Warm up
• Identify:
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A. Levittowns
B. Benjamin Spock
C. Betty Friedan
D. Baby Boom
E. GI Bill
Discuss:
a. Most historians describe the 50s as a time of
tremendous conformity. What were some things
that either contradicted this notion or demonstrated
people’s dissatisfaction or frustration with it?
Truman & Ike
US Politics After WWII
Truman’s Domestic Agenda
• Truman suffered by coming after FDR.
• Domestic policy was called the “Fair
Deal.”
• Wanted: To expand social security,
increase minimum wage, national health
care & Civil Rights.
Push for Civil Rights alienated the
Southern wing of the democratic party.
Election of 1948
• Truman is given no chance by
the experts.
– A. Popularity is low in all polls.
– B. Alienated Southern wing of
Democrats.
• They run Strom Thurmond (Dixiecrat).
– C. He is thought by some to be 2nd
rate. “To error is Truman.”
– D. Many liberals prefer Henry
Wallace.
Republican Congress
• Republicans take control of Congress in
1946.
• Won’t go along with any of Truman’s Fair
Deal.
• They do pass the Taft-Hartley Act (1947).
Taft-Hartley Act
• Aimed at weakening the Wagner Act.
• Made illegal the “Closed Shop.”
• Truman vetoed, but Congress overrode it
the same day.
The Dixiecrats
• Southern Democrats who don’t want
to support Truman because he
wants civil rights laws to help blacks.
• They leave the Democratic party and
form the Dixiecrat Party and run
Strom Thurmond for President.
• Most people feel that this will hurt
Truman because he will loose votes
in the South.
Thomas Dewey
• Dewey—who lost to FDR in 1944—is the Republican candidate.
• He is so sure of victory, that he doesn’t campaign very
aggressively. Also, won’t go negative and use communism as
an issue.”
• Truman is aggressive.
“Give em Hell.”
Truman Wins
• Truman’s victory in 1948 is considered the
greatest political upset in US history.
Lesson for the Republicans
• Begin to go all out in
attacking the Dems.
as being soft on
Communism.
Review
• Who did Truman run against in the 1948
election?
• How did Truman alienate the southern
wing of the Democratic party?
• Who were the Dixiecrats? Who was their
candidate?
Truman’s 2nd Term
• Gets raise in minimum wage, expansion of
social security, federal $ for low-income housing.
• Can’t get national health care or $ for education.
• Ends racial discrimination in govt. hiring &
begins to desegregate the military.
• Recognizes the state of Israel
• But war in Korea is unpopular & Republican
attacks about communism work.
The Election of 1952
• Democrats choose Illinois
Governor Adlai Stevenson.
• Intellectual
• Conservative for a
Democrat
Ike
• Republicans choose
former WWII general
Dwight D. Eisenhower
(Ike).
Slogan = “I like Ike.”
• VP for Ike is Richard
Nixon.
Checkers Speech
• During the campaign, Nixon is
accused of getting illegal campaign
funds.
• He goes on TV to profess his honor.
• During the speech, he admits that he
received a dog for his daughters
named “checkers” and that no matter
what, he is keeping the dog.
• This saves his political career.
Nixon’s Checkers’ Speech
Ike Wins
• President for 2 terms (1952-1960).
• Ike is a conservative domestically: Sought to
balance the budget & reduce govt.
• Appoints business leaders to his
administration.
• But does little to dismantle New Deal
programs.
• Biggest domestic accomplishment is Federal
Highway Act of 1956 (largest public works
project in US history).
• Not very committed to Civil Rights.
Things that happen when Ike is
Pres.
• “In God We Trust”
• “One Nation, Under God”
• Space Race begins—Sputnik (1957)
• NASA & Explorer (1958)
Ike’s Foreign Policy
• John Foster Dulles is
sec. of State.
• Most people think Ike
is old and out of it.
• “Hidden Hand.”
New Look
• Ike’s foreign policy called the “New Look”
• Had attacked Dems. for “containment.”
Ike and Republicans claim they are for “Rollback.”
• Reality is not as aggressive as rhetoric (ex = Hungary
1956).
• Ike and co. also for “Massive Retaliation” = nuclear
buildup and scaling back of conventional forces.
• “Brinksmanship.”
review
• Who did Ike run against for the presidency in
1952 and again in 1956?
• Who was Ike’s Secretary of State?
• In what specific way did the Ike people criticize
the Truman administration in its approach to the
menace of communism? In other words, what
did they claim they would do differently if they
were in charge?
• What is “brinksmanship” and what are its pros
and cons?
“Don’t be afraid—I can always pull
you back”
SEATO
• South East Asian Treaty Organization
(1954)
• Resembles NATO, but for Asia.
• Ike also ends Korean War (1953)
Ike & the CIA
• Often used CIA to achieve goals in Cold
War.
• Headed by Allen Dulles
• Iran
• Guatemala
Iran
• Mossadeq
• Shah of Iran
Problems in Iran
• Mossadeq wants to nationalize oil that British
and US control.
• U.S. uses CIA to organize an uprising that ousts
Mossadeq and return the Shah of Iran to power.
• Shah lets British and U.S. keep oil.
• Shah is eventually overthrown by Islamic
fundamentalists in 1979 and most people in Iran
are very anti-U.S.
Guatemala
Guatemala
• Jacobo Arbenz is leftist leader.
• 2% of country owns all of the land.
• US company—United Fruit—controls almost anything
modern.
• Arbenz want to nationalize the land.
• He wants to pay United Fruit, what they said the land
was worth for taxes.
The Overthrow
• The US cuts off all aid.
• Arbenz is forced to turn to
the Commies.
• The US intercepts an
arms shipment.
• US aids rightist Castillo
Armas take power.
• United Fruit is saved--Yay!
Suez Canal Crisis
•
US lends money to Nasser—leader of Egypt—to
build Aswan Dam (but no arms).
•
Nassar gets arms from the Soviets.
•
In 1956—establishes diplomatic relations with
Commie. China.
•
US withdraws loan.
•
Nasser nationalizes Suez Canal.
•
France, England, and Israel attack Egypt.
•
Ike & UN condemn action (doesn’t support).
Helps it from blowing up.
Cuba
• Castro takes over in
1959.
• US won’t give aid, so
he turns to Soviets.
• Ike severs diplomatic
relations.
Relations with Soviets
• Seem to be getting better
• Khrushchev visits US in 1959.
U2 Incident
• In 1960 Ike was
getting set to visit the
Soviet Union.
• An American U2 spy
plane was shot down
over the Soviet Union.
• Ike denied the US
was sending planes.
• Soviets produced not
only the wreckage of
the plane, but also the
pilot—Francis Gary
Powers.
Fun Review
• Quickly jot down what factors and events led to
sectional tension between the North and the
South that ultimately led to the outbreak of the
Civil War?
• What were the major differences between
Hamilton and Jefferson in their respective
visions for the new nation?
• What caused a crisis in American agriculture in
the later part of the 19th century and solutions
did farmers call for to solve their dilemma?