Guest Lecture by Prof. Laura Wood (Texas Christian University): Remembering Ike’s Military and Foreign Policy (25.06.2025)
Date: June 25, 2025, 18:15-19:45
Location: Bismarckstr. 1, C 301
The former World War II Allied Supreme Commander and first NATO Commander, Dwight Eisenhower (Ike) brought extensive military and decision-making experience to the Oval Office in 1953. Ike sought to reduce U.S. defense spending and the size of the military while increasing the nation’s nuclear arsenal, and he warned against using ground troops in regional conflicts while endorsing covert operations through the new CIA. With firm opposition to isolationism, he committed the US to worldwide alliances while maintaining a myopic anticommunist focus and a dislike for colonialism. While concerned for maintaining international law, Eisenhower’s foreign policies and covert operations proved fateful for the US in the long term. Finally, Eisenhower, the soldier and fiscal conservative, grew increasingly wary of the growing power and role of the US armaments industry and warned of the military-industrial complex. President Eisenhower and his view of the military and the world offer an interesting comparison to current US decision makers.
This guest lecture is part of the seminar “Politics & Culture: America in the 1950s.” For any questions, please contact: Isabel.Kalous@fau.de