In the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", one of the four famous works of Chinese tradition, there is such a passage: "Wen can raise the pen to secure the world, and wu can go to Ma Ding Qiankun." Whoever has a plan will win, the heroes of ancient and modern times are only kings." This is an evaluation of the Shu Han general Jiang Wei, but it also applies to the protagonist of today's story - he is Dwight Eisenhower, who was the commander-in-chief of the Allied forces during World War II, the president of Columbia University after the war, and the president of two consecutive terms. In this issue, I will learn about this successful cross-border military, political and educational star.
Three kingdoms
Eisenhower was born in Denison, Texas in 1890. Although the family situation is not superior, it has a strict but not old-fashioned good tutoring, which laid a good foundation for his future achievements in many fields such as military and political affairs, and in addition to Eisenhower himself, several of his brothers can also be called successful in their careers. In this regard, Eisenhower said that this is largely due to his parents never being calculating, the eyes of the rats, and knowing how to unite the family and encourage him to make progress together, it is his parents who let him know how to do things down-to-earth, can not be ambitious, and have the courage to take responsibility. He even said that before going to West Point, he had no idea that many people were committed to broken families full of quarrels and lack of love.
Eisenhower
Eisenhower, who only started his "military career" in 1929, the speed of promotion can no longer be described as "smooth sailing", it can be said to be "riding the wind and waves". His excellent big-picture and strategic vision is greatly appreciated by all colleagues or superiors who have lived with him. Especially after being appreciated by Marshall, the then chief of staff of the army, the position and rank were as rapid as a rocket. He received the rank of major general in 1941 until he became a five-star general in 1944. Eisenhower achieved the "fastest promotion" of only ten five-star generals in U.S. history. However, since Eisenhower spent most of his military career in "civilian" jobs, serving as various "staff officers," it is difficult to attribute the success of some specific "military operations" to him. From his formal enlistment in 1929 to his retirement in 1948, the most dazzling moment must have been, and could only be, the "Normandy Landing" he led on June 6, 1944, as the supreme commander of the Allied forces. Thus, the most "remarkable" moment of Eisenhower's life was precisely after he was away from the battlefield.
Marshall and Eisenhower
The end of World War II did not bring the world to peace; on the contrary, Churchill's "Iron Curtain Speech" officially opened the prelude to the Cold War, and the United States and the Soviet Union, which were originally "anti-fascist allies," became enemies of the common good, and the socialist and capitalist camps led by them were also completely hostile. This confrontation, led by two of the world's most powerful countries at the time, once again cast the world's people in the clouds of war. As a member of the socialist camp and even the leader of the third world except the Soviet Union, China was bound to be subjected to various "sanctions" by Western countries led by the United States during the Cold War. As President Truman's successor, Eisenhower, raised the banner of "anti-China" even higher and deeper.
The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union
The Truman administration has already unleashed a wave of anti-communism at home by "losing" China (i.e., not turning it into an "ally" of the United States). When Eisenhower came to power at a time when the United States was facing defeat in the first real-knife contest between North Korea and China, he inherited the anti-communist legacy of his predecessors, but he could not fail to consider the public war-weariness and the economic downturn at home. Anti-communism, maintaining the hegemonic position of the United States in the world, and maintaining and improving the domestic economic situation were all important goals of Eisenhower in office. Therefore, even if you want to be anti-communist, you must carefully consider the "way" and "cost".
Since the Korean War, the Eisenhower administration has been determined to defend U.S. interests without allowing U.S. forces to fight again in Asia. Therefore, although its government has vigorously praised the so-called communist threat in Asia, its policy toward Asian countries is based on their attitude toward China and the United States as the only criterion, and has heated up the Cold War against China to the brink of a hot "war", but has always avoided a direct and costly large-scale conflict with China. Specifically, the core of the Eisenhower administration's China policy includes the following points:
Emphasis on psychological warfare. This strategy was proposed by the United States as early as World War II, and President Truman also invested a lot of money in "propaganda to socialist countries" during his presidency. After Eisenhower came to power, he paid more attention to psychological warfare, and has been called by American historians as "the first president to make psychological warfare a routine and important tool of U.S. foreign policy". He prided himself on the nuclear superiority of the United States and became more convinced of the deterrence strategy that had become crucial in American military thought after 1945, and Document No. 1622, which was approved in early October 1953, more clearly decided to use nuclear weapons as a means of deterrence, and in his view, security and diplomacy were the same issue. Secretary of State Les is even more proud of the military strength of the United States, proposing "large-scale retaliation" and "brink of war" strategies to blackmail the people of China and the world. Believing that U.S. propaganda to liberate Eastern Europe had had a significant effect, they strongly supported radio propaganda against China and considered using trade as bait. Some U.S. experts on Asia and intelligence officials have repeatedly suggested fabricating and spreading rumors in order to create Sino-Soviet discord. In order to stir up Sino-Soviet relations, Dulles also proposed in April 1955 to former Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov that the United States and the Soviet Union exert pressure on both Chiang Kai-shek and the Ccp.
Dulles
U.S. leaders believe China will succumb to U.S. pressure and threats. For a long time, Eisenhower believed that China had many domestic problems and political instability, that the reconquest of China did not require large-scale military action, and that communism would inevitably collapse in China. Both he and Dulles placed too much emphasis on American power and were convinced of the deterrent power of the atomic bomb in their hands. With regard to China, whose economic and military strength was far inferior to that of the United States and which was free of nuclear weapons, the Eisenhower administration even arrogantly believed that a future aggressor could be stopped with a prior warning, and that the Korean War would not have happened if the United States had shown its determination to defend South Korea. In view of the above reasons, during the Korean armistice negotiations and several Taiwan Strait crises and indochina crises in the 1950s, they all believed that the United States must not show weakness any longer and must show strength and determination toward the Chinese Communists. Its means can only be to wield atomic bombs and show off naval and air power to intimidate war.
Eisenhower and Dulles
Dissatisfied with the slow pace of the Korean armistice negotiations, Eisenhower first claimed on February 2, 1953, that the U.S. 7th Fleet deployed in the Taiwan Strait would no longer be used to isolate the mainland, and then expressed his approval of the use of tactical nuclear weapons at meetings of the National Security Council on February 11 and March 31. Despite knowing that they would be opposed by their allies, Eisenhower and Dulles threatened to use nuclear weapons several times in April and June to end the Korean War as soon as possible, and even said that if the Chinese Communists did not sign the armistice agreement on the terms agreed by the United States, it would not rule out extending the war to China. After the end of the Korean War, the Eisenhower administration took a series of threatening actions. In 1954, the United States deployed a huge military force in the Taiwan Strait. In mid-1957, the United States deployed the Matador missile on Taiwan for the first time, which could carry a nuclear warhead. After China began shelling Kinmen in August 1958, U.S. leaders repeatedly issued several nuclear threats, while quickly assembling a large fleet along the Chinese mainland sea in just a few days. In September, three more cannons capable of firing nuclear shells were transported to Kinmen Island. Throughout the second half of the 1950s, the clouds of war often hung over the Taiwan Strait.
Shelling of the Golden Gate
The Eisenhower administration did not have enough confidence to go to war with China. Although the threat of war against China during Eisenhower's tenure was one after another, it did not develop into armed conflict in the end, and the reason was not that what the United States said, "Eisenhower was committed to maintaining the balance of the world and was the father of détente." In fact, the US policymakers led by Eisenhower did not dare to really use force with China. They understand that a ground war with China in Asia will not take advantage, because they have witnessed the "pinnacle" of the Chinese Army. Moreover, the United States does not have enough ships to blockade the long Chinese coast for a long time, and "military leaders" such as Li Qiwei, chief of the army, and Hull, commander of the US Far East Army, are even more opposed to the use of US troops to defend Kinmen and other islands. Dulles, who was the fiercest clamor, did not want to rush into the conflict with China. In September 1954, he objected to the United States' hasty response to China's shelling of Kinmen so as not to repeat the Mistakes of the French at Dien Bien Phu. Eisenhower also insisted on avoiding friction with China, fearing being dragged into World War III by Chiang Kai-shek. At a special meeting of the government on September 12, 1954, the Eisenhower administration opposed the military's proposal that the United States should participate in the defense of the islands in the Taiwan Strait and rejected Chiang Kai-shek's proposal that the army bomb the mainland, saying that it would cross the threshold of World War III."
In January 1955, when the People's Liberation Army captured Yijiangshan Island, the U.S. leadership panicked and hastily withdrew the U.S. warships that had been deployed nearby. Eisenhower faced pressure from the military hawks to say the island and Dachen Island were not important to Taiwan's defense and was reluctant to take further military action. During the Strait Crisis in 1958, in the face of the People's Liberation Army's fierce shelling of Chiang Kai-shek's supply ships, although the US warships escorted chiang kai-shek's transport ships, in order to avoid being hit by PLA artillery fire and then clashing with them in the chinese territorial waters, these warships were ordered to stop on the high seas three nautical miles away from the beach where the goods were unloaded, and they could not act without orders.
Although the United States under the Eisenhower administration did not end up at war, there was no real conflict with China. However, their hostile policy toward China runs through and is unswerving, and its content is not only at the "national level", but even includes restrictions on the freedom of travel of US citizens, and various "acts of visiting China" mainly in the media circles, they are not only hostile to socialist China, but also vilify and even demonize socialist China, and do not hesitate to defend what they call "freedom" at the expense of the freedom of the American people. However, history ultimately gives us the answer: friends and enemies must understand each other in order to make rational judgments. Sometimes, after understanding, it is also possible for enemies to turn into friends.
The People's Liberation Army captured Jiangshan Island
Eisenhower stepped down as president in 1961 and died in Washington, D.C. in 1969 after a heart attack. For China, Eisenhower was not a "good president," but in the hearts of Americans, he had a different sense of existence. In his last words, he wrote: "I have always loved my wife, I have always loved my children, I have always loved my grandchildren, I have always loved my motherland!" "He said it, and he did it.
bibliography
Memoirs of Eisenhower Dwight Eisenhower
"The Formation of the Eisenhower Administration's Asian Policy" By Liu Xiong
"Cultural Exchanges between East and West and the Cold War Propaganda Offensive of the Eisenhower Administration" Guo Youxin
"Policy Analysis of the Eisenhower Administration's End of The Korean Armistice Negotiations" Deng Feng
Eisenhower and the Anti-Communist Crusade by Jeff Budwater