Post on 26-Dec-2015
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 anti-communists
• 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. EisenhowerDynamic 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…
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
• WWIIFair 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.”
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 military-industrial 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”