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The American Presidency 1901–2000

Eisenhower, Kennedy and the imperial presidency

  • 3 things to know
  • A2 Unit 1

Overview

Massive retaliation, bay of Pigs and new Frontier.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Numbers

How did Eisenhower use the Central Intelligence Agency?

Key term

Why does covert action matter in the study of presidential power?

Key term

What did the launch of Sputnik in 1957 provoke in the United States?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    How did Eisenhower approach the office?

    Model answer

    Eisenhower worked through a formal staff system and preferred to shape events out of sight, so that his hand in decisions was often invisible even to his critics.

  2. 2

    What was massive retaliation?

    Model answer

    Massive retaliation was the doctrine that the United States would answer aggression at a time and place of its own choosing with nuclear weapons. Nuclear forces cost far less than large conventional armies.

  3. 3

    How did Eisenhower use the Central Intelligence Agency?

    Model answer

    Eisenhower authorised covert operations that overturned governments in Iran in 1953 and Guatemala in 1954, of which Congress and the public knew nothing at the time.

  4. 4

    Why does covert action matter in the study of presidential power?

    Model answer

    Covert action allowed a president to make foreign policy in secret, with no debate, no declaration and no accountability until long afterwards.

  5. 5

    What did Eisenhower warn about in his farewell address?

    Model answer

    Eisenhower warned in 1961 that the permanent arms industry and the military establishment had gained an influence over American government that threatened liberty.

  6. 6

    What did the launch of Sputnik in 1957 provoke in the United States?

    Model answer

    The Soviet satellite caused alarm about American backwardness, and Congress created a national space agency and voted federal money for science education in response.

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