Lesson 4: Eisenhower-Dulles Foreign Policy

Lesson Focus

Amidst global upheaval from communism and new nations, President Eisenhower and Secretary Dulles waged an aggressive campaign to contain its spread using diplomacy, military threats, and covert action.

People to Know

President Dwight D. Eisenhower, John Foster Dulles

Learning Objectives

• Discuss President Eisenhower's multifaceted approach to foreign policy, which combined diplomacy, military power, and covert operations.
• Describe the Eisenhower Doctrine and its specific goal of defending Middle Eastern nations from communist aggression.

President Eisenhower’s Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, believed Truman’s containment policy was too weak. He advocated for the “liberation” of communist nations and threatened “massive retaliation” with nuclear weapons. Eisenhower, however, feared a nuclear war and took a more cautious approach. This resulted in a foreign policy during the 1950s that officially continued containment but was backed by the threat of immense nuclear power and a more aggressive stance.

To end the Korean War, Eisenhower threatened to use nuclear weapons, leading to a settlement in July 1953 that divided Korea at the 38th parallel. In Indochina, the US feared the domino theory after Ho Chi Minh’s Vietminh forces defeated the French at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Following this, Vietnam was divided at the 17th parallel, and the U.S. began supporting the unpopular government of Ngo Dinh Diem in South Vietnam.

Eisenhower often used the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for covert operations to counter perceived communist threats. In 1953, the CIA helped overthrow Iran’s Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh to protect Western oil access. In 1954, it funded a coup against Guatemala’s government under Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, which had seized land from the United Fruit Company. These secret actions installed pro-American governments but created future instability and resentment.

Many newly independent nations in Asia and Africa wanted to avoid the Cold War conflict. In 1955, these countries met and declared themselves a “Third World,” independent of the West (First World) and the Soviet Union (Second World). They adopted a policy of neutralism, which Secretary Dulles strongly opposed. He argued that no nation could remain neutral in the global struggle between freedom and tyranny, creating a rift with these emerging nations.

The Middle East became a flashpoint due to oil interests and the new state of Israel. In July 1956, after the U.S. canceled a loan, Egypt’s President Gamal Abdel Nasser seized the Suez Canal. In response, Britain, France, and Israel invaded Egypt without U.S. knowledge. The U.S. and the Soviet Union condemned the invasion, forcing a withdrawal that embarrassed America’s allies and increased Soviet influence in the region.

After the Suez Crisis, President Eisenhower worried about growing Soviet power in the Middle East. In January 1957, he announced the Eisenhower Doctrine, which pledged U.S. military force to defend any Middle Eastern country threatened by “international communism.” In July 1958, Eisenhower used this doctrine to send troops to Lebanon. This action showed that the United States intended to play a leading role in the region to counter Soviet influence.