A Study On Brinkmanship And Its Practice

"Brinksmanship", as the Secretary of State John Foster Dulles wrote in Life Magazine in 1956: The ability to get to the verge without getting into the war is the necessary art. If you try to run away from it, if you are scared to go to the brink, you are lost. "Brinksmanship" is the decision that the Eisenhower Administration had to make when American policy towards China is in dilemma. After coming into power, Eisenhower had to keep American economy booming, but is reluctant to narrow American hegemony interests across the world. So "Brinksmanship", with the characters of "menace" and "self-control", was adopted, which later became the principal policy towards China.The study of this policy is helpful in understanding the America's "containment", hegemony policy and the deadlock in Sino-U.S. relations. In view of the significance of the policy, this paper attempts to give an overall introduction of it's producing and practice, and then makes comments on it.The paper is divided into 4 parts: foreword, text, conclusion and reference.The forward gives a necessary introduction of the research condition of the policy at home and abroad, also of the problem expected to be studied in this paper.The text is divided into 3 parts. The first part presents the definition and contents of "Brinksmanship", and then introduces the historical background of it at three aspects—global strategy, policy towards China and domestic situation in America. The second part narrates the practice of the policy in detail, which involves the Korea War, the Vietnam War, the Cross-Strait Crisis and the Trade Embargo. On these foundations it elaborates how the Eisenhower Administration exerted both menace and self-control, adopted military and political methods to serve the purpose of threatening war but without getting involved in the war. The last part makes a comment on "Brinksmanship", including the defects, characters, nature and it's source: the deep-rooted cold war attitudes.The conclusion points out that "Brinksmanship" is the policy that the Eisenhower Administration took when the cold war was in an intense situation. But because of it's defects, characters and so on, it finally turns out to be a failure. Considering the present, evaluating the past, the American government should absorb the lessons of this failure and stop impeding China development in any ways.