Geneva Summit 1955
The Americandelegation. On the front row, from left to right:Herman Phleger,Charles E. Wilson,John Foster Dulles,Livingston T. Merchant,Douglas MacArthur II
Host country	Switzerland
Date	July 18, 1955
Cities	Geneva
Participants	PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower Prime MinisterAnthony Eden Prime MinisterEdgar Faure PremierNikolai Bulganin
Follows	Potsdam Conference
Precedes	Four Power Paris Summit

TheGeneva Summit of 1955 was aCold War-era meeting inGeneva, Switzerland. Held on July 18, 1955, it was a meeting of "The Big Four": PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower of the United States, Prime MinisterAnthony Eden ofBritain, PremierNikolai A. Bulganin of theSoviet Union, and Prime MinisterEdgar Faure ofFrance.^[1] They were accompanied by the foreign ministers of the four powers (who were also members of theCouncil of Foreign Ministers):John Foster Dulles,Harold Macmillan,Vyacheslav Molotov, andAntoine Pinay. Also in attendance wasNikita Khrushchev,de facto leader of the Soviet Union.

This was the first such meeting since thePotsdam Conference ten years earlier.

The purpose was to bring together world leaders to begin discussions on peace.^[2] Although those discussions led down many different roads (arms negotiations, trade barriers, diplomacy,nuclear warfare, etc.), the talks were influenced by the common goal for increasedglobal security.^[3]

The stated mission of the 1955 summit was to reduce international tensions. The Geneva Summit was seen as an extremely important building block to better friendships and more open communication between the leaders of "The Big Four".^[4] The creation of an international community was introduced as a way to help relieve global tensions and mistrust. This community would form the critical foundation of a unified world in which minimal barriers totrade and common interests would serve to engenderdiplomacy.^[5] This Summit paved the way for further discussion regarding international relations and cooperation, preceding other significant summits such asSALT I and theWashington Summit of 1973.

Topics such as East-West trade agreements,tariffs, thearms race, internationalsecurity anddisarmament policy were all addressed to some extent.^[6] The most significant proposal made by President Eisenhower was his "Open Skies" plan, which called for an international aerial monitoring system.^[7] The intent of this policy was to prevent nations from stockpiling dangerousweapons, and eventually lead to the disarmament of allweapons of mass destruction. Surprisingly, one goal that American political advisers had for the conference was to not make any specific promises or guarantees to the Soviets. In the past, Soviet leaders had later misinterpreted American suggestions as whole-hearted promises, which could serve to bring more division instead of unity. Since this meeting was the first of its kind, the seeds of unification needed to be planted, nothing else.^[8]

The issue of East-West trade agreements was one that needed to be discussed very delicately.^[6] All previous East-West trade agreement talks had been anything but diplomatic. In the past, trade agreements had always been an occasion for discourse and heated arguments. Neither the UK nor the U.S. was willing to share control of their trading spheres unless there were obvious strategic advantages of doing so. Nations were at a standstill because no one was willing to compromise for the good of the worldwide community. The problem with peace talks is that although each nation knows the importance and benefits of peace, there is never enough mutual trust to ensure the success of such talks.^[3] The talks in Geneva helped break the ice and introduce nations to the benefits of global free trade. Also, simply by meeting and talking, the leaders were able to develop relationships and have an optimistic outlook on a peaceful and cooperative future.

The Cold War had a major impact on the topics debated during the Geneva Summit. International tensions were at their peak during the Cold War; as tensions were on the rise, the Cold War leaders thought it would be a good idea to unite under a common cause for peace in Geneva.^[9]

The world leaders discussed issues on security, armaments,German unification, and stronger East-West relationships. Khrushchev was willing to allow a united Germany providing it was neutral, but West German entrance into NATO in May made the situation increasingly complicated. This conference marked an era of renewed optimism in cold war relationships, however this was disrupted later by theSuez Crisis.^{[citation needed]}

• List of Soviet Union–United States summits (1943 to 1991)

• Bischof, Gunter.Cold War Respite: The Geneva Summit of 1955, (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2000)
• Morgenthau, Hans J.Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. 1985)
• Staff.An Outline of American History: Cold War, department of Alfa-Informatica of theUniversity of Groningen
• "Big Four at Geneva".Time. August 1, 1955. Archived fromthe original on December 7, 2006. RetrievedFebruary 23, 2012.
• Gromyko, Andrey (1989).Memoirs, Hutchinson, London, Dutch translation. p. 164.ISBN 90 274 2290 7

• 1955 in Switzerland
• July 1955 in Europe
• France–Soviet Union relations
• Soviet Union–United Kingdom relations
• Soviet Union–United States diplomatic conferences
• Diplomatic conferences in Switzerland
• 20th-century diplomatic conferences
• 1955 in international relations
• 1955 conferences
• Harold Macmillan
• Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower
• Nikita Khrushchev
• Anthony Eden
• 20th century in Geneva
• Organised events in Geneva

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from April 2022
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from July 2007