As we continue our study of the Cold War, we will be moving beyond the policies of Truman and Stalin and on to the policies of Eisenhower and Khrushchev. Please read below and comment to answer the 3 questions to the best of your ability.
Eisenhower extended Truman's policy of containment, particularly to the Middle East with the Eisenhower Doctrine. In this sense, Truman and Eisenhower were in agreement over foreign policy goals. Their methods, however, were largely different. Truman de-emphasized the use of atomic weapons in order to enforce containment and instead relied heavily on the use of conventional military force. Eisenhower viewed this as too costly and too timid, so he utilized the policy of massive retaliation. In your opinion, based on the short-term and long-term interests of the United States, which president had the better policy?
Stalin supported an expansionist foreign policy as a means of protecting the USSR from foreign invasion, but did so in a confrontational and forceful way. He provoked anti-Western attitudes in order to generate hostility and thus weaken the West, and was used to use brutality in crushing any opposition. Khrushchev's policy of peaceful coexistence encouraged non-aggressive competition between the two systems, and he believed that this competition would result in the spread of communism without generating conflict. His break from Stalin, however, gave the Soviet satellite states the impression that they could break away from Soviet control and resulted in a number of Soviet crackdowns, particularly in Eastern Europe. In your opinion but based on the short-term and long-term interests of the Soviet Union, which leader had the better policy?
Historians are divided over this next question, but give it your best shot. Did Khrushchev's policy of peaceful coexistence help reduce or expand the tensions of the Cold War?
