Eisenhower & The Cold War

How did the United States react to the following 7 events, and why?



1. The Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb in 1949.
When The Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb in 1949, President truman was faced with a terrible decision, wheter to develop an even more horrifying weapon or not. America was worried what teh USSR would do wiht these bombs so they decided to creat a better, stronger bomb, the Hydrogen Bomb.

2. In 1951, the Iranian prime minister placed the oil industry in Iran under the Iranian government’s control.
The United States feared that because the British were refusing to buy the oil, and the iranian economy wen tdown that they would become pro communist by turnig to the Soviets for help. So the CIA gave them several million dollars hopingthat the last leader would take charge again.

3. The Guatemalan head of government gave American-owned land in Guatemala to peasants.
Eisenhower beliueved that the Guatemalas' government had communist sympathies because it had given more than 200,000 acres of Americna owned land to the peasants. America had the CIA trained an army to invade Guatemala. The Gautamalan army refused to defend the president and he was forced to resign, the american armys leader became the new dictator of the country.

4. In 1956, Britain, France, and Israel invaded Egypt and occupied the Suez Canal.
Right after the Geneva summit Great Britain and rthe US helped build a dam at on the Nile River (Aswan)But the Egyptian leader was trying to use both the USSR and the US to gain double the aid for his country. When the loan was withdrawn after finding out about the dealings withthe soviets nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, which was owned by the French and the British who became outraged after hearing of this. Nasser refused to let ships pass that were headed for Israel. All the countries sent troops in and the UN was forced to step in to stop the fighting. And Nasser was left with the control of the canal.

5. Soviet tanks invaded Hungary and fired on protesters in 1956.
America should have been there to help the people. But because it was the USSR's satillite nations. The protester were armed with only bottles and pistols.

6. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik.
America were shocked by being beaten by the Soviets. The US then put a lot of money into their space program. U.S scientists had to work over time to catch up with the Soviets. The first U.S attempt to send up a satillite did not go as planned. But on January 31st 1958 the US was able to get the satillite into space.

7. In 1960, the Soviet Union brought down an American U-2 piloted by Francis Gary Powers.
The CIA began making high altitude flights over the Soviet territory after the "Open Skies" proposal in 1955. The planes they used were called U-2. As a U-2 passed over the USSR its infrared cameras took detailed photographs of troop movement and missel sites. U.S officals wanted the missions stopped, and so didnt president Eisenhower. "If one of these aircrafts were lost when we were engaged in apparently sincere diliberations, it could... ruin my effectiveness," Powers had just gotton over enemy li nes when he was shot down by a soviet plane and was forced to parachute down to the ground, but he was forced to spend 10 years in prison. Eisenhower denied that the U-2 was spying and Khrushcev demanded an apology for the flights and a promise to halt them. eisnhower stopped the U-2 flights, but he didnt apologize. So Khrushchev called off the summit, he also withdrew his invitation to Eisenhower to visit the USSR. Now the tension between the 2 superpowers was as great as ever.