Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Eisenhower vs. Truman free essay sample

Truman worked at his father’s farm until he joined the military to participate in World War I. He was a member of the National Guard, so he was a commander of a Field Artillery unit in France. When he returned, he opened a hat shop which actually didn’t have any success. He then became the head judge of the county of Jackson, Missouri. After that, he served as a Democratic Senator of Missouri. Finally, in 1945 he became vice president. Truman became president after Franklin Roosevelt’s death. He won the elections of 1948, with 49% of the popular votes. At first, people didn’t really trust him but they then began to accept him. After his first term, he decided to retire from his position but he still remained active in supporting Democratic candidates for the presidency. He died from Pneumonia on December 26, 1972. Dwight David Ike Eisenhower was born on October 14, 1890 in Denison, Texas. His parents were David Jacob Eisenhower and Ida Elizabeth Stover. He grew up in a poor family of 8 members including him. Since he was young he had had worked to get money for his studies and for his family. He still went to local public schools and high schools. When was going to enter to college, he decided to join the military to be able to get a free college education. He was commissioned a second lieutenant and then he began to attend to the Army War College. In 1916, Eisenhower met Mamie Geneva Doud and he proposed to her on Valentine’s Day of that year. They had two children, one of them died of scarlet fever at the age of three. Their other son was called John Sheldon Doud Eisenhower. During World War I, Eisenhower was training to be the commander and instructor of a training center for other soldiers. When World War II started, he became a chief and then a major general. Later, he became the commander of allied forces. With all his performance in his military career, he was made a five-star general. Eisenhower was elected to run on the Republican ticket with Richard Nixon as his Vice President against Adlai Stevenson. 55% of people voted for â€Å"Ike†, Eisenhower’s nickname, which made him to won the elections. After he retired after his second term, he moved to Gettysburg to take care of his health and to write his autobiography. He died from a congestive heart failure on March 28, 1969. POLICIES The Truman Doctrine was a foreign policy of the United States that tried to give assistance to any country who was threatened by communism. The initial movement of the Truman Doctrine was to give $400 million to assist Greece and Turkey. The money was given to them to have military aid and economic assistance. Truman stated: â€Å"It must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. † Speech to Congress, March 12, 1947, laying out what became the Truman Doctrine The Fair Deal was a domestic program made by Harry Truman. The Fair Deal, guaranteed economic opportunities and social stability. His first priority was to make a time of peace on the economy of United States. That is why he created a 21-point program that provided protection against unfair employment practices, a higher minimum wage, a greater housing assistance and unemployment compensation. And also he added health insurance to his program. On the other hand, Eisenhower’s New Look policy addressed the idea of using nuclear weapons and new technology rather than normal bombs and groups of soldiers in an effort to stabilized defense spending. His new look policy will help him to contain the Soviet Union and even win back territory that had been already lost. The main strategies of the New Look were to maintain stability to the U. S. economy while they were getting prepared for the Cold War. Also, the United States was willing to use their nuclear weapons if it was necessary to stop Communism aggression. They were using the Central Intelligence Agency to make covert missions against the soviets and to get infiltrated in their society. The last strategy was to continue making alliances and strengthening the ones that they already had. Eisenhower didn’t want to be seemed as a threat by the rest of the countries of the world, that is why he stopped the development of arm forces. He didn’t wanted that the other countries of the world think that United States was preparing weapons to be ready for the war because in that way they will think that he wanted to participate at the war and not trying to put an end to the war. The Eisenhower Doctrine was similar to the Truman Doctrine stated that the United States will provide military and economic assistance to Middle Eastern countries in resisting communist aggression. This doctrine was made to stop the involvement and influence from the Soviets in the Middle East. Eisenhower was willing to help any Middle Eastern country who asked for help against the Soviets. The Eisenhower Doctrine formed part of his containment policy too, as well as the New Look policy. All of them are related in some way. The main differences from Eisenhower and Truman are that Eisenhower was more concentrated in democracy. Containment was important for Eisenhower but it was not everything while Truman really wanted to put away communist people from the United States. ACOMPLISHMENTS President Truman helped in the process of putting an end to World War II by taking the decision of using an atomic bomb on Japan. He used the bomb to give a message to the Soviet Union that the United States was not afraid of using nuclear weapons if it was necessary. Also he wanted to find a quicker way to stop the war without losing troops. Truman also worked on the containment issue. He worked really hard to stop communism in the United States and also not letting communists to be in the United States as well. He also supported the creation of the United Nations in order to avoid future world ward and to help solving conflicts peacefully. Another of his accomplishments was to create the Truman Doctrine that helped countries from Europe to be able to resist communist intervention. Eisenhower solved the problem of 1957 at Little Rock Central High School. Nine black students went to that school as an experiment of what could happen if black and white people went to the same schools. When the students arrived to the school, they found a lot of people out of it protesting against the idea of black and white students in the same schools. The people, who were protesting, were also threatening the black students. Eisenhower had to intervene in that issue; he took control over the situation and calmed the mass of people. Then, he led the black students to enter to the school. He also helped to bring an end to the Korean War by convincing them to sign an armistice agreement. Eisenhower told to the Communists that he will have no mercy with the weapons that he will use against them and also that it can exist thee possibility of the use of nuclear weapons. Eisenhower helped to manage Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union. He kept the calm in the United States and never led anything to create hysteria in the United States. Eisenhower used the resources available to him and never looked for war. He authorized many operations by the CIA against the communist people. I think that both presidents had good and bad decisions. Also the period of time in which they were presidents was different and the decisions that they made were about different issues. Truman looked for a peace time in the United States. To achieve his goal he had to make difficult but effective decisions. He decided to drop a bomb in Japan to show to everybody that United States knew how to defend itself. Also he helped many countries with their fight against communism. He also sought for United States’ people welfare by helping them to have jobs and more opportunities as well as commodities. On the other hand, Eisenhower was a president that looked for the United States welfare and he tried to loose anyone in a fight. He always looked for a peaceful solution but when he had no choice he knew how to manage severe situations. BIBLIGRAPHY Sage, Henry J. (January 5, 2012). America and the Cold War: The Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy Years. Retrieved fromhttp://www. academicamerican. com/postww2/coldwar. html Kelly, Martin, (February 23, 2009). Dwight D. Eisenhower Thirty-Fourth President of the United States. Retrieved fromhttp://americanhistory. about. com / od/dwightdeisenhower/p/peisenhower. htm Kelly, Martin, (April 19,2009). Harry S Truman Thirty-Third President of the Unit ed States. Retrieved fromhttp://americanhistory. about. com/od/harrystruman / p/ptruman. htm University of Virginia, (March 8, 2006). American President A Reference Resource. Retrieved fromhttp://millercenter. org/president/eisenhower/essays/ biography/5 Encyclop? dia Britannica, (May 9, 2012). Eisenhower Doctrine. Retrieved fromhttp://www. britannica. com/EBchecked/topic/181513/Eisenhower-Doctrine Spark Notes, (2012). Eisenhower and the Cold War: 1954–1960. Retrieved from http://www. sparknotes. com/history/american/coldwar/section6. rhtml U. S. Department of State,(unknown). The Fair Deal. Retrieved from http://countrystudies. us/united-states/history-115. htm

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