Ch. 38: The Eisenhower Era1952-1960

I. The Election of 1952• Republican Candidate: War hero

Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower▫VP: Richard Nixon to represent

the anti-communist wing of the party

• Democratic Candidate: Adlai Stevenson

• First election to use the power of television.

• Korean War was very unpopular, and Eisenhower promised to personally go to Korea to end the war!

II. McCarthyism • Republican senator that

ruthlessly accused government officials, actors, and public figures of being communists.

• Did the most damage to free speech. ▫New word= McCarthyism

• Went too far accusing the Army of having communist links.▫Condemned by U.S. Senate in

1954.

III. Civil Rights Unrest in the South

•Jim Crow laws still governed the South.▫Segregation and black voter suppression

was the norm.▫Only 20% African Americans were

registered to vote.•December 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give

up her seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, AL.▫Sets off the Montgomery Bus Boycott.▫“We weren’t gonna ride- in the back of the

bus. We’d walk.”

III. Civil Rights Unrest in the South•Southern Christian Leadership

Conference led by Martin Luther King Jr. ▫Led black churches to fight segregation

using nonviolent protest.

• Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren used the courts to enact change.▫Nothing was being done for civil

rights in Congress or by the president after all.

• In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas the court ruled unanimously that segregated schools were “inherently unequal.”▫Overturns which case?▫Desegregation was to happen

with “all deliberate speed.”

III. Civil Rights Unrest in the South

Plessy v. Ferguson

• Ike was very cautious on the matter of civil rights, but he was forced to act when Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus sent the National Guard to deny entry of nine black students into a Little Rock high school. ▫Eisenhower responded by

sending federal troops to escort the students inside.

III. Civil Rights Unrest in the South

IV. Eisenhower’s Highways

•Eisenhower spent billions of dollars to build 42,000 miles of interstate highways.▫Sped up suburbanization, and created

jobs.

V. Vietnam• Vietnam was split into two

halves at the 17th parallel…▫Ho Chi Minh:

Communist leader in North

▫Ngo Dinh Diem: pro-Western leader of South

• Elections were promised, but never held (because the communists would definitely win).

• Eisenhower promised military and economic aid to South Vietnam.

VI. Television•Television stimulated

the affluent lifestyle of Americans during the 50’s.

•It also helped John F. Kennedy win the election of 1960 against Richard Nixon.▫Looks become as

important as a politician’s message.

VII. Continuing the Cold War• Cuba turns communist with help from Fidel Castro.

▫Fear of a Soviet ally in our backyard!• Meanwhile, the Soviets launched Sputnik in 1957,

an actual satellite…▫NASA established.▫Space race has officially started.

Rest in Peace Laika…

•Jailhouse Rock•Hound Dog

And Elvis just because!