Who
As the 34th president of the United States, Dwight David “Ike” Eisenhower is responsible for bringing peace after the events of the World War II. The ancestors of Dwight Eisenhower came from Germany and migrated to America in the early 18th century. He was born on October 14, 1890 in Texas although he considered Kansas as his hometown. Eisenhower has two sons with her wife Mamie Geneva Doud. He graduated in West Point Military Academy in 1915 and the infantry at Texas and Georgia. He served most of his life in the military as a general in the World War II. He also accompanied General MacArthur as a military adviser in their pursuit to recover Philippines to the Japanese (Parry‐Giles 119).
After the War, he became the Military Governor in US zone in Germany. In 1945, he returned to Washington to become the Chief of Staff of the Army. As the Marshal, he also proposed that friendly relations to the Soviets since he believed that the atomic bombs must be controlled by the United Nations. He entered the presidential election as a Republican in 1952 to oppose the United States plan to fight communism and the dispute in Korea (Tama 4). He defeated the Democrat Adlai Stevenson in a landslide (Parry‐Giles 119).
As a former soldier and with his experience in wars, he did not want to initiate another conflict. He was 62 years old when he became the president. One of his successful campaign that convinced the voters is his attacked on the issues of Korea, corruption and communism in the administration of Truman. Before he became president, he always believed that the United States always needs alliances although there should be a firm diplomacy (Parry‐Giles 120). His major priorities to make United States to become safer and to prevent the government from wasting money and lives from the military sector.
What
During the presidency of Eisenhower, the United States consolidated the foreign policy of containment. It is the strategy of the United States to limit the expansion of the communism and the power of the Soviets. Most of the critics of the president argued that Eisenhower have pushed the containment very far to achieve a victory during the Cold War against the Soviets.
One of his most controversial foreign policy is the policy about the “Massive Retaliation” or often called the New Look. It was established after the death of the Soviet Prime Minister to establish peace among foreign nations (Tama 2). It is the policy in which the United States should massively strike back weather there are any foreign attacks to the country. The objective of the policy of Massive Retaliation is to reduce the waste budget of the military and to focus on the development of the higher weapons which is the nuclear bombs (Power 2).
The policy of Massive Retaliation was based on the idea that the United States have no economic power to support more troops to be thrown in Korea and in the Middle East. It needs an efficient economy strategy that could prevent Soviets to have more power in the long term (Tama 2). After the World War II, the race turns towards the development of nuclear weapons since the United States partially won due to the Atomic Bomb. President Eisenhower implemented the policy of Massive Retaliation to keep the United States in the advantage zone in terms of military power over the Soviets (Power 2). However, President Eisenhower and his policy did not prevent the development of nuclear weapons of the Soviets so the policy is partially a failure.
The policy was established to prevent foreign nations such as China and Soviet Union in attacking the Western countries. However, this policy became unsuccessful since the aftermath of the policy is not considered. In the end, the President Eisenhower did not expect that the Soviets could also develop the technology of nuclear weapons.
The policy did not make the United States to be safe from the foreign developments of the nuclear weapons (Parry-Giles, 122). The policy only took danger and risk of nuclear war between the Soviets and the United States. President Eisenhower became popular to the other countries especially with its allies since developing nuclear weapons could bring another war (Power 13).
Why
The main reason why President Eisenhower created the policy of Massive Retaliation is to protect the country from the possible attacks of the foreign nations. The period of his presidency marks the start of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviets. The major influence to his decision about the policy is his own belief of limited governance and fiscal conservatism (Power 3). He did not want to waste the expenditure on military to increase the number of forces but to develop a massive weapon that is easier to use. The policy was popularized due to the failure of the negotiations of the United States and the Soviets about the development of nuclear weapons (Parry‐Giles 121).
The advisers of Eisenhower agreed to the policy of Massive Retaliation as well as his secretaries. However, he could not gain the full support of his congress due to some conservatives which restricts his presidential powers over international agreements. Massive retaliation could bring their political and economic protection so part of the congress agreed to it (Parry‐Giles 123). His major critics argued that with the policy of Massive Retaliation, the concept of containment was extended to far. They believed that Eisenhower could bring danger to the country for another world war. The allies of the United States have committed to support the policy as long could be protected from the Soviets (Tama 4).
The congress have not been challenging the major decisions of President Eisenhower about the important foreign policies. He and his advisers have clever strategies in order for the congress to support his policies especially the Massive Retaliation (Tama 1). It became one of the major reasons why the policy was established quickly and used it to prevent major attacks from the Soviets or the Chinese Government. In fact, there is no conflict between the congress and executive body even before the Presidency of Eisenhower (Tama 5). As long as the safety of the American People is concern, the policy could be established easily.
My View
In my personal view, I believed that the president proposed this policy since the whole world would know the existence of the nuclear arms. The development of the nuclear weapons for the other foreign nation is inevitable and the only thing that the country could do is to study on how to develop it. I would not totally agree to the articles that the reason why Eisenhower developed the policy is to protect the fiscal aspect of the countries defense system. The reason for the policy is to protect and be ready for the possible nuclear war. If I were President Eisenhower, I would also promote the policy of Massive Retaliation since the Global peace committee has not yet been developed during their times. The Policy could not give the advantage to the United States but it could give them the equal opportunity to strike back if there is another international conflict.
Works Cited:
Parry‐Giles, Shawn. Dwight D. Eisenhower, “Atoms for Peace” (8 December, 1953). Voices of Democracy 1 (2006): 118‐129. http://voices-of-democracy.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/parry-giles-eisenhower.pdf.
Power, Nevin. Did Eisenhower’s New Look Defence Policy Make America Safer or Not?. Web. https://www.academia.edu/607984/Did_Eisenhowers_New_Look_Defence_Policy_Make_America_Safer_or_Not.
Tama, Jordan. More Than Deference:Eisenhower, Congress, and Foreign Policy. Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies American University 2010. https://www.american.edu/spa/ccps/upload/Tama-Eisenhower-paper.pdf.
