THE IMPACT OF EISENHOWER AND KHRUSHCHEV ON THE COLD WAR
Undoubtedly, both leaders had an impact on the Cold War that lasted right up until the mid-1960's.
Eisenhower
Dwight Eisenhower was determined to avoid a third world war with the Soviet Union and, although he continued the policy of containment, looked to reduce tensions following the Korean War. He committed the US to a 'New Look' policy on defense, which called for overall reduced military spending, decreased manpower in the Army (at the expense of investment in the Navy and Air Force) and a stockpiling of nuclear weapons. Eisenhower would become an increasingly vocal critic of the 'military-industrial complex' (culminating in his presidential farewell address below) and sought to reduce military expenditure that had reached a peak during the Korean War. To safeguard US security and interests (and to avoid World War III), he initiated the policy of 'brinkmanship' which aimed to deter the Soviet Union from engaging in all-out war by increasing the number of weapons in the USA's nuclear arsenal. Essentially the aim of brinkmanship was to commit the USA, if necessary, in a game of 'nuclear chicken'- how close to war would the superpowers be prepared to go? The superpower who 'blinked' first, and ordered a de-escalation of hostilities, would be the loser but the system was designed to encourage restraint through deterrence. While this policy would eventually evolve into the MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) principle, it did play a hugely significant role in setting the USA and the USSR on the path to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The Stalin legacy
"...the man who ran the Soviet Union was physically exhausted, surrounded by sycophants, personally lonely-but still firmly, even terrifyingly in control. His scrawny moustache, discolored teeth, pock-marked face, and yellow eyes, an American diplomat recalled, 'gave him the aspect of an old battle-scarred tiger...An unforewarned visitor would never have guessed what depths of calculation, ambition, love of power, jealously, cruelty and sly vindictiveness lurked behind his unpretentious façade.' Through a series of purges during the 1930's, Stalin had long since eliminated his rivals. The raising of an eyebrow or the flick of a finger, subordinates knew, could mean the difference between life and death. Strikingly short- only five feet four inches- this paunchy little old man was nonetheless a colossus bestriding a colossal state."
From 'The Cold War' (2005) by John Lewis Gaddis
Khrushchev
When Josef Stalin died in March 1953, a
troika
of leaders came to power (Georgy Malenkov, Vyacheslav Molotov and Lavrentiy Beria. By 1955, Khrushchev had outmanoeuvred all three and was the undisputed leader of the Soviet Union (Beria was executed for treason in 1953 and Malenkov demoted in 1955 and Molotov eventually expelled from the Communist Party). His first act was to embark on a policy of De-Stalinization. He did this by denouncing Stalin and listing his crimes at the 20th Party Congress and releasing thousands of political prisoners from the gulags. The denunciation of Stalin was particularly controversial- he was persuaded to do this in a closed session of the Party Congress (in what became known as the 'Secret Speech') but word of his actions soon spread throughout the Eastern Bloc. This event was significant because it convinced many of the peoples of Eastern Europe that there was an opportunity to move away from the Stalinist interpretation of Communism towards a more open form of government that took into account the national characteristics of individual satellite states. There would soon be calls for change in Poland and Hungary. His actions also caused severe damage to the USSR's relationship with China (which eventually resulted in the Sino-Soviet Split) but helped in repairing some of the damage done to the relationship with Tito (although Yugoslavia remained non-aligned and outside of the Eastern Bloc).
Khrushchev promised to usher in a period of 'peaceful co-existence' with the West, yet more evidence for Mao that the new Soviet leader was a 'revisionist'. Yet the relationship with the USA remained tense. The Eisenhower administration was very clear that it would not engage in a policy of 'rollback' but the Hungarian Uprising in 1956 caused Khrushchev a significant loss of political capital and forced him to adhere more to the wishes of his hard-line Communist colleagues and culminated in the Berlin Wall and Cuban Missile Crises. Ultimately, relations between the two superpowers remained as tense as ever as a result of the policies of Eisenhower and Khrushchev, regardless of their intentions.
The clip on the left discusses Khruschev's 'Secret Speech'. The clip on the right is a scene from 'Rebel without a cause' (made in 1955 and starring James Dean). It demonstrates a game of 'chicken' and is a metaphor for the policy of 'brinksmanship'. The clip at the bottom is Eisenhower's farewell presidential address where he warned the US about the 'Military-Industrial Complex'.
Khrushchev promised to usher in a period of 'peaceful co-existence' with the West, yet more evidence for Mao that the new Soviet leader was a 'revisionist'. Yet the relationship with the USA remained tense. The Eisenhower administration was very clear that it would not engage in a policy of 'rollback' but the Hungarian Uprising in 1956 caused Khrushchev a significant loss of political capital and forced him to adhere more to the wishes of his hard-line Communist colleagues and culminated in the Berlin Wall and Cuban Missile Crises. Ultimately, relations between the two superpowers remained as tense as ever as a result of the policies of Eisenhower and Khrushchev, regardless of their intentions.
The clip on the left discusses Khruschev's 'Secret Speech'. The clip on the right is a scene from 'Rebel without a cause' (made in 1955 and starring James Dean). It demonstrates a game of 'chicken' and is a metaphor for the policy of 'brinksmanship'. The clip at the bottom is Eisenhower's farewell presidential address where he warned the US about the 'Military-Industrial Complex'.
|
|
|