Eisenhower & The Cold War

How did the United States react to the following 7 events, and why?

1. The Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb in 1949.
After the explosion of the first Soviet atomic bomb, the U.S. immediately began planning an even larger, more deadly bomb. They did this in order to maintain the upper hand in the war - in order to feel secure, they needed to have the bigger weapons first. Development for the H-Bomb soon began, even though the morality of such an explosive was questioned; the H-Bomb was successfully exploded on November of 1952.

2. In 1951, the Iranian prime minister placed the oil industry in Iran under the Iranian government’s control.
When the Iran's oil indsutry became privatized, the U.S. decided to use the CIA to ensure that it's interests were upheld in Iran, and that Iran did not turn to the USSR for aid. The CIA gave millions of dollars to supporters of the pro-American Shah, who had been exiled; the plan was successful, and the Shah was able to return to power, and control of the oil fields was given back to the Western powers.

3. The Guatemalan head of government gave American-owned land in Guatemala to peasants.
The U.S. feared that this was a sign of Guatemala leaning towarsd Communism, and therefore decided to take action, once again via the CIA. The CIA organized and trained an army, which invaded Guatemala. The Guatemalan army would not defend its president, and he quickly resigned, leaving the leader of the Guatemalan forces to take power.

4. In 1956, Britain, France, and Israel invaded Egypt and occupied the Suez Canal.
After the U.N. stepped in, tensions died down quickly. However, the U.S. was horrified by the amount of Soviet involvement in the Middle East - the Suez War had been a good example of just how far the USSR was willing to go to gain support. In response, President Eisenhower issued a doctrine, which Congress soon approved; called simply the Eisenhower Doctrine, it stated that the U.S. would defend and country in the Middle East against a Communist attack.

5. Soviet tanks invaded Hungary and fired on protesters in 1956.
While the events in Hungary were shocking, the U.S. did nothing to aid the Hungarian government or people. Even with the Truman policy in place, the U.S. would not step in to push Soviet forces out of Hungary. This inaction most likely stemmed from fear of getting militarily involved so close in area to the USSR; that could be conceived as an act of war, and set off the tensions that were already close to overflow.

6. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik.
After the Soviet launch of Sputnik, America began opuring money and effort into their own space program. Desperate not to be left behind in the dust, they began developing their own satellites and space crafts at a rapid pace. Though their first attempt was a failure, the U.S. successfully launched a satellite in January of 1958.

7. In 1960, the Soviet Union brought down an American U-2 piloted by Francis Gary Powers.
America staunchly denied that the U-2 had been on an espionage mission. When Khruschev demanded an apology, Eisenhower refused to give one - for that would mean admitting to spying, and that would raise the chance of starting a violent conflict. Eisenhower did, however, agree to stop the U-2 flights. Eisenhower's refusal to apologize only increased tensions tenfold.