Chapter 29
Eisenhower, Moderate Republican
Section 1
-War in Korea was at a stalemate
-country was dealing with inflation
-China was lost to communism
A) Election of 1952 (Republicans Return)
-Candidates
-Republican = Dwight D. Eisenhower (Richard Nixon for VP)
-career military man
-graduated from West Point in 1915
-commanded attack on Europe
-first commander of NATO
-Democrats = Adlai Stevenson
-governor of Illinois
-grandson of former VP Stevenson
-prosperous lawyer
-graduate of Princeton
-Republican Platform
-attacked Democrats foreign policy (China and Korean War)
-not satisfied with merely containing communism
-balance budget, lower national debt, and return honesty to govt.
-Eisenhower wins election in a landslide
B) Peace in Korea and A new Foreign Policy
1) Korea
-Ike promised an end to war in Korea
-talks had broken off until US threatened to bomb China and to use
atomic weapons on Korea
-Armistice signed between North Korea and UN in July of 1953 at
Panmunjom
-no victory for the US more of a victory for humanity
2) New Foreign Policy
-Secretary of State = John Foster Dulles
-Dulles and Ike reduced the military’s size to help balance budget
-because of cutbacks the national defense depended more on the
atomic bomb. (hydrogen bomb; 500 times more powerful)
-Dulles threatened massive retaliation against Russia or China
if they attacked any country (Brinkmanship)
C) War in Indochina
-Indochina is a large peninsula in Southeast Asia
-Vietnam ( former French colony) liberated from Japan in 1945 by
communist
-led by Ho Chi Minh (Viet minh )
-head of Democratic Republic of Vietnam
-France wanted to hold onto former colonies and install a puppet leader
-US saw Vietnam as a necessity to “contain” communism after China fell
-1950- US began to help France in Vietnam (money and arms)
-by 1954 US was bearing 80% of cost
-China stepped up aid to Vietnam near end of Korean War
-French defeated at Diembienphu in 1954
-Ike did not want to assist militarily w/o the backing of another
nation
-May 1954- Geneva Conference
-Vietnam would be split into two
-north=communist
-south=free government under former emperor (Bao-Dai)
D) US and Treaties
1)”Pactomania”
-Dulles’s “attempt to encircle the Communists by treaties”
- 1954- SEATO = Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
-pledged joint action in case of aggression against any member
- similar to NATO
- Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam were to get special protection
- 1955- METO = Middle East Treaty Organization
- oil in the middle east was vital to the West
- intended to keep Soviet influence out of area
- US was not part of this but Sec. of State Dulles promoted it
-did not want to provoke Soviets
-European Defense Community
-Paris Pact of 1954
-gave full sovereignty to Republic of Germany
-West Germany
-admitted West Germany into NATO
-Germany allowed army under NATO command
-US & Britain agreed to keep a large number of forces in Europe as
long as they were wanted
E) Summit eases Tension
-Stalin dies in 1953 and Nikita Khrushchev comes to power
-struggle to control government in Russia at beginning
-Leaders call for “peaceful coexistence” in order to ease world tension
-Ike offers to negotiate all issues
-Russia withdraws troops from Austria and sign peace treaty
-Leaders of big 4 meet in Geneva in 1955
- Ike asks for “open skies” for each nation to inspect the others
from massive surprise attacks
- Russia turns down inspections
- Nothing solid comes from conference
-US soon begins aerial spy operations over Russia with U-2 spy plane
Section 2
A) Everybody’s New Deal
-Democrats feared an end to the New Deal, however, Ike began to expand
on many of it’s ideas
1)Reducing Government activities
- Atomic Energy Act amended to give private companies a larger
role in research
- Ike signs compromise on off shore oil deposits
-states had right to oil deposits within natural boundaries
- Ike favored private industry in disputes dealing w/ dams in
Idaho and TVA
2)Republicans become more moderate
- Ike began to see that the New Deal policies were popular and as
a result he:
- increased social security
- raised minimum wage
- urban slum clearance and public housing
- money given to med. research and hospitals
- developed Dept. of health, Education, and welfare (HEW)
3)The Farm Problem
- problem w/ overproduction
- farmers feared they would lose political influence b/c the
number of people on farms were declining
- wanted government to guarantee the prices of their produce
- wanted 90% parity payments ( the relation of farm to
nonfarm prices during the period 1910-1914)
- surplus could be used to fight hunger
- Benson’s Agriculture Act of 1954 (Sec. Benson)
- called for lower and more flexible prices to discourage
overproduction
- “Soil Bank” plan was a way to preserve nations soil for future
B)Sen. Joseph McCarthy
-Sen. McCarthy was in full search for communist in the government
-believed Democrats were to blame
-Ike wanted to avoid head on collision with the Senator
-Ike issues Security order
- if anyone in the government is accused of being communist they
are suspended until proven otherwise
- government morale sinks greatly during this time
-McCarthy Falls
- McCarthy accuses high ranking army officials for being soft on
communist and concealing evidence regarding communist
- Army accuses McCarthy for seeking privileged treatment for an
aid who had been drafted
- Hearings were televised and television exposed and defeated
McCarthy
- Eisenhower and Nixon win reelection in 1956, however, the Democrats
regain control of both houses of Congress
Section 3
The Fight for Equality
A) Supreme Court takes action
-1896 Plessy vs Ferguson-declared laws requiring blacks to use separate
washrooms, schools, and rail cars was not illegal
-separate but equal was ok
- Services were really not equal
- In 1944, 1947, & 1953 Supreme Court declared that laws that prohibited
blacks from voting in Democratic primaries violated 14th amendment
-Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas
-Earl Warren was Chief Justice of Supreme Court
-case argued by Thurgood Marshall
-court ordered that public school could not be separated by race
-began school integration
-Southern Manifesto- signed by more than 100 southern members of
congress
-determined to legally fight supreme court decision
-many southern states resisted integration of schools
- Little Rock- Governor Orval Faubus sends in national guard to
prevent integration into his schools
- Ike puts national guard under federal control and sends in
paratroopers to help integrate Little Rock schools
- Faubus closes school for entire year to prevent integration
-Civil Rights Laws
-1957- first civil rights act to pass since the days of reconstruction
-gave Justice Dept. the right to bring suits on behalf of blacks who
were denied the right to vote
- act was a bipartisan measure
-1960- gave even more aid to blacks who wanted to vote
-this was also a bipartisan measure
-both parties supported desegregation at their conventions
B) Martin Luther King & Rosa Parks
-Dr. King was a Baptist minister in Montgomery, Alabama who believed
in civil disobedience as opposed to violence
-“all people need to be educated in the ways of peace and decency
-December 1955-Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat (in a
section reserved for blacks) to a white man
-Dr. King organizes a bus boycott in Montgomery to protest segregation of
buses until the buses gave them their places as Americans
-Blacks refused to ride the buses for 381 days
-bus company almost went bankrupt
-Supreme Court ruled that segregation of buses was illegal
-by the 1960’s many Americans and especially blacks in the south, were
using Dr. Kings method of protest as a new way to fight segregation
Section 4
A)Difficulties Abroad
1)1956 was a difficult year
- Russian communist successfully crushed rebellions in many of
their satellite nations
- Egypt along with other Arab nations refused to recognize Israel
- Egypt seizes Suez canal to help build Aswan Dam
-Israel, along with England and France attack Egypt in July
- all this helped turn world attention away from Soviets and their
satellites
- Russia threatens to assist Arabs vs Israel
- US does not get involved
- UN resolution for cease fire made
- UN Emergency force sent to Middle East
2)-Eisenhower Doctrine (1957)
-US would help any Mid-East country that requested aid to fight
communist aggression
-later modified to include help to pro-western governments fight
communist backed attempts to overthrow govt.
-Jordan and Lebanon asked for help in 1958 b/c of new government
in Iraq (US troops sent to Lebanon)
3)US navy (7th fleet) sent to Formosa Strait to help with Chinese
communist attacks in area
B)Missile Race
-new mass destruction weapon begins to be developed (V-2 rockets)
-US and Russia had German rocket scientist develop long range rockets
for them
-1957-Russia launch Sputnik and Sputnik II into space
-Russia claimed it could hit any target on earth
-1958-Explorer I is launched and space race is on
-National Defense Education Act
-provided money for to produce more scientist in US
-NASA developed to coordinate space effort
C) Relaxing Cold War
-1959-Nixon goes to Russia on goodwill tour and Anastas Mikoyan comes
to US
-Ike and Khrushchev confer at Camp David over Berlin issue and agree to
continue talks at Summit in Paris (1960)
-U-2 spy plane shot down over Russia on May 5
-Khrushchev demands apology, but Ike refuses
-Ike and Khrushchev never meet during Paris talks and Cold War
thaw
ends
D) Problems in Latin America
-US often ended up supporting repressive government b/c they were antiCommunist
-this caused US to lose friends among freedom-loving people
-Cuba
-1958-long time dictator overthrown by communist nationalist led by
Fidel Castro
-Castro outlaws all parties except communist and builds strong
military force backed by Soviets
-loaded gun 90 miles off US coast
-Eisenhower leaves office and warns nation against the danger hidden in the
future