His foreign and security policies combined restraint and vigilance in equal measure. Eisenhower showed less restraint in his use of covert operations. In Guatemala, Iran, Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia, Cuba, and Congo, Eisenhower gave CIA director Dulles carte blanche to cause havoc. The CIA in the 1950s triggered coups, plotted assassinations, and shipped arms and cash to authoritarian regimes. Dulles also urged upon Ike an aggressive use of the U-2 spy plane, which led to the disastrous events of May 1960. Eisenhower was a cold warrior, and there was brutality in the means he adopted to wage that
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