The Cold War Dwight D. Eisenhower

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Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected President in 1952 with Richard Nixon as his Vice President. Ike had been a popular general. He won the election easily.

Eisenhower promised to bring the police action in Korea to a quick end. His plan was to "take the middle road."  President Eisenhower kept his promise. He spoke with North Koreans and other world leaders. He asked for peace talks. In July of 1953, a settlement ended the Korean War.

Communists continued to take over nations around the world. Eisenhower wanted the Communists to know that the United States would not allow this to continue.

The French had been fighting Communist Vietnamese since 1946. In 1954, France asked the United States to help. Eisenhower decided not to help. He felt this would cause a war between the United States and China or Russia.

 

 Dwight D. Eisenhower

 

In 1956, the people of Hungary started an uprising against their Communist government. The Soviets brought in tanks and troops. Hungarian freedom fighters fought the tanks with hand guns and bottles filled with gasoline. The United Nations asked the Soviets to leave Hungary, but they refused. The uprising was quickly over lasting from October 23 until November 10, 1956.

Eisenhower refused to help Hungary because he was afraid of a war with the U.S.S.R. The Soviets quickly stopped the uprising.

In 1948, Israel became a nation. With America's help Israel was able to keep the Arab countries from taking over. In 1958, American troops were sent to Lebanon, an Arab nation,  to keep the Communist from taking over.

During this time, most Americans felt these battles were too far away to be of much concern. Americans could read about the events taking place in the newspaper and watch news shows, but most didn't feel it was their problem.

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