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CHAPTER 12: POSTWAR AMERICAOUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORYthreatened to occupy the entirepeninsula. In November, Chinaentered the war, sending massiveforces across the Yalu River. U.N.forces, largely American, retreatedonce again in bitter fighting. Commandedby General Matthew B.Ridgway, they stopped the overextendedChinese, and slowly foughttheir way back to the 38th parallel.MacArthur meanwhile challengedTruman’s authority by attemptingto orchestrate public support forbombing China and assisting aninvasion of the mainland by ChiangKai-shek’s forces. In April 1951, Trumanrelieved him of his duties andreplaced him with Ridgway.The Cold War stakes were high.Mindful of the European priority,the U.S. government decided againstsending more troops to Korea andwas ready to settle for the prewarstatus quo. The result was frustrationamong many Americans whocould not understand the needfor restraint. Truman’s popularityplunged to a 24-percent approvalrating, the lowest to that time of anypresident since pollsters had begunto measure presidential popularity.Truce talks began in July 1951. Thetwo sides finally reached an agreementin July 1953, during the firstterm of Truman’s successor, DwightEisenhower.Cold War struggles also occurredin the Middle East. The region’s strategicimportance as a supplier of oilhad provided much of the impetusfor pushing the Soviets out of Iran in1946. But two years later, the UnitedStates officially recognized the newstate of Israel 15 minutes after it wasproclaimed — a decision Trumanmade over strong resistance fromMarshall and the State Department.The result was an enduring dilemma— how to maintain ties with Israelwhile keeping good relations withbitterly anti-Israeli (and oil-rich)Arab states.EISENHOWER AND THECOLD WARIn 1953, Dwight D. Eisenhower becamethe first Republican presidentin 20 years. A war hero rather thana career politician, he had a natural,common touch that made himwidely popular. “I like Ike” was thecampaign slogan of the time. Afterserving as Supreme Commanderof Allied Forces in Western Europeduring World War II, Eisenhowerhad been army chief of staff,president of Columbia University,and military head of NATO beforeseeking the Republican presidentialnomination. Skillful at getting peopleto work together, he functionedas a strong public spokesman andan executive manager somewhat removedfrom detailed policy making.Despite disagreements on detail,he shared Truman’s basic view ofAmerican foreign policy. He, too,perceived Communism as a monolithicforce struggling for world supremacy.In his first inaugural address,he declared, “Forces of goodand evil are massed and armed andopposed as rarely before in history.Freedom is pitted against slavery,lightness against dark.”The new president and his secretaryof state, John Foster Dulles, hadargued that containment did not gofar enough to stop Soviet expansion.Rather, a more aggressive policyof liberation was necessary, to freethose subjugated by Communism.But when a democratic rebellionbroke out in Hungary in 1956, theUnited States stood back as Sovietforces suppressed it.Eisenhower’s basic commitmentto contain Communism remained,and to that end he increased Americanreliance on a nuclear shield. TheUnited States had created the firstatomic bombs. In 1950 Truman hadauthorized the development of a newand more powerful hydrogen bomb.Eisenhower, fearful that defensespending was out of control, reversedTruman’s NSC-68 policy of alarge conventional military buildup.Relying on what Dulles called “massiveretaliation,” the administrationsignaled it would use nuclear weaponsif the nation or its vital interestswere attacked.In practice, however, the nuclearoption could be used only againstextremely critical attacks. RealCommunist threats were generallyperipheral. Eisenhower rejected theuse of nuclear weapons in Indochina,when the French were oustedby Vietnamese Communist forcesin 1954. In 1956, British and Frenchforces attacked Egypt followingEgyptian nationalization of the SuezCanal and Israel invaded the EgyptianSinai. The president exertedheavy pressure on all three countriesto withdraw. Still, the nuclear threatmay have been taken seriously byCommunist China, which refrainednot only from attacking Taiwan, butfrom occupying small islands heldby Nationalist Chinese just off themainland. It may also have deterredSoviet occupation of Berlin, whichreemerged as a festering problemduring Eisenhower’s last two yearsin office.THE COLD WAR AT HOMENot only did the Cold War shapeU.S. foreign policy, it also had a profoundeffect on domestic affairs.Americans had long feared radicalsubversion. These fears could attimes be overdrawn, and used to justifyotherwise unacceptable politicalrestrictions, but it also was true thatindividuals under Communist Partydiscipline and many “fellow traveler”hangers-on gave their politicalallegiance not to the United States,but to the international Communistmovement, or, practically speaking,to Moscow. During the Red Scareof 1919-1920, the government hadattempted to remove perceivedthreats to American society. AfterWorld War II, it made strong effortsagainst Communism within theUnited States. Foreign events, espionagescandals, and politics createdan anti-Communist hysteria.When Republicans were victoriousin the midterm congressionalelections of 1946 and appeared264265