CHAPTER 27The Eisenhower Years

1952 - 1960

Summarize the election of 1952

• (R) - Eisehnower / Nixon Ticket

• (D) - Stevenson / Sparkman Ticket

• Eisenhower pledges to end the Korean war if elected.

• Ike wins 55% of popular vote & an electoral college landslide of 442 to 89

Domestic Policies of Eisenhower

• Goal was to balance the budget

• Extended Social Security• Raised minimum wage• Created Dept. of Health,

Education & Welfare (cabinet position)

• Helped farmers increase their income

• Opposed aid to education & federal health care insurance.

Bradley, Eisenhower, Patton

Interstate Highway Act (1956)

• Construction of 42,000 miles of interstate highways linking major cities

• Created jobs• Promoted trucking

industry• Suburban growth• Hurt railroad industry

John Foster Dulles• Secretary of State• Thought Truman’s

containment policy was too passive.

• Wanted the US to challenge the communist nations

• US should liberate the nations of Eastern Europe

Brinkmanship

• If the US pushed communist nations to the “brink of war”, they would back down.

• Eisenhower prevented Dulles from carrying out his ideas

Massive Retaliation

• Place greater emphasis on nuclear weapons and air power.

• Spend less on the army and navy.

• “more bang for the buck”

Why was the US concerned with unrest in the 3rd world?

• Lacked political and economic stability

• Soviets could make them pawns in the Cold War

First (blue), 2nd (Red), Third (green)

Explain Eisenhower’s foreign policy of covert action

• Used “undercover” intervention in politics rather than employ troops

• Ex. CIA overthrew an Iranian govt. & replaced it with a one that gave the US favorable oil prices.

How did Eisenhower resolve the conflict in Korea?

• Armistice & exchange of prisoners in 1953

• US troops withdrawn• Korea remains divided

at 38º• No peace treaty ever

signed.

• At the Geneva conference of 1954, France agreed to give up Indochina, which was divided into the independent states of Cambodia, Laos & Vietnam

North Vietnam• North of 17º parallel• Ho Chi Minh

established a communist dictatorship

South Vietnam

• Ngo Dinh Diem created an anti-communist government.

• US gives $1billion in economic & military aid to build a stable country.

Domino Theory

• Analogy by Eisenhower

• “If one country fell to communism, one nation after another would also fall”

SEATO

• Southeast Asia Treaty Organization

• Defense alliance signed by 8 nations to prevent a fall to communism

Eisenhower Doctrine

• 1957• Pledged economic

and military aid to any Middle Eastern country threatened by communism

• First applied in Lebanon in 1958

OPEC

• Oil & Petroleum Exporting Countries

• Oligopoly of Arab nations that controlled the middle eastern oil supply

The Spirit of Geneva

• The first “thaw” in the cold war (1955)

• Slowdown in the arms race

• Eisenhower proposed “open skies” - was rejected by the Soviets

How did the US respond to Sputnik?

• National Defense & Education Act (NDEA)

• gave millions in federal $ to schools for science, math & foreign language ed.

• Created NASA

2nd Berlin Crisis

• Khrushchev gave the west 6 months to pull troops out of west Berlin

• US refused• Ike & Khrushchev

meet at Camp David to put off the crisis.

U2 Incident• Russians shot down a

US spy plane (U2) over the Soviet Union

• Exposed US tactic for getting information

• Eisenhower takes responsibility

• Khrushchev denounces Ike

Explain how Cuba fell to communism:

• Revolutionary Fidel Castro overthrows Batista in 1959.

• As a Marxist, he sets up a Communist totalitarian state.

How did Eisenhower respond to the overthrow of Cuba by Castro’s regime?

• Eisenhower cuts off all US trade with Cuba.

THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Describe 2 specific events that became the origin of the Civil Rights Movement

• 1. Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to play on a major league team

• 2. Truman integrates the armed forces in 1948

What was the outcome of the Court Case Brown v. BOE – what case did it

overturn?

• Ended segregation in schools “with all deliberate speed” (Thurgood Marshall)

• Overturns Plessy v. Ferguson (separate but equal)

Summarize the incident at Little Rock HS – How did the President Respond?

• Governor Faubus used state’s National Guard to prevent 9 African American students from entering LR High School.

• Eisenhower orders National Guard to protect the black students as they walked to school.

Rosa Parks

• Montgomery, Alabama 1955

• Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat to a white person

• Arrested for violating segregation laws.

Montgomery Bus Boycott

• Massive African American protest

• Boycott of city buses in Montgomery (381 days)

• Nonviolent movement to achieve integration

Role of Martin Luther King Jr.

• Emerges as the inspiring leader of “civil disobedience” to achieve integration

• Supreme Court rules segregation laws unconstitutional in 1956

What new laws were enacted under the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 & 1969?

• Enacted a permanent Civil Rights Commission

• Gave the Justice Dept. new powers to protect the voting rights of blacks.

What is a “sit-in” and what were the long-term goals of this form of protest?

• Young students would deliberately invite arrest by sitting in restricted areas (ie lunch counters)

• Used the non-violent tactic to integrate public facilities