US Foreign Policy During the Cold War Essay Sample

The Cold War was more than just a war, it was a turning point in our society as American citizens. The Cold War defined what we stood for as Americans and provided us with a clearer outlook on foreign relations. As tensions rose surrounding the Cold War, so did the Nations defense budget. Dwight D. Eisenhower was America’s 34th president and was elected in 1953, 6 years after the start of the Cold War. Unlike Eisenhower’s predecessor Harry S Truman, Eisenhower took notice of the absurd amount of money being spent on enforcing the Truman Doctrine. Eisenhower felt that by allocating 60% of the nation's budget to the Cold War efforts, America was essentially “thieving” on the American tax dollars by cutting the budget on education and infrastructure. Eisenhower's devotion to the American people rather than the current political agenda is why the New Look Foreign Policy was a major success and should be used as a moral base for all presidents and politicians to come.

One way Eisenhower planned to reduce Cold War spending was by using allies to fight communists instead of Americans. As stated in the video lecture, Eisenhower was “always concerned about putting American soldiers in harm's way” (New Look Foreign Policy Video Lecture). He felt that by arming allies and providing them with the necessary resources needed to fight a war, you could essentially forgo the need to pay pension or enforce the GI bill. By using native forces in Greece and Pakistan, Eisenhower was able to cut the cost per soldier down by 500% while also providing proper enforcement of the Truman Doctrine.

Another way Eisenhower made use of the New Look Foreign Policy was with Nuclear Warfare. As the “monopoly” on atomic weapons comes to an end, the arms race is officially underway. Eisenhower increased spending on the development of atomic weapons in order to out-produce the soviet union. The reasoning behind this is that whoever owns more nukes has more destructive power, therefore they are also the more powerful country. Eisenhower also allocated some of the budgets to the nuke deployment systems to provide America with a wider range of Nuclear strike targets. Eisenhower planned to use these nukes not only on the soviet union but also as a deterrent to other countries who were at war with capitalist-run countries. 

Another benefit provided by the New look Foreign Policy was the rise in espionage. Without troops ready to move in nearby countries, the U.S. had to rely on the CIA to conduct undercover espionage on Communist powers to ensure an attack on capitalism wasn’t imminent. One piece of equipment developed during the cold war was the U-2 Spy Plane that was capable of “avoiding detection by Soviet instruments by flying at a high altitude” (New Look Foreign Policy Video Lecture). With this newfound technology, we were able to take pictures of secret Soviet bases and get our hands on previously classified information.