Dwight Eisenhower
Winn Hermanski
Presidential Elections
Election of 1952-
Republican: Dwight Eisenhower (55.2 percent of popular vote, 442 electoral votes, 39 states)
Democrat: Adlai Stevenson (44.3 percent of popular vote, 89 electoral votes, 9 states)
Election of 1956
Republican: Dwight Eisenhower (57.4 percent of popular vote, 457 electoral votes, 41 states)
Democrat: Adlai Stevenson (42.0 percent of popular vote, 73 electoral votes, 7 states)
Republican: Dwight Eisenhower (55.2 percent of popular vote, 442 electoral votes, 39 states)
Democrat: Adlai Stevenson (44.3 percent of popular vote, 89 electoral votes, 9 states)
Election of 1956
Republican: Dwight Eisenhower (57.4 percent of popular vote, 457 electoral votes, 41 states)
Democrat: Adlai Stevenson (42.0 percent of popular vote, 73 electoral votes, 7 states)
Cold War
- A period of strained relations between the "Western Bloc" and "Eastern Block"
- Western bloc- United States and NATO members along with other western powers
- Pushing for democracy
- Eastern bloc- Soviet Union and countries in the Warsaw Pact
- Pushing for the spread of communism
Events Under Eisenhower pertaining to Cold War:
- Korean War (50-53)
- Hungarian Revolution (56)
- Suez Crisis (56)
- Berlin Crisis (61)
- Vietnam War (55-75):
- The north was communist and supported by the USSR, China and North Korea and the south was capitalist and supported by the US and its allies
- Began with the US being asked by France (NATO) to keep communism out of their territory in Vietnam
- This gets the US overly involved and now they can't back out because they need to demonstrate their support of containment.
- Nixon pushed for us to get involved of show our "policy of boldness"
- Fighting a losing battle, but there was no way to back out now that we dipped our toe in the water
Joseph McCarthy and the Space Race
- Joseph McCarthy
- Accused Secretary of State Dean Acheson of employing over 200 members of the Communist party
- It was proved true that 57 were actually employed, 0 actually convicted
- This gave him notoriety and now he could lead the campaign for the exposure of communism in America
- He accuses General George Marshall for being in a communist conspiracy as well
- He ruined so many lives through his stint that we was deemed "Low-Blow Joe"
- He was finally was shut up when he accused the military. They fought back in the form of hearings and Senate exposed him for "unbecoming" behavior
- Soviets shot Sputnik I into orbit and, unanswered by the US, shot an even larger Sputnik II into orbit
- This feat instilled fear into the American public
- The Sputnik gave hard evidence to all the Soviet's claims of superiority
- The launch also meant they had the ability to shoot other objects, such as missiles, capable of reaching the US
- Eisenhower creates NASA with billions of dollars for research
- The first few satellites were unsuccessful, but by we had several in orbit by 1970.
Eisenhower's Policies on Desegregation and Republicanism
- Eisenhower was hands off on the issue, letting the judicial branch sort out civil rights
- Most civil rights victories in the court room
- Brown v Board of Education: Court ruled that segregation was separate AND unequal and therefore discriminatory/unconstitutional
- The border states complied with desegregation but the deep south showed resistance.
- The Governor of Arkansas sent the National Guard to a school to prevent black students from attending in Little Rock at Central HS
- Eisenhower was forced to act, sending troops in to allow the children to enroll
- In response, he created the Civil Rights Act of 1957
- He called it the mildest civil rights bill possible to appease his southern supporters
- Act set up a Commission to look into injustices against blacks.
- It also protected voting rights
- Montgomery Bus Boycott:
- Rosa Parks sat in the whites only section of a bus in Montgomery
- She was arrested under the Jim Crowe Laws
- This sparked a year long boycott of bus use by blacks
- Indicated blacks wouldn't stand by and have their rights taken
- Republicanism
- Wanted to protect the US from "creeping socialism"
- Small-government: cut Truman's defense spending that took up 10 percent of GNP
- Oil fields were reallocated to states rather than federal government
- TVA was challenged with the use of power companies
- Illegal immigrants were sent back to Mexico under Operation Wetback
- Canceled tribal preservation for Native Americans
- Reverted back to the Dawes Act
- Backed the Interstate Highway Act, creating jobs and improving transportation