Domestic Policy and Civil Rights of the

1950s

Dwight D. Eisenhower

I. Election of 1952 (review)

A. Democratic candidate: Adlai StevensonB. Republican candidate:

Dwight D. Eisenhower (VP) Richard M. Nixon

C. Major issues: Korea, Communism, Corruption

I. Ike and Modern I. Ike and Modern RepublicanismRepublicanism

a. “Conservative when it comes to money; liberal when it comes to human beings”

b. Ike cut billions of dollars from the federal budget by reducing the number of gov’t jobs and by leasing gov’t land

c. Expanded Social Security and unemployment benefits; increased educational spending and minimum wage.

II. The Affluent SocietyII. The Affluent Society

a. The 1950’s was a time of prosperity for many Americans; about 60% were earning a middle-class income

b. Consumerism was highly promoted – “keeping up with the Joneses”

c. Family life, accompanying the post-war “Baby Boom,” was promoted as well

III. Election of 1956 - III. Election of 1956 - CandidatesCandidates

A. Democratic:Adlai Stevenson

B. Republican: Dwight D.

Eisenhower (Richard Nixon VP)

C. Ike won just under 60% of the popular vote; electoral vote was 457 to 73 in favor of Ike!

D. Ike failed to win either house of Congress for his party – country remained heavily Democratic – but everyone loved Ike.

Electoral Map of 1956Electoral Map of 1956

IV. Major Legislation under IkeIV. Major Legislation under Ike

A. Federal Highway Act of 1956 (May) – authorized the construction of a network of superhighways; primary purpose was defense

B. Civil Rights Act of 1957: 1. first civil rights bill passed in

U.S. since Reconstruction!!!

                               

          

2. Organized to investigate the abuses of “civil rights”:  the rights of personal liberty guaranteed to United States citizens by the 13th and 14th amendments to the Constitution and by acts of Congress

3. Aimed to ensure that all African Americans could exercise their right to vote

Beginning of the Civil Beginning of the Civil Rights Movement Rights Movement (Ike(Ike’’s 1st s 1st

& 2nd Terms)& 2nd Terms)

I. Jim Crow in the SouthI. Jim Crow in the South

A. 1950: 15 million African-Americans in the U.S. – 2/3 still lived in the South

B. Only about 20% of Southern blacks were registered to vote

C. Segregation legally upheld by 1896 Supreme Court Case Plessy v. Ferguson - Remember, this established “separate but equal”

D. Du jure vs. De facto segregation: du jure = segregation enforced by LAW

De facto = segregation that exists in fact

II. II. Brown v. Board of Education Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansasof Topeka, Kansas

A. Earl Warren became the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1953

B. May, 1954 - most important decision of the Warren Court

C. In a unanimous decision, Brown v. Board overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson case by stating that segregation in public schools was “inherently unequal.”

Chief Justice Earl WarrenChief Justice Earl Warren

D. Brown decision declared that desegregation must go ahead with “all deliberate speed”

E. Eisenhower was not a major force in desegregation; he said this case had upset “the customs and convictions of at least two generations of Americans.”

III. Death of Emmett TillIII. Death of Emmett Till

A.A. August 1955: 14-year-old Chicago boy visited relatives near Money, MS

B.B. Supposedly whistled and called the Supposedly whistled and called the wife of a local (white) store owner wife of a local (white) store owner “Baby.”“Baby.”

C.C. Till was taken a few nights later by Till was taken a few nights later by the store owner and his brother-in-the store owner and his brother-in-law.law.

D. Body of Till was found three days later in the Tallahatchie River –corpse unrecognizable

E. Mother of Till insisted on an open casket funeral – so the entire world could see what happened

F. Trial failed to convict the men accused of the crime – even with eye witnesses

G. Huge impact on ALL African-Americans – North/South

From PBS’s timeline of the murder:September 21: Moses Wright, Emmett Till's great uncle, does the unthinkable, accusing 2 white men in open court. While on the witness stand, he stands up, points his finger at Milam and Bryant, and accuses them of coming to his house and kidnapping Emmett.September 23: Milam and Bryant are acquitted of murdering Emmett Till after the jury deliberates only 67 minutes. One juror tells a reporter that they wouldn't have taken so long if they hadn't stopped to drink pop. Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam stand before photographers, light up cigars and kiss their wives in celebration of the not guilty verdict.Moses Wright and another poor black Mississippian who testified, Willie Reed, leave Mississippi and are smuggled to Chicago. Once there, Reed collapses and suffers a nervous breakdown.http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/till/timeline/timeline2.html

1956: January 24: Look magazine publishes an

article written by Alabama journalist William Bradford Huie, entitled “The Shocking Story of Approved Killing in Mississippi.” Huie offered Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam $4,000 to tell how they killed Emmett Till. Milam speaks for the record.

Bob Dylan “The Death of Emmett Till”

IV. Montgomery, AL Bus IV. Montgomery, AL Bus BoycottBoycott

A. Beginning: December 1955 B. Rosa Parks, a college-educated

black seamstress, boarded a bus, refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white.

C. She was arrested in violation of the city’s Jim Crow statues

D. This action sparked a year-long bus boycott of the city’s buses.

E. Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. became the noted Civil Rights leader by organizing the bus boycott.

F. King followed the principles of India’s Mahatma Gandhi – nonviolent resistance

G. The boycott ended in Nov of ’56 when the Supreme Court declared AL’s bus segregation illegal.

V. Little Rock CrisisV. Little Rock Crisis

A. South refused to abide by the Brown Decision

B. Several “private” schools were created

C. September 1957 – Orval Faubus, governor of Arkansas, mobilized the Arkansas National Guard to prevent 9 black students from enrolling in Little Rock’s Central HS

A.A. Eisenhower was forced to send troops Eisenhower was forced to send troops to escort the students to class.to escort the students to class.

E. Little Rock E. Little Rock High School High School closed in closed in 1958 to avoid 1958 to avoid integration.integration.

VI. Southern Christian VI. Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)Leadership Conference (SCLC)

A. Organized in 1957 by Martin A. Organized in 1957 by Martin Luther King, Jr.Luther King, Jr.

B. Churches were the largest and B. Churches were the largest and best-organized black institutions best-organized black institutions allowed to be successful in the allowed to be successful in the segregated society.segregated society.

C. This movement thus C. This movement thus aimed to mobilize influential black churches on behalf of civil rights.

Sit-In Movement

• February 1, 1960: four African-American college students sat down at the lunch counter inside the Woolworth's department store in Greensboro, NC.  The men ordered coffee, but following store policy, the lunch counter staff refused to serve them at the "whites only" counter; the store's manager asked them to leave.  

• The men stayed until closing, and they came back the next day... with friends (over 20 people).  The continued to come until they received service.

• The sit-in movement continued spreading, both at this store and around the state.- It took six months to accomplish its goal; in July of 1960, Woolworth's desegregated.