This document answers the question "To what extent did relations between the USA and the USSR improve in the period from 1953 to 1961?"
Cambridge International AS/A Level – May/June 2015
Depth Study 3: International History, 1945–1991
Theme 1: The Cold War, 1950–1975
Syllabus 9389
Paper 41
To what extent did relations between the USA and the USSR improve in the
period from 1953 to 1961?
Cambridge International AS/A Level – May/June 2015
Depth Study 3: International History, 1945–1991
Syllabus 9389
Paper 41
Relations between the USA and USSR improved after Stalin’s death during the period 1953
to 1961(Eisenhower's Presidency). This was primarily due to the enhanced views of the new
leaders. For example, Eisenhower was willing to negotiate with the USSR while Khrushchev
aimed to promote the idea of “Peaceful Coexistence” between the West and East.
Nevertheless, during this period tension also grew as a result of the leaders’ actions and
conflicts in South America, Europe and the Middle East.
On the one hand, relations between the two nations greatly improved as a result of the
death of Stalin on March 5th 1953. His secret police were dismantled and his Dictatorial rule
was now over. Khrushchev won the struggle to be the new leader of the Soviet Union and
followed the idea of “Peaceful Coexistence” with the West. This new policy aimed to move
away from the previous Lenin ideology which always would have resulted in an inevitable
war. Khrushchev's new ideology aimed to make Communism and Capitalism not see each
other as a threat but work together for a better future. Eisenhower was elected the same
year as Stalin's death. He was willing to negotiate with the USSR and agreed to Khrushchev's
new policy. The USA believed that if the Soviet Union's “Communist ideology” did not
expand it would result in the empire’s downfall. On the other hand, the USSR believed that
Capitalism would collapse due to its “inner weakness”. This resulted in there being no need
for nuclear war so a reduction in military spending was agreed on by both countries. This
primarily helped benefit the USSR’s economy as a ⅓ of the country’s budget was spent on its
military compared to 12% by the USA. Both countries’ economies greatly benefited from
this change in funding. Winston Churchill even believed that the idea was good for future
peace and to avoid Mutually Assured Destruction.
Also, by 1954 the Korean war had officially come to an end which resulted in there being
less tension between the two powers. In April 1955, the Austrian state treaty was signed
which ended the four-power occupation and allowed it to once again become an
independent and neutral country. In the same year the two powers also met at the Geneva
Summit. Although nothing was agreed upon, an atmosphere of cordiality was evident
between the two powers. Better trade exhibitions, cultural and scientific exchanges were
also later carried out as a result of this. In 1958 Eisenhower banned the testing of
Atmospheric nuclear weapons, the USSR agreed and soon followed in the USA’s footsteps.
Khrushchev accepted to be the first Soviet leader to visit the USA in 1959. While he was
there another Geneva summit meeting was agreed upon to be held in Paris 1960 for further
negotiation.
On the other hand, tension also increased between the USA and USSR during this period.
For example, the USA’s secret service, the CIA, helped overthrow the left-wing governments
of Iran in 1953, and Guatemala in 1954. This obviously made the USA come across as being
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