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The New Look was the name given to the 

national security policy of the United States 

during the administration of President Dwight 

D. Eisenhower. It reflected Eisenhower's 

concern for balancing the Cold War military 

commitments of the United States with the 

nation's financial resources. The policy 

emphasized reliance on strategic nuclear 

weapons to deter potential threats, both 

conventional and nuclear, from the Eastern 

Bloc of nations headed by the Soviet Union.

In its narrowest sense, the New Look was the name applied to the 

Department of Defense budget for Fiscal Year 1955, which was the 

first defense budget prepared entirely by Eisenhower's own Joint 

Chiefs of Staff. It was based on an extensive reappraisal of U.S. 

military requirements that began among Eisenhower and his closest 

advisers immediately following his election in November 1952. It was 

formalized in National Security Council document, which Eisenhower 

approved on October 30, 1953.Eisenhower rejected the idea that one 

period would be any more dangerous than another and urged his 

planners to think in terms of a Soviet threat that was economic as well 

as military. He wanted to avoid, in his own words, "an unbearable 

security burden leading to economic disaster."[3] With the costly 

experience of the Korean War in mind, Eisenhower was fearful that 

U.S. resources would be drained by Soviet-inspired regional conflicts.

Dwight D. Eisenhower brought a "New Look" to U.S. national 

security policy in 1953. The main elements of the New Look 

were to maintaining the vitality of the U.S. economy while still 

building sufficient strength to prosecute the Cold War; relying 

on nuclear weapons to deter Communist aggression or, if 

necessary, to fight a war; using the Central Intelligence 

Agency (CIA) to carry out secret or covert actions against 

governments or leaders "directly or indirectly responsive to 

Soviet control"; and (4) strengthening allies and winning the 

friendship of nonaligned governments. Eisenhower's defense 

policies, which aimed at providing "more bang for the buck," 

cut spending on conventional forces while increasing the 

budget for the Air Force and for nuclear weapons. Even though 

national security spending remained high—it never fell below 

50 percent of the budget during Eisenhower's 

presidency—Eisenhower did balance three of the eight federal 

budgets while he was in the White House.

In his Farewell Address, Eisenhower concentrated not on 

the threats he had confronted abroad but on the 

dangers of the Cold War at home. He told his fellow 

citizens to be wary of the "military-industrial complex," 

which he described as the powerful combination of "an 

immense military establishment and a large arms 

industry." Defense was a means to an end, and the 

American people had to be careful that they did not 

allow special interests to absorb an ever-increasing 

share of national wealth or to "endanger our liberties or 

democratic processes."

The New Policy changed how America handled foreign 

policies. A concept that defined the world power after 

the Cold-War was known as the new world order. The 

most widely discussed application of the phrase of 

recent times came at the end of the Cold War. 

Presidents Mikhail Gorbachev and George H.W. Bush 

used the term to try to define the nature of the post 

Cold War era, and the spirit of a great power 

cooperation they hoped might materialize . Historians 

will look back and say this was no ordinary time but a 

defining moment: an unprecedented period of global 

change, and a time when one chapter ended and 

another began. 

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