Eisenhower's+New+Look



NEW LOOK notes fr om Edwards.


 * There are two aspects of New Look which need to be considered separately; "Roll back" and "Massive retaliation." Make a clear concise definition of these policies, you may use other quotations but ensure the quotations to explain the policies are not confused with the policy itself.
 * ====ROLLBACK: "The liberation of Eastern European countries under Soviet dominion." - Edwards. This was a promise made by Dulles when he criticised Truman for being too soft on communism. ====
 * ====MASSIVE RETALIATION: Massive retaliation meant the use of nuclear weapons as a weapon of first resort instead of last. Nuclear weapons would allow the US "to blow the hell out of them in a hurry if they star anything" - Eisenhower. In essence, Eisenhower would threaten to annihilate the USSR if they tried to expand communism any further. ====

> > a) The New Look proposed by Eisenhower in 1952 __**resembled highly to Truman’s policy of Containment**__ during the mid-late 1940's, hence making it not so “new”. > b) It resembled to Truman’s Policy of containment in the sense that the main objective, globally, was to **__prevent the spread of Communism__**, although by focusing on a __more aggressive approach__ (Roll Back and Massive Retaliation) > c) Just like in Truman’s Policy, Eisenhower was **__providing states who were subject to Communist take overs with financial aid__** (example would be South Korea where Diem’s government after 1954 was being supported with American funds) > d) Just like in Truman’s Policy, the **__military played a large role in defending regions that Communist leaders had taken interest in__** such as West Berlin and South Korea, as well as using the military to help defend states from Communist movements. > e) Just like in Truman’s Policy, Eisenhower was __**forming anti-communist alliances**__ at a global scale in order to pressure and encircle the Soviet Union, with the goal maintaining the spread of communism. >
 * Edwards notes on page 86 that "New Look was not as novel as the name implied." What does he mean by this? Can you explain this statement?


 * Edwards continues to explain the US policy of containment as expounded in the Kennan Telegram of 1946. Clearly define and explain this policy.
 * ﻿The policy was to prevent communism from expanding further into countries which were not influenced by it. "If, however, Soviet communism was placed in straitjacket" (Edwards) then the entire Soviet system would crumble from the inside along with the communist control over Eastern Europe. To put it simpler, if communist expansion was halted at the source then the Soviet system would crumble from the inside due to the discontent and lack of support fro mthe people. This was Kennan's theory.


 * Edwards notes on page 87 that roll back proved to be merely "campaign rhetoric" (there was a Presidential election campaign in 1952, when New Look was launched but Eisenhower did not actually replace Truman as President until 1953). Explain why Edwards comes to this conclusion. Is it convincing? Explain your answer.
 * ﻿As Edwards concludes, the promise of rollback was only campaign rhetoric. Under Eisenhower's administration, America recognized the integrity of the Soviet sphere of influence. No efforts were ever made to recover nations under Soviet dominion, not by force, nor by financial aid. During the events of Hungary 1956, Eisenhower had promised economic assistance to the Hungarian government if they could brake out of Soviet control, not military assistance nor economic aid during the uprisings. He simply felt that World War Three would not be worth fighting for an insignificant nation as Hungary; he felt like this through the rest of his presidency, making rollback an empty promise and thus effectively "campaign rhetoric".


 * New look included the deterrence theory "massive retaliation". What was this? How was it supposed to work? This needs to be explained in terms of the policies it replaced and the existing strategic environment.
 * ﻿The theory of massive retaliation was one of the key aspects of the New Look policy. Eisenhower knew that the Soviets were inferior to the Americans in terms of nuclear weapons and in delivery systems (the "bomber gap"), the reason which he stated "they must be scared as hell". For this reason, Eisenhower thought that massive retaliation would work well to prevent the Soviets from expanding any further. Essentially massive retaliation was the use of nuclear weapons as a means of first resort; basically if the Soviets tried anything, America would immediately threaten the use of nuclear force on the Soviets. As Eisenhower said in 1954, it would allow 'to blow them all up in a hurry if they tried to start anything." Eisenhower felt that this would help in preventing war as a whole, not only preventing escalation by fighting limited wars, and would replace the concept of a limited war.