Dwight Eisenhower's leadership during the U-2 affair

Abstract

Most assessments of President Eisenhower's foreign policy concentrate on the idea of deterrence as illustrated by the ''New Look" policy and the president's relationship with Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. Instead, this essay examines the most controversial event of his last year in office: the U-2 affair. It demonstrated the inconsistency of his detached and engaged styles of leadership. Eisenhower's approach led to a number of mistakes that cost him an opportunity to achieve his primary foreign policy goal of permanently improving America's relationship with the Soviet Union.