Review homework on Korean War and map
Quickly go thru Forgotten War slides (because they already did this topic as homework but there is info in these slides that is new, and a review/recap would be helpful also)
Death of Stalin (March 1953)
Under Truman, the US tests the first -H Bomb (Mike) on a coral island in the South Pacific late 1952
3 days later, Eisenhower voted President; he campaigned on bringing Korean War to an early and honorable end. He demanded peace talks, with veiled threat of nukes.
Death of Stalin (March 1953) helps to bring war to end because Communist leaders of China and North Korea can't count on Soviet help & can't tell if Ike is bluffing or serious so they signed an agreement in July 1953 settling the truce line.
Eisenhower now can focus on cold war and arms race. Like Truman, he's passionate anti-communist. Has solid grasp of world affairs.
Took on John Foster Dulles as secretary of state. He was religious and fiercely anti-communist..
Eisenhower, Dulles took fresh look at Cold War and came up with new containment policy, called "New Look." He reduced costly expenditures on armies and navies. They retired half million army and 100K sailors)
Used cheaper air power (+30K airforce) and nukes.
Smaller armies/navies needed new way to fight communism so new policy is massive retaliation--an instant nuclear attack. Critics called this brinksmanship--the art of never backing down from a crisis, even if it meant pushing the nation tot he brink of war.
To back this up, Ike & Dulles circled Soviet Union and China with American military bases and allies. By 1960, they had mutual defense treaties w/43 countries.
Policy Dangers
Massive retaliation meant responding to communist attack either with nukes or do nothing, which was a gamble.
Heavy spending by the US on nukes spurred Russia to do likewise. In July 1953 they exploded an H-bomb.
"US and Russia are like two scorpions in a battle, each capable of killing the other but only at the risk of his own life," said Oppeneheimer, father of atomic bomb.
Churchill said the world had reached a new "balance of terror."