There was another factor. Eisenhower was up for reelection in November 1956; he had ended the fighting in Korea at the beginning of his Administration, he was running as a man of peace, and the last thing he wanted now was a military crisis that might frighten the electorate and threaten his campaign. In an appalling blunder, the British and French never really factored the calendar of the American Presidential election into their calculations. While the public diplomatic show went on, they were also working secretly on a second track. They were making plans for military intervention in the
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