PRESIDENT
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (R)
1952-1960
APUSH – Lecture 8D
Mrs. Kray
DOMESTIC POLICY:
THE HAPPY FIFTIES
EISENHOWER’S “MODERN
REPUBLICANISM”


Eisenhower adopted a leadership style
that emphasized the delegation of
authority
Fiscal conservative but a moderate on
domestic issues
Top priority: balancing the budget
 Accepted most New Deal programs and
extended some (Social Security, minimum
wage, public housing)
 But opposed federal health care insurance
& federal aid to education


1953 – Created Dept. of Health,
Education and Welfare
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FIFTIES:
THE PROSPEROUS 50S


U.S. had highest standard of living in
the world
Sources of Economic Growth

Government spending




Rising birth rate
Suburban growth


GI Bill, Interstate Highway Act, military
spending*
Keynesian theory takes hold
 Believed by controlling taxation and the
money supply, the government could
stimulate the economy to cure a
recession or dampen growth to prevent
inflation
Stimulated growth in other sectors
Economy grew nearly 10x as fast as
the population
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 50S:
THE BABY BOOM
“It
to me that every
other young housewife
I see is pregnant,”
-- British visitor,
1958

50 million babies born between 1945-1960


In 1957, 1 baby was born every 7 seconds
This spike in the birth rate had a profound and
lasting on the nation’ social and economic institutions
in the last half of the 20th century
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 50S:
SUBURBAN LIVING: THE “AMERICAN DREAM”


By 1960, 30% of Americans
lived in suburbs
Mass Produced Homes


1 story, 2 bedrooms, tiled
bathroom, small front & back
yard
Levittowns
1949: made 150 houses per week
 $7,990 or $60/month w/no down
payment

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 50S:
MORE ON SUBURBAN LIVING
SHIFTS IN POPULATION DISTRIBUTION,
1940-1970
Central Cities
Suburbs
Rural Areas/
Small Towns
1940
31.6%
19.5%
48.9%
1950
32.3%
23.8%
43.9%
1960
32.6%
30.7%
36.7%
1970
32.0%
41.6%
26.4%
U. S. Bureau of the Census.
Cities were left “black, brown, and broke!”
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 50S:
WELL-DEFINED GENDER ROLES
The ideal modern woman married, cooked and
cared for her family, and kept herself busy by joining
the local PTA and leading a troop of Campfire Girls. She
entertained guests in her family’s suburban house and
worked out on the trampoline to keep her size 12 figure.
-- Life magazine, 1956
Marilyn
Monroe
The ideal 1950s man was the provider, protector,
and the boss of the house. -- Life magazine, 1955
1956  William H. Whyte, Jr.  The
Organization Man

a middle-class, white suburban
male is the ideal.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 50S:
TRADITIONAL GENDER ROLES REINFORCED
The Donna
Reed Show
1958-1966
Father Knows Best
1954-1958
Leave It
to Beaver
1957-1963
The Ozzie & Harriet Show
1952-1966
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 50S:
RELIGIOUS REVIVAL
Today in the U. S., the Christian faith is back in
the center of things. -- Time magazine, 1954
Church membership: 1940 
64,000,000
1960  114,000,000
Television Preachers:
1. Catholic Bishop Fulton J. Sheen  “Life is Worth
Living”
2. Methodist Minister Norman Vincent Peale 
The Power of Positive Thinking
3. Reverend Billy Graham  ecumenical message;
warned against the evils of Communism.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 50S:
MORE ON RELIGIOUS REVIVAL
Hollywood: apex of the biblical epics.
The Robe
1953
The Ten Commandments
1956
Ben Hur
1959
It’s un-American to be un-religious!
-- The Christian Century, 1954
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 50S:
THE AGE OF TELEVISION
1946 
1950 
7,000 TV sets in the U. S.
50,000,000 TV sets in the U. S.
“Television is a vast wasteland.”
--Newton
Minnow, Chairman of the FCC, 1961
Mass Audience  TV celebrated traditional American
values.
Truth, Justice, and the American way!
TV WESTERNS
Davy Crockett
King of the Wild Frontier
Sheriff Matt
Dillon, Gunsmoke
The Lone Ranger
(and his faithful
sidekick, Tonto):
Who is that masked man??
TELEVISION AND FAMILY LIFE
Glossy view of mostly
middle-class suburban life.
But...
I Love Lucy
Social Winners?...
The Honeymooners
AND…
Losers?
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 1950S:
THE CAR CULTURE
Car registrations: 1945  25,000,000
1960  60,000,000
2-family cars doubles from 1951-1958
1958 Pink Cadillac
1959 Chevy Corvette
1956  Interstate Highway Act  largest public
works project in American history!
 Cost $32 billion.
 41,000 miles of new highways built.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 50S:
THE CAR CULTURE
America became a more homogeneous
nation because of the automobile.
First McDonald’s
(1955)
Drive-In
Movies
Howard
Johnson’s
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 50S:
THE RISE OF THE SUNBELT STATES


American population was on the move in the 50s
Warmer climate, lower taxes, and economic opportunities
attracted many, including GIs, to the Sunbelt


Military spending also helped finance this shift
Population shift would ultimately translate to more
political power for these states
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 50S:
RISING CONSUMERISM

Aggressive advertising by name brands along with the
introduction of suburban shopping malls & credit cards
promoted this consumerism


1950: Introduction of the first credit card – The Diner’s Card
McDonalds = example of how successful new marketing
techniques and standardized products were

“mom & pop” stores increasingly replaced by franchise
operations
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 50S:
A WHITE-COLLAR WORKFORCE
Automation:
1947-1957  factory workers decreased by 4.3%, eliminating
1.5 million blue-collar jobs.
By 1956  more white-collar than blue-collar jobs in the U. S.
Led to a new corporate culture
Computers  Mark I (1944). First IBM mainframe
computer,1951
Corporate Consolidation:
By 1960  600 corporations (1/2% of all U. S. companies)
accounted for 53% of total corporate income.
WHY?? Cold War military buildup.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 50S:
A BELIEF IN PROGRESS THROUGH SCIENCE
 1951
-- First IBM Mainframe Computer
 1952
-- Hydrogen Bomb Test
 1953
-- DNA Structure Discovered
 1954
-- Salk Vaccine Tested for Polio
 1957
-- First Commercial U. S. Nuclear
Power Plant
 1958
-- NASA Created
 1959
-- Press Conference of the First 7
American Astronauts
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 50S:
COLD WAR ANXIETY
1957  Russians launch SPUTNIK I
1958  National Defense Education Act
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 50S:
COLD WAR ANXIETIES
UFO Sightings skyrocketed in the 1950s.
War of the
Worlds
Hollywood used aliens as a metaphor
for whom ??
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 50S:
COLD WAR ANXIETIES
Atomic Anxieties:
 “Duck-and-Cover Generation”
Atomic Testing:
 1946-1962  U. S. exploded 217 nuclear
weapons over the Pacific and in Nevada.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 50S:
THE IMPORTANCE OF CONFORMITY

Declining individualism and growing
conformity within American society

The Red Scare was still going on


Sen. Joseph McCarthy and
McCarthyism


Non-conformity could mean you were a
communist
used unsupported accusations about
Communists in government
Army-McCarthy Hearings, 1954
McCarthy accused the army of harboring
communists
 Televised hearings to investigate
 McCarthy seen as a bully, public turns
against him

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE 50S:
TEEN CULTURE
In the 1950s  the word “teenager” entered the
American language.
By 1956  13 mil. teens with $7 billion to spend a year.
1951  “race music”  “ROCK ‘N ROLL”
Elvis Presley  “The King”
CRITICS OF 50S CULTURE: THE BEATNIKS

Also known as the “Beat”
Generation




Vocal critics of middle-class
conformity
Jack Kerouac’s On the Road
Allen Ginsberg “Howl”
Signaled a widespread alienation
and restlessness among American
youth, much of which was the
result of the nation’s prosperity

Societal expectations stressed
unlimited possibilities, yet placed
great restrictions on what young
people could in fact do
Beatnik vs. Clean-Cut
Teen
SOCIAL CRITICISM

Behavioral Rule of the 1950s
Obey Authority
 Control Your Emotions
 Don’t Make Waves  fit in
with the Group
 Don’t Even Think About Sex!!!


Fear of Juvenile Delinquency

J.D. Salinger’s The Cather in
the Rye
Marlon Brando in
The Wild One
(1953)
James
Dean in
Rebel
Without a
Cause
(1955)
DOMESTIC POLICY:
THE BEGINNING OF CIVIL
RIGHTS
ORIGINS OF THE MOVEMENT

New Deal and AAA



Pushed blacks off rural farms
Part of the New Deal Coalition
World War II
Double V, Four Freedoms
 War industries jobs increased
urbanization


50s Prosperity


The Other America by Michael
Harrington
Cold War rhetoric

1959: Kitchen Debate (Nixon vs.
Khrushchev)
BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION, 1954

NAACP had tried to use the law
suits and the courts to increase
rights for African-Americans
Thurgood Marshall
 14th Amendment


Brown v. Board of Education struck
down Plessy v. Ferguson
Segregation is unconstitutional
 “separate but equal is inherently
unequal”
 1955: Ordered integration of American
schools “with all deliberate speed”

CRISIS IN LITTLE ROCK:
THE LITTLE ROCK NINE, 1957


Arkansas Governor Orval
Faubus will not permit nine
black students to attend all
white Central High School
in Little Rock
Eisenhower not an
enthusiastic supporter of
civil rights

Will he allow the governor to
violate federal law?


NO
Sends in federal troops to
protect black students and
make sure they are able to
attend Central High School
THE MONTGOMERY BUS BOYCOTT, 1956


1955: Starts w/ Rosa Parks arrest
Southern Christian Leadership
Conference (SCLC) headed by
Martin Luther King Jr. encourages
African-Americans to boycott
Montgomery’s buses
Black churches played an important
role in the civil rights movement
 Boycott lasts more than a year


1956: Supreme Court rules ALL
segregation laws unconstitutional

De jure segregation ended
FOREIGN POLICY:
THE COLD WAR HEATS UP
A NEW COLD WAR POLICY: BRINKMANSHIP

Developed by Secretary of State John Foster
Dulles


Felt Truman’s containment policy too passive
Wanted a foreign policy that would take the
initiative in challenging the Soviets
Liberating captive nations
 Urging Taiwan to assert itself


Placed greater emphasis on nuclear
weapons and air power than on conventional
military forces and tactics

Threat of massive retaliation and mutually
assured destruction
A NEW COLD WAR POLICY:
MORE RELIANCE ON COVERT CIA ACTIONS


Use of CIA seemed less objectionable than using
military and less expensive
1953  Iran
CIA helped overthrow popular PM Mohammed
Mossadeq who had tried to nationalize foreign oil
companies
 Re-instated corrupt but pro-U.S. Shah Reza Pahlavi


1954  Guatemala


CIA overthrew a leftist government that threatened
American business interests
This tendency produced growing anti-American
feeling
UNREST IN THE THIRD WORLD

Decolonization was an important phenomenon in the postWWII era


Dozens of former European colonies in Africa and Asia gained
independence
Often lacked stable political and economic institutions


Required foreign aid
Became pawns in the Cold War
THE COLD WAR IN ASIA:
“THE DOMINO THEORY” AND VIETNAM

1953: Eisenhower ended the Korean War

1954: Battle of Dien Bien Phu

French lose control of their colony of Indochina


Leader of Vietnamese Resistance Ho Chi Minh had asked for U.S.
assistance against French


Had tried to reclaim colony after WWII but Vietnamese wanted independence
U.S. refusal led Ho to ask the Soviets
1954-55: Geneva Conference
U.S. does not want a “communist” to control Vietnam
 Vietnam is divided at the 17th parallel




N. Vietnam = communist under control of Ho Chi Minh
S. Vietnam = nationalist under control of Ngo Dinh Diem w/U.S. support
1954: SEATO formed to defend Southeast Asia from communist
threat
THE COLD WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST

The Problem of Israel

Support of newly created Israel damaged U.S.
attempts to have friendly relations with oil-rich
Arab nations

1953: CIA helped overthrow Iranian
government

1956: Suez Crisis




Egypt took control of British owned Suez Canal
Britain, France, & Israel invade Egypt
U.S. & Soviets tell their allies to calm down
Eisenhower Doctrine, 1957
Pledged economic and military aid to any Middle
Eastern country threatened by communism
 Done in response to growing communist presence in
Egypt & Syria


1958: U.S. sends troops into Lebanon to
prevent Civil War

1960: OPEC created
U.S.-SOVIET RELATIONS IN THE 1950S
Fluctuated between periods of relative calm and
extreme tension
 1953: Stalin Dies 
 1956: “Spirit of Geneva” 


1956: Nikita Khrushchev becomes premier of
USSR 


Conference held between Eisenhower and Soviet
leader in Geneva
Process of de-Stalinization begins
1956: Hungarian Revolt 
Khrushchev sent in tanks to put down the revolt
 Eisenhower took no action

MORE ON U.S.-SOVIET RELATIONS

1958: 2nd Berlin Crisis 


Emboldened by Sputnik success,
Khrushchev gave the West 6 mos. to pull
troops out of Berlin
1959: “Spirit of Camp David” 
Eisenhower and Khrushchev meet to
discuss differences
 Agreed to meet again in Paris in 1960


1959: U-2 Spy Incident 
Col. Gary Power shot down over Soviet air
space
 Revealed a secret U.S. tactic for gathering
information
 Paris Summit called off

THE COLD WAR IN LATIN AMERICA:
CUBA TURNS COMMUNIST, 1960
Fidel Castro becomes
leader of Cuba.
Strong alliance between
USSR and Cuba
threatens U.S.
EISENHOWER’S FINAL THOUGHTS
“…guard against the acquisition of
unwarranted influence…by the militaryindustrial complex.”