Overview
- Features an in-depth examination of the interaction between American public opinion and President Eisenhower’s foreign policy toward the People’s Republic of China
- Offers new insights into Sino-American relations in the early Cold War
- Appeals to scholars of diplomatic history, the history of Sino-American relations, Cold War history, and modern U.S. history
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About this book
In the 1950s, most of the American public opposed diplomatic and trade relations with Communist China; traditional historiography blames this widespread hostility for the tensions between China and the United States during Dwight D. Eisenhower’s presidency. In this book, Mara Oliva reconsiders the influence of U.S. public opinion on Sino-American relations, arguing that it is understudied and often misinterpreted. She shows how the Eisenhower administration’s hard line policy towards Beijing had been formulated in line with U.S. national security interests, not as a result of public pressure. However, the public did play a significant role in shaping the implementation, timing and political communication of Washington’s strategy, ultimately hampering relations with the Communist giant and seriously heightening the risk of nuclear conflict. Drawing together an extensive array of published and unpublished sources, this book offers a new prism for understanding one of the most difficult decades in the history of both countries.
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Keywords
- Eisenhower Administration
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
- Eisenhower foreign policy
- Cold war
- People's Republic of China
- Sino-American relations
- US presidency
- foreign policy
- cold war propaganda
- American public opinion
- US-China policy
- Communist China
- Asia-first policy
- US national security
- Eisenhower-Dulles Strategy
- 1952 Presidential Campaign
- Geneva Conference
- South East Asia Treaty Organisation
- us politics
Table of contents (8 chapters)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Mara Oliva is Lecturer in U.S. History at the University of Reading, U.K.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Eisenhower and American Public Opinion on China
Authors: Mara Oliva
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76195-4
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: History, History (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-76194-7Published: 25 April 2018
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-09427-0Published: 04 January 2019
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-76195-4Published: 16 April 2018
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVII, 223
Number of Illustrations: 3 b/w illustrations
Topics: US History, World History, Global and Transnational History, US Politics, Foreign Policy, History of China