1952 presidential elections and position of the Republican party on the U.S. relations with Eastern European countriesand the USSR

The U.S.entered 1952, the year of presidential elections, paying exceptional attention to its foreign policy. Foreign policy was the only fieldwhere Republicans could successfully face Democrats, even despite the fact that many of the eminent members of the party (like mainpartisan expert in foreign policy John Foster Dulles, for example) were directly involved in the process of making decisions and theirimplementation by Truman administration. Theme of "enslaved peoples" of Eastern Europe could not help appearing in this context.Also, post-war arrangement, and especially the events in that part of the European continent that followed it, raised a lot of questionsconcerning effectiveness of the American policy towards the USSR and Eastern-European region in general. Main questions were, ofcourse, about the agreements reached by the leaders of the winning coalition in Yalta and Potsdam in 1945 concerning Eastern Europeancountries and about the policy of "containment" that was led by Truman administration since 1947 towards the USSR. The topic ofEastern Europe was salient during the election campaign. However, it had no significant impact on the victory of the republican candidate.But the campaign itself posed a question before the Republicans about methods of this policy implementation. It was up to theelected president to search for answers to it. Critique from the Democrats and the European allies resulted in refusing to actively use theslogan of "liberation of Eastern Europe" in the last period of the election campaign. The Republicans skilfully switched their electorateto a more attractive slogan - General Eisenhower's ability to end the Korean War with honour. At the same time thesis of the communismthreat and critique of the deterrence policy of the democratic administration were main and most important elements of the wholeelection campaign. Analysing real policy that was implemented by Eisenhower's administration towards Eastern Europe, one can saywith a certainty that the slogan "liberation of Eastern Europe" and critique of deterrence were nothing else but republican tactics to turnattention of the public on failures of the democratic administration with a help of a catchy offensive slogan. Communists' accession topower in Eastern Europe, their winning the Chinese Civil War created an opportunity for the Republicans (whose main strategists activelyparticipated in foreign policy implementation of Truman's administration) to turn public attention to the communist threat andusing their fear exploit thesis about the failure of deterrence that lead to the loss of the U.S. positions and spread of communism in theworld. In these circumstances the appearance of a catchy, biting slogan, reflecting the core of the new approach was not a problem. Andit appeared and spread around in one of the most popular American magazines "Life".

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