The China Threat: Memories, Myths, and Realities in the 1950s - Softcover

Tucker Ph.D., Nancy Bernkopf

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0231159250 ISBN 13: 9780231159258

Publisher: Columbia University Press, 2014

Synopsis

Nancy Bernkopf Tucker confronts the coldest period of the cold war―the moment in which personality, American political culture, public opinion, and high politics came together to define the Eisenhower Administration's policy toward China. A sophisticated, multidimensional account based on prodigious, cutting edge research, this volume convincingly portrays Eisenhower's private belief that close relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China were inevitable and that careful consideration of the PRC should constitute a critical part of American diplomacy.

Tucker provocatively argues that the Eisenhower Administration's hostile rhetoric and tough actions toward China obscure the president's actual views. Behind the scenes, Eisenhower and his Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, pursued a more nuanced approach, one better suited to China's specific challenges and the stabilization of the global community. Tucker deftly explores the contradictions between Eisenhower and his advisors' public and private positions. Her most powerful chapter centers on Eisenhower's recognition that rigid trade prohibitions would undermine the global postwar economic recovery and push China into a closer relationship with the Soviet Union. Ultimately, Tucker finds Eisenhower's strategic thinking on Europe and his fear of toxic, anticommunist domestic politics constrained his leadership, making a fundamental shift in U.S. policy toward China difficult if not impossible. Consequently, the president was unable to engage congress and the public effectively on China, ultimately failing to realize his own high standards as a leader.

About this title

Book Description

Nancy Bernkopf Tucker confronts the coldest period of the Cold War―the moment in which personality, American political culture, public opinion, and high politics came together to define the Eisenhower administration's policy toward China. In her sophisticated account, she convincingly portrays Eisenhower's private belief that close relations between the United States and the People's Republic of China were inevitable and that careful consideration of the PRC should constitute a critical part of American diplomacy. Tucker provocatively argues that the Eisenhower administration's hostile rhetoric and tough actions toward China obscured the president's actual views, and she deftly explores the contradictions between Eisenhower and his advisors' public and private positions. Ultimately, Tucker finds Eisenhower's strategic thinking on Europe and his fear of anticommunist domestic politics constrained his leadership, making a fundamental shift in U.S. policy toward China difficult, if not impossible.

About the Author

Nancy Bernkopf Tucker (1948–2012) was professor at the Department of History and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, and a former senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. She wrote and edited several books, including the award-winning Uncertain Friendships: Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the United States, 1945–1992.

Edition details

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0231159250
• ISBN 13: 9780231159258
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 312