The Eisenhower Era
Chapter 37
AP
Objectives….
• Explain how Eisenhower’s leadership
coincided with the American mood in the
1950s.
• Describe the rise and fall of McCarthyism
• Describe the beginning of the civil rights
movement
What caused Truman’s downfall?
• Korean War
– Frustration with
conduct
– Firing MacArthur
• McCarthy – criticism
• Charges of corruption
in administration
• 1952 – approval rating –
23%
• Truman will not run in
1952
Who was the Democratic candidate
in 1952?
• Adlai Stevenson
• Honest and
intelligent
• Liberal
• Can’t win
– wage – price freeze
during Korean War
– Charges of
corruption in Truman
administration
Who was the Republican candidate
in 1952?
• Dwight David
Eisenhower
• Popular WWII general
• Moderate Republican
• Warm personality
• Pledged to “go to
Korea”
• Offered stability
• Knew voters wanted
peace and prosperity
Who was Ike’s vice-presidential
candidate?
• Richard M. Nixon
• Concession to hard
line anticommunists
• Antagonistic
• Defamatory attacks
on Stevenson
• Accused of having a
secret slush fund$18,000
What was the Checkers Speech?
• Eisenhower wanted to
dump Nixon
• Nixon took his case to
the American people
• Masterful use of TV
• Said the only thing he
received was a puppy
and wouldn’t give it
back
• The people loved it
What were the results of the
Election of 1952?
• Eisenhower received 55% of the
vote and carried 39 states
• Sign of Eisenhower’s popularity
• Congress – Republican on Ike’s
coat tails
What was K1C2?
• Republican campaign theme in 1952
–Korea
–Communism
–Corruption
What result did the Eisenhower
election have on the Cold War?
• Diminished the intensity
• Many issues already settled
– Boundaries frozen
– Berlin Blockade, Chinese Revolution,
Korean War
• Cold War defense spending permanent
part of the budget – contributing to
economic prosperity
• Sense of relative security
Dwight
David
Eisenhower
DDE’s background…
• Born 1890 into a poor Texas
family
• Public education
• 1915 - Graduated West Point
• 1917 - WW I veteran
• Advisor to MacArthur
• 1943 - N. African campaign
- D-Day
DDE’s background…
• 1945 – Allied Commander
• 1945 - President Columbia U.
• 1950 - Leader of NATO
• 1952 – Elected US President
• Retired in Gettysburg, PA
• Died in Washington DC 1969
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dynamic Conservatism
or
Modern Republicanism
“Conservative when it comes to
money and liberal when it comes
to human beings” - DDE
What was Eisenhower’s leadership
style?
•
•
•
•
Moderate – middle of the road
Slow the growth of the federal government
Limit the President’s power
Cut spending/reduce taxes/balance the
budget
• Worked behind the scenes – “hidden
hand”
• Critics interpreted his style as doing
nothing
Ike’s view of the corporate
commonwealth?
• Wanted to encourage and support
corporate America
• Pro-big business
• Appointed to FTC, FCC, and the
FPC men who were friendly to the
corporate interests they were
charged with regulating
Ike’s cabinet?
• Put successful businessmen in
his cabinet – “eight millionaires
and a plumber”
• Charles Wilson (Sec. of Defense)
“What’s good for General Motors
business is good for America.”
Submerged Lands Act of 1953?
• Transferred $40 billion worth of
offshore oil lands from the federal
government to the states so that
the states could lease oil rights to
corporations
Consequences of Ike’s
environmental policy?
• Lax approach to government regulation
• Accelerated a trend toward the destruction
of the natural environment
• Louisiana – massive degradation of
wetlands
• Florida – tropical forest damaged
• Warehousing of dangerous chemicals
• Use of DDT poisoned birds
Ike and the New Deal?
• Accepted legacy of greater federal
responsibility for social welfare
• Expanded Social Security
• Added 4 million workers to those eligible
for unemployment
• Small increases in minimum wage
• Created Department of Health, Education
and Welfare
Federal Highway Act of 1956
• $32 billion for the construction
of a national interstate
highway system
• By 1972 single larges public
works program in Am. history
• 41,000 miles of highway at $76
billion
• Stimulated auto industry and
suburbia
• Accelerated decline of mass
transit and older cities
National Defense Education Act…
• Oct. 4, 1957 Soviet Union
launched Sputnik
• Am. Officials worried that U.S.
lagging behind in training
scientists and engineers
• Strengthen support for math,
science, and technology
education
• 1958 - $280 million grants to
upgrade university facilities
• $300 million for low-interest
student loans
• Concede importance of
education
Who was Senator Joe McCarthy?
•
•
•
•
“Tailgunner” Joe
Republican Senator from Wisconsin
Weak – wanted reelection
Identified himself as a leader against
communism in U.S. government
• Gave a speech to a the Republican
Women’s Club in Wheeling, W. Virginia
McCarthy…
• Claimed to have a list of 205 communists
in the State Department – then 81 – then
57
• McCarthyism – synonym for public
charges without sufficient regard for the
evidence
• Demogogue…
Senator Joe McCarthy
What tactics did he use?
• Made slanderous attacks on the Senate
floor
• Democrats – “soft on communism”
• Democratic Party – “the party of treason”
• Sec. of State Dean Acheson – “Red Dean”
• Fed on people’s fears
• Used the press effectively – called press
conferences
Who supported him?
• Republicans who wanted a campaign
issue for ’52
• Those who opposed aid to Europe and the
New Deal
• Those who resented privilege and the
eastern elite
• American Legion and the Chamber of
Commerce
• Religious leaders and blue collar workers
What brought McCarthy’s downfall?
• He went too far
• Made attacks against the US
Army
• Nationally televised investigation
• Bullied witnesses and alienated
the audience
• Censured by the Senate
Ike on Civil Rights…
• Couldn’t be avoided – did not assume
leadership here
• Brown v. Board of Education
• Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus
Boycott
• Integration of Little Rock Central High
School
Recent history of CR …
• WWII  black migration and higher
expectations
• WWII Threatened march on
Washington, Double V Campaign and A.
Philip Randolph
• WWIIFair Employment Practices and
Executive Order 8802
Truman and Civil Rights
• Civil Rights Committee – 1946
–Dramatized inequalities of Jim
Crow
–Called for anti-lynching and poll
tax legislation
• Desegregated military
• Ended discrimination in federal
hiring
How did the Supreme Court
change in its approach to CR?
• Morgan v. Virginia – segregation on
interstate buses – an undue burden
• Struck down: All white primaries,
racially restrictive housing, exclusion
of blacks from law and graduate
schools
• Great potential of using the courts to
fight discrimination
• Problem? Enforcement
What was the NAACP’s strategy?
• The NAACP focused on the
inequalities between the B/W
schools
• Under lawyer Thurgood Marshall
the NAACP would win 29 out of 32
cases
• Morgan Vs Virginia (1946) - No
segregated seating on interstate
buses
McLaurin v. Oklahoma State
Regents?
• Unconstitutional – “badge of inferiority”
Brown V. Board of Education?
• 8 year old Linda Brown lived 3 blocks
from an all – white elementary school
and had to travel 21 blocks to her
school
• Oliver Brown tried to register at her
neighborhood school
• Brown was one of 5 cases challenging
segregation in schools
• Thurgood Marshall – NAACP lawyer
Linda and Terry Brown walking to
segregated school
How did Thurgood Marshall win his
case?
• Goal: Overturn Plessy v. Ferguson
• Argued: separate facilities denied
blacks their full rights as American
citizens
• Used: psychological and
sociological evidence – self
esteem studied
And the Court ruled?
• Chief Justice Earl Warren wanted a
unanimous ruling
• Ruling: segregation denies children of
a minority group equal educational
opportunities
• Denies equal protection guaranteed
under the 14th Amendment
Chief Justice Earl Warren:
“We conclude
that in the field
of public
education the
doctrine of
‘separate but
equal’ has no
place.”
Integration after Brown in Virginia
What was the southern reaction?
• Most states put responsibility
in hands of local school boards
–Created private all white
academies
• Southern Manifesto – 101
congressmen urged states to
refuse compliance
Ike on Brown…
• “I don’t believe you can change the
hearts of men with laws or
decisions”
• Privately opposed the decision
• Said appointing Earl Warren Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court was
“the biggest damn fool mistake I
ever made.”
Crisis in Little Rock - 1957
• Federal judge ordered desegregation of
Little Rock schools
• Little Rock school board complied …
• Governor Orval Faubus defied the
order ..
• Ike put Arkansas National Guard under
federal control and brought in the 101st
Airborne Division to uphold federal
authority and enforce the law
Montgomery Bus Boycott
• Rosa Parks…
• Boycott buses….
• Dr. Martin Luther King…
• Supreme Court ruled….
Rosa Parks
in
Montgomery,
Alabama
MLK speaks to the press during the
boycott
National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People?
• 1910 - remove obstacles to voting for
all Americans and to secure full legal
equality
• Interracial
• W.E.B. DuBois – one of the founders
• Focus: anti-lynching laws, legal battles
in housing and education
• Appealed to upper and middle class
African Americans
CORE?
• Congress of Racial Equality –
1942
• Pacifist – bring about change by
peaceful confrontation
• Interracial
• Sit –ins and Freedom Riders
James Farmer – Founder of CORE
CORE – nonviolent action – Sit-ins
and Freedom Rides
Southern Christian Leadership
Conference
• MLK and other African American
clergymen
• Influence of Walter Rauschenbusch –
religious faith used in struggle for
social justice
• Gandhi - nonviolence – “assert their
human dignity”
SCLC –
founded
by MLK
MLK as president of the SCLC
• “nonviolent
resistance
transforms
weakness into
strength”
• Peacefully refuse
to obey unjust
laws
What was the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee?
• Off-shoot of the SCLC
• For students – took focus away from
church leaders
• Gave young African Americans a chance
to make decisions about priorities and
tactics
• More militant than most of the older
organizations
Sit - ins
• Young members of CORE and SNCC
• Sat down in segregated diners in the
South
• Refused to leave until they were served –
put business profits at risk
• Psychologically empowering
• Powerful method of protest – white people
could not ignore
Sit - ins
Lunch Counter in Jackson,
Mississippi - 1963
Objectives….
• Describe the Eisenhower approach to the
Cold War and the nuclear arms race with
the Soviet Union
• Define basic principles of Eisenhower’s
foreign policy in Europe, Vietnam, the
Middle East, and Cuba
• Describe the practice of “Eisenhower
Republicanism” in the 1950s, including
domestic consequences of the Cold War
What were Eisenhower’s views
on the Cold War?
• Experience working with the
Soviets
• Viewed cold war stalemate as a
permanent state between US
and USSR
• Relied more on CIA and nuclear
weapons
• Fostered growth of militaryindustrial complex
• Warned against dangers of
growing military spending
What was the “New Look” ?
• Reduce military spending by
relying on atomic and air
superiority
• Reduce spending on
conventional forces
• “get more bang for the buck” –
Sec. of Defense Wilson
• Increased reliance on nuclear
weapons and delivery systems
• Stabilized military spending
Secretary of
State John
Foster Dulles –
policy of
Brinksmanship
What is the policy of
brinksmanship?
• Willingness to go to the edge of an all
out war
• Policy of John Foster Dulles - Secretary
of State for Eisenhower
– Anti-communist
– Cold war – a moral crusade
– Favored a “rollback” of communism
as opposed to containment
How did Eisenhower view the
“New Look”?
• Cautious
• Realized that reliance on nuclear
weapons could lead to a full-scale war
• East Berlin – 1953
– rebellion
– U.S. did nothing to stop the Soviets
from crushing the rebellion
What happened in Hungary in
1956?
• Revolt against Soviet domination
• Called for a democratic government
and Soviet troops to leave
• S.U. sent tanks to put down uprising
– 30,000 Hungarians killed
– 200,000 fled to the west
• U.S. did nothing – Hungarians
disappointed…
• U.N. condemned but took no action…
Budapest in 1956
Who was Nikita Khrushchev?
• Stalin’s successor
• Denounced Stalin
• Believed in the triumph of
communism
• Believed in peaceful coexistence
– compete economically and
scientifically
What was the “spirit of
Geneva”?
• 1955 – Eisenhower met with
Soviet leaders
• Proposed “open skies” – flights
over each others territory
• Soviets rejected
• Dialogue considered a step
toward peace
Thawing of the Cold War?
• S.U. withdrew troops from Austria in
1958
• S. U. suspended nuclear testing
• Khrushchev made a 12 day trip to U.S.
in 1959
• 1960 – Khrushchev called for a summit
meeting in France to discuss German
reunification
• Eisenhower was invited to the S.U.
Ike and
Khrushchev
during his visit
to Camp
David
What ended the thaw?
• May 1, 1960 – a U-2 spy plane piloted
by Frances Gary Powers was shot
down over the S.U.
• Eisenhower denied we were spying
• Confronted with evidence
• Khrushchev demanded flights cease
and an apology
• We stopped flights – no apology
How did the U-2 affect our
relationship with the Soviet
Union?
• Khrushchev called off the
summit conference and
withdrew the invitation to
Eisenhower to visit the S. U.
• Renewed tension between the
S.U. and the U.S.
How did the U.S. respond to
Sputnik?
• Shocked – concerned we were lagging
technologically behind
• Fear – Am. began building bomb
shelters
• Passed the National Defense Education
Act of 1958
• Increased the military budget by $8
billion
• Accelerated the arms race
What is covert action?
• CIA activities
• Cheap, quick, and quiet way to
depose hostile regimes
• Destabilize third world
governments we thought were too
radical
• Allen Dulles – head of CIA
• Collect and analyze information
What were the U.S. actions in Iran?
• 1951 Mohammed Mossadegh - Prime
Minister of Iran nationalized oil fields
• British stopped buying Iranian oil
• U.S. feared Iran would go to S.U. for
help
• CIA gave money to supporters of the
Shah of Iran
• Shah came back to power and turned
oil back to western interests
Mossadegh
was tried as a
traitor by a
military
tribunal after
his ouster
The Shah
of Iran
resumes
control with
U.S. aid
Trouble in the Suez?
• Soviet Union was gaining influence in
Egypt
• Nasser of Egypt seized the Suez Canal
from Great Britain and France
• Closed access to Israel
• G.B., France, and Israel attacked and
seized the Mediterranean end
• U.N. intervened – G.B., France, and
Israel withdrew
Nasser
How did the U.S. respond to the
Suez crisis?
• Eisenhower angry with allies – nearly
provoked a war with the Soviet Union
• U.S. concerned about increased
prestige of S.U. in Middle East
• Eisenhower Doctrine: U.S.
would defend the Middle
East against an attack by
any communist country
How the U.S. become involved in
Vietnam?
• Vietnam – part of French colony of
Indochina
• During WWII – French Indochina
was occupied by the Japanese
• Ho Chi Minh – member of the
Indochinese Communist Party had
opposed French rule
• Ho Chi Minh formed the Vietminh –
to rid Vietnam of foreign rule
Vietnam …
• 1945 Japan was defeated
• Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam an
independent country
• France wanted her former colonies
back
• U.S. gave massive military and
economic aid to France to restore her
former colony
• Battle of Dien Bien Phu – 1954 France
lost
Ho Chi Minh –
Communist
revolutionary
or nationalist
freedom
fighter?
What is the Domino Theory?
• The loss of one country to
communism would lead to
the loss of others
• Eisenhower feared the loss
of Vietnam would lead to the
loss of Laos, Cambodia, and
Thailand
What was decided at the Geneva
Conference?
• Cease –fire
• Temporary division line along the 17th
parallel dividing North and South
Vietnam
• Communists in the North and a
government acceptable to the U.S. in
the South
• Elections in 1957 – and reunification
• U.S. refused to sign the accord
Ho Chi Minh in
the North
Diem
in the
South
The government of South Vietnam?
• Ngo Dinh Diem
– Former Japanese collaborator
– Catholic – country 90% Buddhist
– Corrupt and repressive government
• U.S. economic and military aid – CIA
covert activity
• 1956 – refused to hold election – knew
Diem would lose
• 1959 – civil war in South Vietnam
Beginnings of a peace movement?
• “New Look” not
logical –
threatened the
entire planet
• Radioactive
fallout – move
toward ended
nuclear testing
• “Ban the Bomb”
What was Ike’s warning upon
leaving the presidency?
• Doubts about the arms race
• Farewell Address – 1961 – warned against the
dangers of the “military-industrial complex”