Presidents During the Cold War
Harry Truman
1945-1953
- Became president after being VP for only 82 days.
- The Cold War began under Truman's watch.
- Truman Doctrine
Dwight D. Eissenhower
1953-1961
- Eisenhower and his secretary of state, John Foster Dulles, argued that containment did not go far enough to stop Soviet expansion
John F. Kennedy
1961-1963
- Throughout his pre-presidential career, JFK was an active Cold Warrior.
- His first Congressional campaign boasted of taking on the anti-Cold War faction of the Democratic party.
- As a congressman he aligned himself with those who said the Truman Administration wasn't being tough enough.
Lyndon B. Johnson
1963-1969
- Lyndon B. Johnson has been credited with being one of the most important figures in the civil rights movement.
- Johnson does have some distracters who believe that he was merely an unprincipled politician who used the civil rights issue when he released the worth of the "Black Vote".
- Johnson himself claimed to be an idealist who dreamed of making America a "Great Society".
Richard Nixon
1969-1974
- Though Nixon was a staunch anticommunist, he set out to ease tensions with the Communist block after becoming president.
- The arms race with the Soviets had grown dangerously out of control during the 1960s. In part, this was due to a new strategic doctrine embraced by the United States
Jimmy Carter
1977-1981
- The Cold War’s brief respite came to an end during Carter’s presidency.
- Denouncing the Soviet Union’s human rights violations against dissidents and favoring a policy of confrontation, Carter and National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski ended Nixon’s policy of détente
Ronald Reagan
1981-1989
- President Reagan strongly disliked détente. In a 1981 news conference, he said, "So far détente's been a one-way street that the Soviet Union has used to pursue its own aims. Their goal must be the promotion of world revolution and a one world communist or socialist state."