Dwight D. Eisenhower
Michael Nehme
Election of 1952
Dwight D. Eisenhower (Rep) vs. Adlai Stevenson (Dem)
- The election took place in an era of Cold War tension between the Soviet Union and the US
- Eisenhower's running mate was Richard Nixon
- The main issues were the Korean War and communism
- Eisenhower was a popular war hero and won in a landslide
- "I Like Ike" was the slogan for Eisenhower's campaign
- The outcome of the election was never in doubt
- Eisenhower's votes: 33,936,234
- Stevenson's votes: 27,314,992
Election of 1956
Dwight D. Eisenhower (Rep) vs. Adlai Stevenson (Dem) (Rematch of 1952 election)
- Eisenhower still remained popular, but had health problems that could have been an issue
- Both parties largely ignored the civil rights issue
- Eisenhower ended the Korean War, and the nation had become prosperous
- McCarty hearings, Hungary, Suez Canal, Communism, and Brown Segregation Ruling were the main issues
- Eisenhower won in a land slide once again
- Last presidential election prior to the statehood of Alaska and Hawaii
The Cold War
The Cold War is the name for the poor relations and tension between the USSR and the USA starting from around 1945.
- In 1955, the Warsaw pact was signed. This was a treaty that was signed to form the alliance of the Eastern European countries behind the Iron Curtain. It was the red military counterweight.
- Nov. 1956 - The Red Army defeats the Hungarian revolution
- The Eisenhower Doctrine was delivered in January 1957 in response to tension in the Middle East. It was made to provide assistance to free countries under communist threat.
- Feb. 1959 - Fidel Castro becomes premier of Cuba and creates a Communist government
Senator Joseph McCarthy
- Senator Joseph McCarthy was one of the first problems that Eisenhower faced
- McCarthy was a popular anticommunist crusader
- He claimed that many communists worked in the State Department
- Many careers of individuals were ruined due to him
- Eisenhower allowed him to control personnel policy at the State Department because the public approved of him
- 1950 - McCarthy accused Secretary of State Dean Acheson of purposely employing 205 Communists
- McCarthy later revealed that there were only 57, and in the end, couldn't even spot one
- Eisenhower privately disliked McCarthy, and publicly did all he could to stay out of McCarthy's way
Eisenhower and Desegregation in the South
- America had about 15 million black citizens in 1950
- Jim Crow Laws governed them harshly
- All blacks were segregated from whites in everything, ranging from schools to restrooms
- Vigilante violence occurred and many blacks were murdered
- Blacks began to refuse to suffer in silence
The Little Rock Crisis
- Eisenhower was inclined towards promoting integration
- During the Fall of 1957 in Little Rock, Arkansas, The Arkansas National Guard was ordered by Governor Orval Faubus to prevent black students from going to the all white Central High School
- After a riot broke out in Little Rock, Eisenhower ordered 1000 troops from the 101st Airborne Division to restore order.
Brown vs Board of Education
- Topeka Board of Education denied Linda Brown the admission to an all white school. The ruling was that separate but equal is unconstitutional
- Reversed the Court's earlier decision of 1896 in Plessy v. Ferguson
- 10 years after decision, less than 2 percent of blacks in the Deep South attended school with whites
Montgomery Bus Boycott
- Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white person in December 1955, she was arrested.
- Her arrest sparked a year long Montgomery bus boycott.
- Martin Luther King Jr helped lead protest, many supporters were gained because of this
Civil Rights Act of 1957
- a voting rights bill
- civil rights legislation enacted by Eisenhower
- set up a Civil Rights Commission to investigate violations of civil rights and protected voting rights
- hardly enforced
Eisenhower's Republicanism Policies
- pledged his administration to a philosophy of "dynamic conservatism"
- He advised to "be liberal" when dealing with people, but "be conservative" when dealing with money, the economy, and the government
- strove to balance the federal budget
- wanted to guard the Republic from "creeping socialism"
- encouraged (to curb the TVA) a private power company to build a generating plant to compete with the public utility created by the New Deal
- sought to cancel the tribal preservation policies of the "Indian New Deal"
- backed the Interstate Highway Act of 1956. The act was a $27 billion plan to build 42 thousand miles of motorway
- managed to balance the budget only 3 times in his 8 years as president
- in 1959, he incurred the largest peacetime defect in American history
- promised to stem the red tide, roll back its gains, and liberate captive peoples
- the new look in foreign policy proved illusory
Beginning of Vietnam War
- Cold War dampened the dreams of anti colonial Asian peoples
- their leaders, including Vietnamese Ho Chi Minh, became increasingly communist
- Americans financed almost 80% of a French colonial war in Indochina
- French forces crumbled despite the aid
- Viet Minh guerrilla pressure was too much for the French
- March 1954 - a French garrison was trapped in the fortress of Dienbienphu in Vietnam
- Eisenhower's staff pushed for intervention with American bombers, but Eisenhower held back
- Dienbienphu fell to the Ho Chi Minh and his nationalists
- Ho Chi Minh promised elections every two years, but they never happened
- Eisenhower promised military and economic aid, but it came very slowly
Space Race
- On October 4, 1957, the Soviets launched the Sputnik into space
- In response, Eisenhower established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), he also directed billions of dollars to the development of missiles
- In 1958, the US finally put a satellite into orbit
- March 3, 1959 - the US sent the Pioneer 4 to the moon in the first lunar flyby
- April 9, 1959 - The first seven astronauts in the world are introduced by NASA
- September 1959 - Soviet Luna 2 crash-lands on moon, becoming the first man-made object to touch another planetary body
- October 1959 - Soviet Luna 3 flies around the moon and takes pictures of the far side