President Eisenhower
Chapter 38: Catherine Cain
Election of Eisenhower
Election of 1952
Democrats-- Adlai E. Stevenson-- (governor of Illinois - Convention @ Chicago)
Republicans-- General Dwight D. Eisenhower- WON (by LARGE majority)
VP- Richard M. Nixon (added to satisfy anti communist wing of Republican Party)
During presidential campaign-- reports of Nixon secretly tapping gov $$ arose → Eisenhower to consider dropping Nixon.. Nixon went on tv & apologized in Checkers Speech-- saving place on ballot
Election of 1956
Republican- Eisenhower- WON
Democrat- Adlai Stevenson
The Cold War
Cold War- the conflict between USSR and US post WWII & prolonged for a good 4 decades
main conflict--- was communists (USSR) vs anti- communist (America)
Fear of Nuclear War
Americans started building bomb shelters in basements,
school children practiced “duck & cover” drills
Characterized by Space Race
New Look to U.S. National security policy - 1953
Maintain a simulated economy whilst building up strength
Defense policy- “more bang for the buck” -- focus on increasing Air Force & nuclear weapons - cut spending on conventional forces
Nuclear Diplomacy- to deter Communist aggression or fight a war
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) - carry out secret or covert actions against governments/ leaders "directly or indirectly responsive to Soviet control"
Strengthening allies/ friendships of non aligned governments
Stalin’s Death- 1953- did NOT bring on a “peaceful coexistence” - Nikita Khrushchev denied Eisenhower’s attempt to do so
Joseph McCarthy
anti- communist crusader---elected bc of war hero record---from Wisconsin-- republican
rose to fame- February 1950 speech- accused secretary of state Dean Acheson of knowingly employed 205 comm members
l8r said only actually 57-- never gave real names
important: gained him national visibility & helped republican party
flourished in Cold War atmosphere
most ruthless red hunter
named officials, writers, and actors as communists or communist sympathizers-- ruining their careers
Eisenhower- personally disliked him but allowed McCarthy to control personnel policy @ State Department
damaging to morale and effectiveness of the foreign service (McCarthyite Purges)
went too far-- attacked US army-- Spring of 1954--35 days of public tv hearings
- later in year senate named him not a member anymore
Desegregation in the South
Jim Crow Laws still in effect in South which still incredibly suppressed the blacks
Eisenhower was NOT very active at all in desegregation except in case of direct challenge to federal authority
Little Rock Crisis
September 1957
Orval Faubus- govt of Arkansas- mobilized national guard to prevent 9 blacks students from enrolling in Little Rock’s Central High School
Eisenhower had to send troops to escort the children to classes bc his federal authority was directly challenged
Brown v. Board of Education
under chief justice Earl Warren (judicial branch)
unanimous decision- segregation in public schools unequal therefore unconstitutional
May 1954
reversed decision of Plessy v Ferguson (1896) - separate but equal facilities
Desegregation must occur now as fast as possible
Border states made genuine attempts to do so
South- not really- ‘massive resistance’
100s of south congressman and senators signed Declaration of Constitutional Principles- 1956-- unyielding resistance to desegregation
Montgomery Bus Boycott
brought on by Rosa Parks
December 1955
Montgomery, Alabama
sat in ‘whites only” section on bus & refused to give it up
arrested for violating city’s Jim Crow Laws
this sparked a yearlong black boycott of city buses & served notice throughout south that blacks would no longer submit meekly to segregation
brought Martin Luther King Jr. into view
passionate devotion to justice, fabulous orator, and non violence principles
helped lead black revolution in south and nation
Civil Rights Act of 1957
1957
set up Civil Rights Commission
to investigate violations of civil rights
authorize federal injunction to protect voting rights
passed by Congress
Eisenhower’s Republicanism Policies
“dynamic conservatism”-
pledging “in all those things which deal w/ people, be liberal, be human”
when it comes to “people’s money, or their economy, or their form of government, be conservative”
Middle of the Road
Things
*overall goal: balance federal budget & guard republic from ‘creeping socialism’
wanted to mostly reverse new deal & fair deal policies- but realized it was part of the fabric of American Society
Operation Wetback- sent illegal mexican immigrants back to Mexico 1954
Native Americans- went to cancel tribal preservation policies of ‘indian new deal’
Interstate Highway Act of 1956 –
$27 billion plan - build 42 thousand miles of motorways
created many construction jobs
speeded suburbanization of America
Consequences
benefitted trucking, automobile, oil & travel industries
did not benefit railroads- hurt air quality & increased energy consumption- bad for citylife (downtown life- shopping)
- only balanced budget 3 times during presidency→ 1959 created largest peacetime deficit thus far in US history
Beginning of the Vietnam War
Dien Bien Phu –
early 1950s, nationalist movements had sought to throw French out of Indochina
leaders of Indochina countries- Vietnam leader Ho Chi Minh, became ^ communist as America became ^ anticommunist
May 1954, French garrison trapped in fortress of Dienbienphu in nw Vietnam
President Eisenhower decided not to intervene, wary of another war right after Korea
Dienbienphu fell to nationalists & conference @ Geneva halted Vietnam @ 17th parallel.
pro-Western government in the south, led by Ngo Dinh Diem,
entrenched at Saigon as Vietnam-wide elections, which were promised by Ho Chi Minh, elections never held
- Eisenhower promised economic & military aid to Diem regime of the south
Space Race w/ USSR
October 4, 1957- USSR launched Sputnik I (satellite) into space
November- USSR launched Sputnik II (carrying a dog)
gave USSR superiority of their claim that industrial productivity laid in communism
Eisenhower established National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in response (for US development of aerospace)
1958 National Defense and Education Act (NDEA)
authorized $887 million in loans to college students & grants for improvement of teaching sciences & languages
- US did this bc they thought our educational system was lacking in comparison to USSR