Geneva Summit (1955)

For other uses of "Geneva Summit ", see Geneva Summit.

The Geneva Summit of 1955 was a Cold War-era meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. Held on July 18, 1955, it was a meeting of "The Big Four": President Dwight D. Eisenhower of the United States, Prime Minister Anthony Eden of Britain, Premier Nikolai A. Bulganin of the Soviet Union, and Prime Minister Edgar Faure of France.^[1] They were accompanied by the foreign ministers of the four powers (who were also members of the Council of Foreign Ministers): John Foster Dulles, Harold Macmillan, Vyacheslav Molotov, and Antoine Pinay. Also in attendance was Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union.

The purpose was to bring together world leaders to begin discussions on peace.^[2] Although those discussions led down many different roads (arms negotiations, trade barriers, diplomacy, nuclear warfare, etc.), the talks were influenced by the common goal for increased global security.^[3]

Mission

The stated mission of the 1955 summit was to reduce international tensions. The Geneva Summit was seen as an extremely important building block to better friendships and more open communication between the leaders of "The Big Four".^[4] The creation of an international community was introduced as a way to help relieve global tensions and mistrust. This community would form the critical foundation of a unified world in which minimal barriers to trade and common interests would serve to engender diplomacy.^[5]

Topics such as East-West trade agreements, tariffs, the arms race, international security and disarmament policy were all addressed to some extent.^[6] The most significant proposal made by President Eisenhower was his "Open Skies" plan, which called for an international aerial monitoring system.^[7] The intent of this policy was to prevent nations from stockpiling dangerous weapons, and eventually lead to the disarmament of all weapons of mass destruction. Surprisingly, one goal that American political advisers had for the conference was to not make any specific promises or guarantees to the Soviets. In the past, Soviet leaders have misinterpreted American suggestions as whole-hearted promises later on, which could serve to bring more division instead of unity. Since this meeting was the first of its kind, the seeds of unification needed to be planted, nothing else.^[8]

The issue of East-West trade agreements was one that needed to be discussed very delicately.^[6] All previous East-West trade agreement talks had been anything but diplomatic. In the past, trade agreements had always been an occasion for discourse and heated arguments. Neither the UK nor the U.S. was willing to share control of their trading spheres unless there were obvious strategic advantages of doing so. Nations were at a standstill because no one was willing to compromise for the good of the worldwide community. The problem with peace talks is that although each nation knows the importance and benefits of peace, there is never enough mutual trust to ensure the success of such talks.^[3] The talks in Geneva helped break the ice and introduce nations to the benefits of global free trade. Also, simply by meeting and talking, the leaders were able to develop relationships and have an optimistic outlook on a peaceful and cooperative future.

Cold War and Geneva

The Cold War had a major impact on the topics debated during the Geneva Summit. International tensions were at its peak during the Cold War, as tensions were on the rise, the Cold War leaders thought it would be a good idea to unite under a common cause for peace in Geneva.^[9]

The world leaders discussed issues on security, armaments, German unification, and stronger east west relationships. Khrushchev was willing to allow a united Germany providing it was neutral, but West German entrance into NATO in May made the situation increasingly complicated. Khrushchev wanted the removal of both NATO and the Warsaw Pact, to be replaced by a new system of collective security. According to the memoirs* of Andrey Gromyko, a statement was made by the Soviet delegation that if peace was NATO's only objective, there could be no objection for the Soviet Union to join NATO. It was Allan Dulles who advised Dwight Eisenhower to refuse this proposal and the subject was neglected during the rest of the summit. This conference marked an era of renewed optimism in cold war relationships, however this was disrupted later by the Suez Crisis.

Notes

↑ Reston, James. Big Four Conference Opens Today; West’s Chiefs Complete Strategy on Germany, Disarming, Security, New York Times, July 18, 1955, pg.1; ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
↑ Deadlock. East-West Tensions Stymie Geneva Meet, 1955/10/31 (1955). Universal Newsreel. 1955. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
1 2 Bischof, Cold War Respite, p. 3
↑ Staff, ABC News
↑ Hans J. Morgenthau, p. 559
1 2 Bischof, Cold War Respite, p. 239
↑ Gunter Bischof, 215.
↑ Jack F. Matlock, Jr., pp. 9,149
↑ An Outline of American History: Cold War Aims, <http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/H/1994/ch11_p2.htm> [15 February 2007].

References

Bischof, Gunter. Cold War Respite: The Geneva Summit of 1955, (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2000)
Morgenthau, Hans J. Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1985)
Reston, James. Big Four Conference Opens Today; West’s Chiefs Complete Strategy on Germany, Disarming, Security, The New York Times, July 18, 1955, pg.1; ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
Staff. An Outline of American History: Cold War, department of Alfa-Informatica of the University of Groningen
"Big Four at Geneva". Time Magazine. Aug 1, 1955. Retrieved 2012-02-23.
Gromyko, Andrey, 'Memories', Hutchinson, London 1989, Dutch translation ISBN 90 274 2290 7 page 164.

Cold War

USA USSR ANZUS NATO Non-Aligned Movement SEATO Warsaw Pact

1940s	Hukbalahap Rebellion Dekemvriana Yalta Conference Guerrilla war in the Baltic states Forest Brothers Operation Priboi Operation Jungle Occupation of the Baltic states Cursed Soldiers Operation Unthinkable Potsdam Conference Gouzenko Affair Operation Masterdom Operation Beleaguer Operation Blacklist Forty Iran crisis of 1946 Greek Civil War Corfu Channel incident Turkish Straits crisis Restatement of Policy on Germany First Indochina War Truman Doctrine Asian Relations Conference Marshall Plan 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état Tito–Stalin Split Berlin Blockade Western betrayal Iron Curtain Eastern Bloc Western Bloc Chinese Civil War (Second round) Malayan Emergency Albanian Subversion

1950s	Bamboo Curtain Korean War 1953 Iranian coup d'état Uprising of 1953 in East Germany 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état Partition of Vietnam First Taiwan Strait Crisis Geneva Summit (1955) Poznań 1956 protests Hungarian Revolution of 1956 Suez Crisis Syrian Crisis of 1957 Sputnik crisis Second Taiwan Strait Crisis Cuban Revolution Kitchen Debate Bandung Conference Bricker Amendment McCarthyism Operation Gladio Iraqi July Revolution "We will bury you"

1960s	Congo Crisis Sino-Soviet split 1960 U-2 incident Bay of Pigs Invasion 1960 Turkish coup d'état Soviet–Albanian split Berlin Wall Portuguese Colonial War Angolan War of Independence Guinea-Bissau War of Independence Mozambican War of Independence Cuban Missile Crisis Sino-Indian War Communist insurgency in Sarawak Iraqi Ramadan Revolution 1963 Syrian coup d'état Vietnam War 1964 Brazilian coup d'état United States occupation of the Dominican Republic (1965–66) South African Border War Transition to the New Order Domino theory ASEAN Declaration Laotian Civil War 1966 Syrian coup d'état Argentine Revolution Korean DMZ Conflict Greek military junta of 1967–74 USS Pueblo incident Six-Day War War of Attrition Cultural Revolution Prague Spring Communist insurgency in Malaysia Invasion of Czechoslovakia Iraqi Ba'athist Revolution Goulash Communism Sino-Soviet border conflict CPP-NPA-NDF rebellion Corrective Move

1970s	Détente Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Black September in Jordan Corrective Movement (Syria) Cambodian Civil War Realpolitik Ping-pong diplomacy 1971 Turkish military memorandum Corrective Revolution (Egypt) Four Power Agreement on Berlin Bangladesh Liberation War 1972 Nixon visit to China North Yemen-South Yemen Border Conflict 1973 Chilean coup d'état Yom Kippur War Carnation Revolution Strategic Arms Limitation Talks Rhodesian Bush War Angolan Civil War Mozambican Civil War Ogaden War Ethiopian Civil War Lebanese Civil War Sino-Albanian split Cambodian–Vietnamese War Sino-Vietnamese War Iranian Revolution Operation Condor Dirty War Korean Air Lines Flight 902 Saur Revolution New Jewel Movement 1979 Herat uprising Seven Days to the River Rhine Struggle against political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union

1980s	Soviet–Afghan War 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics boycotts 1980 Turkish coup d'état Invasion of Grenada 1986 Black Sea incident 1988 Black Sea bumping incident Solidarity Soviet reaction Contras Central American crisis RYAN Korean Air Lines Flight 007 Able Archer 83 Star Wars People Power Revolution Nagorno-Karabakh War Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 Fall of the Berlin Wall Revolutions of 1989 Glasnost Perestroika

1990s	Mongolian Revolution of 1990 Yemeni unification Fall of Communism in Albania Breakup of Yugoslavia Dissolution of the Soviet Union Dissolution of Czechoslovakia

Frozen conflicts	Abkhazia China Korea Nagorno-Karabakh South Ossetia Transnistria Sino-Indian border dispute

Foreign policy	Truman Doctrine Marshall Plan Containment Eisenhower Doctrine Domino theory Hallstein Doctrine Kennedy Doctrine Peaceful coexistence Ostpolitik Johnson Doctrine Brezhnev Doctrine Nixon Doctrine Ulbricht Doctrine Carter Doctrine Reagan Doctrine Rollback Sovereignty of Puerto Rico during the Cold War

Ideologies	Capitalism Chicago school Keynesianism Monetarism Neoclassical economics Reaganomics Supply-side economics Thatcherism Communism Marxism–Leninism Castroism Eurocommunism Guevarism Hoxhaism Juche Maoism Naxalism Stalinism Titoism Liberal democracy Social democracy

Organizations	ASEAN CIA Comecon EEC KGB Non-Aligned Movement SAARC Safari Club MI6 Stasi

Propaganda	Active measures Izvestia Pravda Crusade for Freedom Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Red Scare TASS Voice of America Voice of Russia

Races	Arms race Nuclear arms race Space Race

See also	Brinkmanship NATO–Russia relations Soviet espionage in the United States Russian espionage in the United States American espionage in the Soviet Union Soviet Union–United States relations US–Soviet summits

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Dwight D. Eisenhower

34th President of the United States (1953–1961) Supreme Allied Commander Europe (1951–1952) Chief of Staff of the Army (1945–1948) Commander, Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (1943–1945)

Military career	Military career 1919 Motor Transport Corps convoy Louisiana Maneuvers Operation Torch European Theater of Operations Allied invasion of Sicily Normandy landings Operation Veritable Military Governor, U.S. Occupation Zone in Germany Disarmed Enemy Forces European Advisory Commission Supreme Commander of NATO, 1951-1952

Presidency	Presidency 1953 inauguration 1957 inauguration Korean War Armistice 1953 Iranian coup d'état Chance for Peace speech Atoms for Peace speech Civil Rights Act of 1957 Cold War Domino theory Khrushchev, Eisenhower and De-Stalinization New Look policy 1955 Geneva Summit 1960 U-2 incident NASA DARPA National Defense Education Act Interstate Highway System Suez Crisis Eisenhower Doctrine Little Rock Nine intervention Operation 40 Farewell address / "Military–industrial complex" Office of Food for Peace President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports People to People Student Ambassador Program State of the Union Address (1955 1956 1960) Cabinet Judicial appointments Supreme Court

Books	Crusade in Europe (1948)

Elections	Draft Eisenhower movement Republican Party presidential primaries, 1948 1952 1956 Republican National Convention, 1952 1956 United States Presidential election, 1952 1956

Legacy	Birthplace Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum, gravesite Boyhood home Eisenhower National Historic Site Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Eisenhower Executive Office Building Eisenhower Fellowships Eisenhower Institute Eisenhower Monument Eisenhower dollar commemorative U.S. Postage stamps Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center Eisenhower Medical Center Eisenhower Trophy Eisenhower Golf Club Eisenhower Theater Places named for Eisenhower Other tributes and memorials

Popular culture	Eisenhower jacket Eisenhower Tree Crusade in Europe (1949 television series) Ike (1979 miniseries) Ike: Countdown to D-Day (2004 film) Pressure (2014 play)

Family	Mamie Geneva Doud Eisenhower (wife) Doud Eisenhower (son) John Eisenhower (son) David Eisenhower (grandson) Susan Eisenhower (granddaughter) Mary Jean Eisenhower (granddaughter) Jennie Eisenhower (great-granddaughter) Ida Stover Eisenhower (mother) David Jacob Eisenhower (father) Earl D. Eisenhower (brother) Edgar N. Eisenhower (brother) Milton S. Eisenhower (brother)

Related	Eisenhower baseball controversy Camp David "And I don't care what it is" Atoms for Peace Award Eddie Slovik Kay Summersby

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Geneva Summit (1955)

Mission

Cold War and Geneva

See also

Notes

References