Eisenhower
JANUARY 20, 1953 – JANUARY 20, 1961
Political Party- Republican
Presidential Terms
1st Term: January 20, 1953 - January 20, 1957
- Garnered 33,936,234 votes to Stevenson’s 27,314,99
2nd Term: January 20, 1957 - January 20, 1961
- Garnered 35,590,472 votes to Stevenson’s 26,022,752
- Won 2 elections by a landslide, defeated Democrat Adlai Stevenson.
- His slogan was “I Like Ike”
- Running partner- Richard M. Nixon
- He was a war hero and that helped him win his election
Cold War
- Signed an armistice that ended the Korean War
- Did not sent other armed forces into active duty throughout his presidency
- Sent combat troops into Lebanon in 1958
Joseph McCarthy
- Anti-Communist
- Accused Secretary of State,Dean Acheson of purposely employing 205 Communist party members
- Eisenhower disapproved of McCarthy but chose to stay out of his way
- His communist "hunting" did the most damage to American traditions
- Destroyed many careers by accusing people of being communist
- Americans approved of his views
- Died of alcoholism
- Nickname was "Low-Blow Joe"
- Eisenhower allowed him to control personnel policy at the State Department
- Disadvantaged the government of a number of Asian specialists
- The Senate condemned him for “conduct unbecoming a member”
- He attacked the U.S. Army, in the spring of 1954 military men fought back in 35 days of televised hearings
Disegregation of the South
- African Americans still segregated under Jim Crow laws
- Eisenhower didn't have much interest in race issue
- Jackie Robinson, an African American, was the first black MLB player, who helped break down the racial barrier but it wasn't enough to make a big difference
- Gunnar Myrdal wrote An American Dilemma in1944, exposing the contradiction between America’s professed belief that all men are created equal and its awful treatment of black citizens
The Civil Right Act of 1957
- This was a piece of legislation that outlawed racial segregation in public places, schools, and jobs
- Explicitly included white people
- Formed the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
- The bill was amended prior to passage to protect women
The Montgomery Bus Boycott
- December 1, 1955, to December 20, 1956
- a political and social protest campaign started in 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama by Rosa Parks who refused to give up her seat in the "white only" section
- Led to a United States Supreme Court decision that declared the Alabama and Montgomery laws requiring segregated buses unconstitutional
- Inspired Martin Luther King Jr.
- Caused deficits in public transit profits because a large percentage of people who used the public transportation were now boycotting it
- intended to oppose the city's policy of racial segregation on its public transit system
Brown vs. Board of Education
- declared that state laws that established separate public schools for black and white students denied black children equal educational opportunities
- Racial segregation was ruled a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution
- overturned earlier rulings going back to Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896
- May 17, 1954, the Warren Court's unanimous (9-0) decision stated that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal."
- Made way for integration and the civil rights movement
Little Rock Crisis
- 1957- Governor Faubus sent the Arkansas National Guard to prevent nine Black students from entering Little Rock Central High School
- Eisenhower sent in U.S. paratroopers to ensure the students could attend class
Eisenhower's Republicanism Policies
- Eisenhower responded to Mexican Immigration by starting Operation Wetback which returned as many as 1 million Mexicans back to Mexico.
- The Highway Act offered great benefits to the trucking, automobile, oil, and travel industries, but also robbed the railroads of business
- Canceled the tribal preservation policies of the “Indian New Deal,” in place act 1934 by terminating the tribes as legal entities in order to revert to the assimilationist goals of the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887
- Tried to curb the TVA by encouraging a private power company to build a generating plant to com-pete with the public utility created by the New Deal
- Wanted to balance the federal budget and guard the Republic from “creeping socialism.”
Beginning of Vietnam War
- By 1954 American taxpayers were financing nearly 80% of the costs of the French colonial war in Indochina.
- The Americans only choice was to back France because there was no easy way to call off their bet
- American aid continued despite Frances crumbling attempts
- Nationalist movements had wanted for years to throw off the French colonial rule in Indochina
Space Race with the Soviets
- "Rocket Fever" in the US
- Eisenhower began NASA and gave billions of dollars to missile development
- Americas first missile tries were failures
- Americans surprised by Russia's Sputnik I and Sputnik II
- In 1958 the National Defense and Education Act (NDEA) authorized $887 million in loans to needy college students and in grants for the improvement of teaching the sciences and languages