ABSTRACT
Issues of foreign policy, to a greater extent than domestic affairs, had led Eisenhower to seek the presidency. His primary objective was the attainment and preservation of peace. Public opinion had supported America's original intervention in Korea in June, 1950, when the North Koreans, who were viewed as pawns of the Soviet Union, invaded South Korea. Towards the Soviet Union, after Stalin's death in March, 1953, Eisenhower took a more conciliatory approach, pressing the new Soviet leadership for a gesture of goodwill, such as the use of their good offices to persuade the Chinese and North Koreans to make peace in Korea. Eisenhower pursued a cautious policy, arguing that the new Soviet leadership must provide evidence of good faith before he was prepared to engage in a summit meeting. He sought to maintain peace primarily through the consolidation of the Western alliance as a bulwark of freedom and strength, which would be capable of the long-term containment of Communism.
