save the country money because it was cheaper than permanent occupation of Eastern Asia, it was cheaper than permanently supporting key weak countries, and it would not bankrupt us. In reality, it was not that much cheaper than a conventional military and was far less practical.
    Although the call for "Open Skies" was a fair, peaceful plan, the Soviets were understandably reluctant to acquiesce because the American planes could hold atomic bombs as they flew over Russia. They also surely would not want to be spied on either.

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