The Eisenhower Era, 1952-1960

 

 

 

Intro: Americans wanted respite from 20 years of depression and war but early 50s full of Cold War/Korean problems plus domestic issues of communist subversion and civil rights. “Ike” was the man to help Americans pursue calm period of consumerist affluence

 

 

 Affluence and its Anxieties (Mr. Grant)

 

-        homeownership high

-        science and technology drove economic growth

o      electronics, computers (IBM), aerospace (Boeing)

-        Post-Industrialism - 1956 – passed from industrial to post-industrial era w/ more “white-collar” workers than “blue-collar”

o      Organized labor peaked in 1954 and then went into steady decline as result

o      White collar employment benefited women

-        “Cult of domesticity” postwar ideology that emerged in popular culture to celebrate eternal feminine functions in 50’s; was accurate of early 50’s

o      However, as 50s progressed, women increasingly took outside jobs

o      Betty Friedan – feminist author of The Feminine Mystique (1963)

§       *classic of feminist protest literature that launched the modern women’s movement

*affluence anxieties were labor decline, labor shifts, and female roles/ideology

 

 

 Consumer Culture in the Fifties(Jordan)

• First McDonalds Opened in San D=Bernardino, California in 1950.
• In 1955 Disneyland opened in Anahelem, California.
• 7 million TV sets were sold in 1951.
• Rise of Rock & Roll in the 1950's with artists like Elvis Presley.

 

 The Advent of Eisenhower(Brittan)

 

•   Democrats nominated Adlai E. Stevenson, gobernor of Illinois.
• Republicans nominated General Dwight D. Eisenhower with running mate Richard M. Nixon
• Eisnehower was most popular American of his time
• "I like Ike" buttons were everywhere
• Nison was faltered when reports surfaced of a secert financial "slush fund" while in Senate
• Responded with "Checkers Speech" after family dog Checkers
• Eisenhower pledged to personally go to Korea
• Eisenhower won with 33,936,245 votes to Stevenson's 27,314,992 and 442 to 89
• Eisenhower went to Korea in December of 1952 for 3 days
• 7 months later an armistice was signed
• Korea was divided at the 38th parallel

 

 

 The Rise and Fall of Joseph McCarthy (McCarthyism)(Bryce)

 

 -Feb. 1950 Joseph McCarthy gave a speech accusing Sec. of State Dean Acheson of purposely  employing 205 Communist party members.

-Later proved false, but McCarthy still gained support from the citizens.

-McCarthy was one of the most ruthless red hunters. He did the most damage to American traditions of fair play and speech.

-1954, he went to far and attacked the U.S. Army. Few months later he was condemned by the Senate for "conduct unbecoming a member."

 

 

 

 

 

 Desegregating American Society (Laura)

 

• 15 million black citizens in 1950 - 2/3 lived in south
• segregated by Jim Crow laws and had to use separate public facilities

• six black war veterans were murdered in summer of 1964

• a Mississippi mob lynched Emmett Till, a 14-year-old black boy

• On Dec. 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give up seat on bus - Montgomery bus boycott

 

 Seeds of the Civil Rights Revolution

•  Brown vs. The Board of Education- ruled segregation unequal

 

• Declaration Constitutional Principals- senators signed pledging resistance to desegregation

 

• MLK created the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)- mobilize vast power of black churches

 

• Student Nonviolent Cordination Commitee- created by students who used sit-ins as their weapon.

 

• President sent troops to escort blacks into integrated schools.

 

 

 

 Eisenhower Republicanism at Home (Carlson)

• took the middle road
• didn't really support or argue desegregation
• tried to balance federal budget
• tried to assimilate Indians, didn't work
• got ride of illegal immigrants
• backed Highway Act-created miles of road and jobs
• wove the New and Fair Deals into the ways of life.
• didn't pass civil rights
• created NASA
•  

 

 

 

 A “New Look” in Foreign Policy(Brittan)

 

•  1952 called for a new look in foreign policy
• Secretary of State John Foster Dulles promised not to just stem the red tide but to "roll back" its ganins and "liberate captive peoples."
• New administration promisedt o balance the budget by cutting miliatary spending
• "Policy of boldness" in 1954
• Eisenhower would relegate the army and nave tot he backseat and build up an airfleet or superbombers called the Strategic Air Command or SAC.
• Eisnehower sought to thaw the Cold War through negotaitions with new Soviet leaders after Stalin's death in 1953
• Nikita Khrushchev rejected Ike's call in 1955 for an open skies mutual inspection program with Soviets and U.S.

 

 

 The Vietnam Nightmare(Bryce)

 

 -1950's, nationalists tried to throw French out of Indochina.

-Leader of Indochina were Ho Chi Minh who was becoming more and more communist.

-May, 1954 French were trapped in Dienbienphu in northwest Vietnam.

-Pres. Eisenhower decided not to get involved.

-Dienbienphu fell to nationalists and the Geneva Conf. splitted Vietnam at 17th parallel.

-Pro-Western gov't. in south led by Hgo Dinh Diem; HoChi Minh promised elections in Vietnam in Saigon, but it never happened.

-Eisenhower promised economic and military aid to Diem of the south.

 

 Cold War Crises in Europe and the Middle East(Hill)

 Cold War died down when Soviets ended occupation in Austria

also Khrushchev denounced the bloody excesses of dictator Stalin

Hungarians wanted freedom but completely overpowered by Soviet tanks

fears of Soviet penetration into oil-rich middle east escalated tensions

we helped to engineer a coup in Iran but American intervention left bitter legacy of resentment among Iranians

Suez crisis was when Nasser was seeking funds to build a dam on the Nile but he was flirting with communist Soveits so we removed our troops.

Eisenhower Doctrin in 1957, pledging U.S. military and economic aid to Middle Eastern nations threatened by communist aggresion

OPEC was formed in 1960

 

 Round Two for Ike (DAN)

•  The 1956 election was basically the same as the 1952 election: Eisenhower vs Stevenson.
• "Ike" wins the popular vote 35,590,472 to 26,022,752 and the electoral vote 457 to just 73 for Stevenson.
• During his 2nd term, Ike persuaded Congress to pass the Landrum-Griffin Act of 1959.
• As a result of the Soviet launching of Sputnik, Ike established NASA and spent millions of dollars for missile development.
• Another result of Sputnik was the critical analysis of the American educational systems. In the National Defense and Education Act, Congress authorized $887 million for improving teaching in the fields of languages and sciences.

 

 

 The Continuing Cold War

• In March and October, 1958, the Soviet Union and the United States proclaimed a suspension of nuclear testing.  
• In July 1958, Lebanon called for aid under the Eisenhower Doctrine as communism threatened to take over the country. 
• In 1959, Soviet dictator Khrushchev appeared before the U.N. General Assembly and called for complete disarmament.  In 1960, an American U-2 spy plane was shot down in Russia, causing feelings of a possibly peaceful resolution to disappear.

 Cuba’s Castroism Spells Communism(Hill)

• U.S. intervening in Latin America
• communist dictator is Batista
• Fidel Castro engineered a revolution that ousted Batista
• U.S. losing qatience with Cuba cuts of improts of sugar
• Castro retaliates by confiscating Yankee property
• anti-Castro Cubans heading to the United States so we set up a strict embargo
• we got threatened by Soviets if we enacted Monroe Doctrine to set up a communist base

 

 Kennedy Challenges Nixon for the Presidency(Jordan)

• Kennedy was a Havard Graduate and a Roman Catholic.  Nixon was Eisenhowers Vice President.
• Kennedy won 303 electoral votes and Nixon won 219 electoral votes.  Bryd only got 15 electoral votes.
• http://teachpol.tcnj.edu/amer_pol_hist/fi/000001b1.jpg

 

 An Old General Fades Away (Chad)

• America was prosperous during the Eisenhower years. 
• Alaska and Hawaii became states in 1959. 
• As a Republican president, Eisenhower had further woven the reforms of the Democratic New Deal and Fair Deal into the "fabric of national life".

 

 

 

 

 The Life of the Mind in Postwar America