Dwight D. Eisenhower
The 34th President of the United States
Election of 1952
- Eisenhower (Republican) vs Adlai Stevenson (Democrat)
- Cold War tensions were beginning to heighten
- Truman had decided not to run, so the Democratic party chose the renowned Stevenson as their candidate
- Republicans Eisenhower and Nixon fought vehemently to earn the public's favor
- by this point, Eisenhower was a widely-respected war hero
- made a concentrated effort to appeal to female voters, one of the first instances of such a campaign strategy in American history
- spoke out against the Korean War and the spread of communism, two major failures of Truman before him
- in response to accusations of misusing campaign funds, Republican VP candidate Nixon issued the Checkers speech to dispel any suspicion and earn public trust once again
- ultimately, the election was a landslide victory for the Republican party, with Eisenhower earning 442 electoral votes against Stevenson's 89
Election of 1956
- rematch between Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson
- Eisenhower's declining health threatened his chances of victory
- main concern among Republicans was whether or not Nixon would be Eisenhower's running-mate once again due to Nixon's past controversies
- few ultimately opposed Nixon's repeated involvement, however, and therefore he once again ran with Eisenhower
- for the first time in American history, television played a major role in the campaign
- proved helpful to Eisenhower because the ability to broadcast himself easily throughout the nation did not force him to travel as much, which would have proven strenuous after his heart attack in 1955
- Eisenhower publicly opposed Stevenson's ideas for eliminating the military draft and ending nuclear testing on both sides of the Cold War, but was secretly working on plans to terminate nuclear testing himself
- Eisenhower's popularity from his last campaign and his Presidency carried over into the election of 1956, and he secured office once again without much difficulty
The Cold War
- period of great tension in 1953-1962 between the Western Bloc (United States and NATO) and powers from the Eastern Bloc (primarily the Soviet Union)
- Eisenhower focused his Cold War policy on preventing the spread of Soviet communism
- after Joseph Stalin died in 1953, he was replaced by Nikita Krushchev, who immediately established his own dominance by rejecting Stalin's "personality cult" and bolstering his own authority
- Eisenhower was caught between trying to restrict the Soviet Union's spread of influence and balancing government spending
- in an address by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles in 1954, Eisenhower's new policy of "brinksmanship" was introduced, and in 1956, he defined it as a concentrated effort to bring the Soviet Union to the brink of war, at which point the US would be able to exact concessions
- meanwhile, in Korea, an armistice was signed in order to reduce military costs
- the French military was defeated in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in Indochina by communist forces, and were forced to abandon their colony
- this loss of territory resulted in its division into North and South Vietnam
- China and the Soviet Union supported North Vietnam economically and militarily
- in line with his own policy of containment, Eisenhower extended aid to South Vietnam
- the space race erupted between the Soviet Union and the United States to see who could reach the moon first, inspired an even greater rivalry between the two
- shortly before Eisenhower left office, Fidel Castro, a communist leader, gained control of Cuba
- an American U-2 spy plane was destroyed by the Soviets as it flew over the USSR, an incident that was seen as an embarrassment by many
Joseph McCarthy
- Senator Joseph McCarthy served during Eisenhower's Presidency until he died in 1957
- during the Cold War, the American public greatly feared the spread of communism
- McCarthy fueled this paranoia by claiming to know of over two hundred specific individuals within the federal government who were secretly communists
- although McCarthy provided no proof whatsoever that his statements were genuine and he was censured by the Senate for his actions, he was still able to stir up even more anti-communist fear in America
- his practices were referred to as "McCarthyism" and the "Second Red Scare," and were characterized by vehement opposition of the spread of communism and overpowering distrust of the government and other civilians
Desegregation of the South
- on the home front, segregation of African Americans began to encounter powerful opposition
- "the Little Rock Nine" is a term used to describe nine black students who were initially barred from attending Little Rock Central High School by the Governor of Arkansas in an incident known as the Little Rock Crisis
- the incident led to the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas ruling, a monumental court ruling that determined that the segregation of schools was unconstitutional
- on another front, Rosa Parks, an African American woman, refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man, and was arrested for her noncompliance
- her arrest sparked a massive controversy that led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott, a movement against racial segregation on public transportation by refusing to ride buses
- desegregation movement culminated in the institution of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, which granted African Americans the right to vote and demonstrated the federal government's support for the decision of the Supreme Court in the Brown v. Board of Education ruling
Republicanism Policies
- Eisenhower supported a combination of liberalism and conservatism in his policies
- sought to protect the Republic from "creeping socialism"
- deported illegal Mexican immigrants en masse with "Operation Wetback"
- tried to revoke tribal preservation policies as outlined in the "Indian New Deal" and eliminate the legal validity of Native American tribes, but was ultimately met with too much resistance and gave up in 1961
- formally approved numerous New Deal programs to fully integrate them into American society, so as to put the conflict between New and Fair Dealers to rest
- passed the Interstate Highway Act of 1956, a $27 billion plan to install 42,000 miles of highway across America
The Beginning of the Vietnam War
- during the Cold War, France lost its territory in Indochina during the Battle of Dien Bien Phu
- now-liberated territory was divided into North and South Vietnam
- the USSR backed North Vietnam, the US backed South Vietnam
- the US wanted to get more involved in the conflict because the start of the Korean War in 1950 convinced the government that the Soviet Union sought to use Indochina as its next target for communist expansion
Space Race
- the Cold War engendered a rivalry between the US and the Soviet Union that extended beyond the Earth
- name refers to the competition to see who could get into space first
- USSR launched Sputnik, a satellite to orbit the planet, in 1957
- launched Explorer I a few months after Sputnik's launch
- the US formed NASA, a government agency devoted to space exploration, in order to more efficiently concentrate on their goal of reaching the moon
- several satellites were launched by both sides and several astronauts were sent into orbit over the course of several years
- finally, the Space Race concluded in 1969 when Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, two American astronauts, safely touched down on the surface of the moon