Eisenhower’s Domestic Policies

Dwight D. Eisenhower 1890 – 1969 34th President (1953-61) Republican Went by “Ike” Hero of WWII, Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe, Organized the D-Day Invasion Had never held an elected office before becoming president

The Warren Court Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1953 Warren would remain the head of the Court until his retirement in 1969 The Warren Court would hand down some of the most important decisions of the 20th Century (See “The Warren Court” Handout)

Brown v Board of Education of Topeka, KS 1954 Supreme Court overturned Plessy v. Ferguson, rejecting the idea that racially segregated schools could offer equal services Court ordered the desegregation of public schools “with all deliberate speed”

Thurgood Marshall 1908 – 1993 Brown v BOE decision vaulted Marshall to the forefront of civil rights lawyers Marshall had been Chief Counsel for the NAACP since the 1940s, until being appointed as federal judge in 1961, and eventually became the first African-American on the Supreme Court in 1967

Southern Manifesto The Brown decision angered many white Southerners and in 1956, over 100 Southern members of Congress signed the “Southern Manifesto” declaring the Court’s decision to be “abuse of judicial power” and pledging to support segregation through every legal avenue available

Rosa Parks 1913 – 2005 Civil rights activist even before her famous refusal to give up her bus seat on Dec. 1, 1955 Parks was arrested for violating the city of Birmingham, AL segregation laws which required that blacks surrender their seats if necessary to accommodate white passengers

Montgomery Bus Boycott In response to Parks’ arrest, black leaders organized a boycott of the Birmingham public transportation system Over 75% of the bus system’s riders were black, so the boycott seriously damaged revenues The boycott lasted for over a year, until Parks’ case was resolved when the Supreme Court declared the Birmingham segregation law unconstitutional

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 1929 – 1968 As a young minister, King was chosen to organize the Birmingham bus boycott and chose to do so using only non-violent means of protest The success of the boycott propelled him and his technique of “civil disobedience” to national fame

Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) Created in 1957 Civil rights organization composed of mainly Southern African-American ministers which worked to end segregation and to encourage blacks to register to vote First president was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Eisenhower’s Reaction President Eisenhower supported civil rights, but believed that racism and segregation would have to end gradually, stating “I don’t believe you can change the hearts of men with laws or [court] decisions” Still, once the Supreme Court ordered schools desegregated, Eisenhower felt obligated as President to enforce that decision

The Little Rock Nine Sept. 1957 Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus ordered the National Guard to block 9 black students from enrolling at the all-white Little Rock Central High School and later simply relied on white mobs to intimidate the students Eisenhower ordered the US Army to protect the black students , sending 1000 soldiers to encircle the school and allow the students to register; the soldiers stayed for the rest of the school year

Civil Rights Act of 1957 Designed to protect black’s right to vote Created a civil rights division within the Dept. of Justice and the US Commission on Civil Rights to investigate and prosecute allegations of voting violations

Greensboro Sit-in Feb. 1960 4 students at NC A&T in Greensboro, NC sat down at the racially segregated lunch counter at Woolworth’s and demanded service, refusing to leave when they were denied; over the next few days, the number of students involved grew and the sit-ins spread throughout the state, gaining national attention By summer, Woolworth’s relented and desegregated their lunch counters

Jesse Jackson 1941 – Present Student at NC A&T who was inspired by the sit-ins and went on to become a major, if often controversial, civil rights leader and later candidate for President in the 1980s

Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) Executive director of the SCLC, Ella Baker, held a convention at Shaw University in April 1960 to help students organize themselves into the SNCC, a student-led civil rights organization dedicated to continuing the successes of non-violent protest and to encouraging rural Southern blacks to register to vote In 1964, 3 SNCC members were murdered in Mississippi while attempting to register black voters