| This dissertation examines American foreign policies in the Berlin Crises of 1958 and 1961. The Berlin crises reflect the United States's overall conduct of the cold war during the 1950s and 1960s, a time in which Asia, Africa and Latin America replaced Europe as the central theater of the conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. Superficially quite similar, the two crises dramatically demonstrate the different approaches to handling foreign policy problems taken by presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy. The combination of the shift in American attention away from defending Europe and the differing styles of dealing with the crises in Berlin led to increasing difficulties in relations between the United States and its European allies. Through the 1960s European leaders separated themselves from American leadership and developed an independent course of foreign policy. Of particular significance was the establishment of Ostpolitik, improved relations with the Soviet Union and Communist Bloc, by the Federal Republic of Germany. |
