Eisenhower And The Cold War Essay

On May 1, 1960, the Soviet Union shot down an American U2 spy plane, piloted by Francis Gary Powers, while he was flying a reconnaissance mission in Soviet airspace. The event was just one of the many points of high tension throughout the Cold War and in the end, it was all resolved peacefully with Powers returned and as of yet, no nuclear war had taken place. Although the incident ran its course and it was quickly overshadowed by other events in the Cold War, it is important to look at the incident in terms of how world leaders reacted to it. It is key to look at the reactions from the leaders on both sides of the Cold War but in this instance, it is vital to consider how Eisenhower reacted. Eisenhower waited ten days before reacting publicly …show more content…
Eisenhower needed to achieve both of these goals for the incident was a glaring dark mark on his presidency but there was now a public case of espionage that required an explanation. As a result, Eisenhower made four points throughout his statement and each worked towards reestablishing any trust lost in the incident. Firstly, Eisenhower addressed the nation by claiming that espionage was absolutely vital to protecting the US from any dangers, home or abroad. Eisenhower specifically made a mention to Pearl Harbor when discussing this and stating that with espionage, there would be no more disasters like Pearl Harbor. This is very important as Eisenhower tapped into American nationalism with this comment because no American wanted another event like Pearl Harbor consequently if something could be done to prevent it, then it must be justified. Next, Eisenhower made a comment on the very nature of espionage. Eisenhower recognized that by nature espionage is horrible and unjust. In doing this Eisenhower humanized himself to the public by creating a connection between him and