1. The Eisenhower Years
The 1950s have the popular image of the “happy days,’ when the nation prospered and grew. But the Cold War and civil rights movement also defined the decade as one of change.

2. Eisenhower Takes Command
Dwight (“Ike”) Eisenhower
“I Like Ike”
Republican
Trusted, former WWII general, conservative, integrity
Wins 1952 election with Richard Nixon as his VP
Nixon defends his use of campaign funds with the so- called Checkers speech
Eisenhower promised to end the “war” in Korea

3. Domestic Policies
Eisenhower was a fiscal conservative who wanted to balance the budget after years of deficit spending
Accepted New Deal programs and extended some
Social Security extended and minimum wage raised
Opposed federal health care insurance and federal aid to education
Called his balanced and moderate approach “modern Republicanism”

4. Interstate Highway Act
1956 Highway Act: authorized construction of 42,000 miles of interstate highways linking nation’s major cities
Created jobs and accelerated the growth of suburbs
More homogenous national culture
Hurt the environment and railroads

5. Prosperity and Election of 1956
Country enjoyed a steady growth rate during Eisenhower years
Per-capita disposable income increases
Family had twice the real income of a comparable family during 1920s
Highest standard of living in the world
Eisenhower and Nixon won reelection in 1956 by a wide margin, but Democrats controlled Congress

6. Eisenhower and the Cold War
Secretary of State John Foster Dulles
More aggressive containment policy than Truman
push communist countries to the brink of war: brinkmanship
Eisenhower often prevented Dulles from carrying out these extreme ideas
Dulles advocated greater reliance on nuclear weapons
Arms Race – hydrogen bomb
Massive retaliation

7. Korean War 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea
Truman called for special session of UN
UN troops sent (mostly U.S. troops) to defend S. Korea
“police action” not a U.S. war
Eisenhower keeps promise to try to end war
Visits troops in Korea in 1953, armistice signed the same year
38th parallel, no peace treaty

8. Indochina and Vietnam
France tried to hold onto colonial possession of Indochina (Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam)
Vietnamese Communist leader Ho Chi Minh
Soon U.S. gave aid
Soviets and China give aid to Ho Chi Minh’s forces
French withdrew in 1954
Geneva Convention terms: Vietnam temporarily divided until free elections were held

9. Vietnam N. Vietnam was a communist dictatorship under Ho Chi Minh
S. Vietnam was lead by Ngo Dinh Diem
Elections were never held because of the fear of a communist victory
U.S. gave $ to S. Vietnam to help build a stable anticommunist government
Domino theory: If Vietnam falls then Cambodia, Laos, Australia and New Zealand

10. Eisenhower Doctrine
U.S. quickly replaced France and Britain as the biggest influence in Middle East
Growing Soviet influence
1957 pledge to give economic and military aid to any Middle eastern country threatened by communism
1960 OPEC forms Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran and Venezuala
Arab nationalism
Palestinian-Israeli conflict

11. U.S. – Soviet Relations
At times both sides showed signs of wanting to ease tensions
“peaceful coexistence”
Hungarian revolt – 1956, crushed by Soviets
Sputnik launched in 1957
Is America losing in technology?
Some blamed schools
Money pit towards increasing science and math programs
1958 – NASA created

12. Cold War Tensions
U-2 Incident – 1955, Soviets shoot down US spy plane over Russia
Fidel Castro lead a revolution in Cuba and takes over in 1959 and sets up Communist totalitarian state
Cuba turns to Soviet Union for support
Communist country 90 miles from US

13. Civil Rights Movement Jackie Robinson – 1947
Integration of military – 1948
Poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses, segregation still existed (mostly in the South)
Millions of African-Americans had moved into cities and the North
Supported the Democratic party
If we are a country of freedom and democracy, why segregation?

14. Desegregating the Schools
NAACP had been working to overturn Plessy v. Ferguson
“separate but equal”
Case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
Thurgood Marshall argues before the Supreme Court that Plessy ruling was unconstitutional – violated 14th Amendment “equal protection of the laws”
1954, Supreme Court overturned Plessy case
Chief Justice Earl Warren said “separate facilities are inherently unequal”

15. Resistance in the South
States in the South fought the Supreme Court ruling
Some temporarily closed schools
AK 1956: Governor used state’s National Guard to prevent 9 Afr-Am students from entering Little Rock Central High School
President understood his constitutional responsibility to uphold federal authority
Federal troops were ordered to stand guard and protect the students

16. Little Rock Central High School
The Problem We All Live With
Norman Rockwell

17. Montgomery Bus Boycott
AL 1955, Rosa parks refuses to move to the back of a segregated bus = arrest
She violated the bus segregation laws
Massive bus boycott
Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. emerges as a leader – nonviolent approach
1956 the Supreme Court rules segregation unconstitutional

18. Montgomery Bus Boycott

19. Nonviolent Protest
King formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) to organize churches and minister
1960 sit-in movement in Greensboro, NC by college students
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)
Turning point in civil rights: actions of Supreme Court, President Eisenhower

20. Popular Culture Suburbs = conformity to social norms
Safe harbors for Americans troubled by communism
Television became center of family life
Advertising (McDonalds arches)
Records- rock and roll
Corporate American (white collar jobs)

21. Women’s Roles Homemaking a full time job
Traditional roles as caretakers of children and homes was reaffirmed
Baby and Child Care (1946) by Dr. Benjamin Spock
More married women entering the workplace
Dissatisfaction was growing among the educated middle class women
Lower wages

22. Social Critics Not everyone approved of the trends of the 1950s
Author’s wrote of the individual’s struggle against conformity
J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye (1951)
“Beatniks” a group of rebellious writers and intellectuals made up the so called Beat generation of the 1950s
Jack Kerouac’s On the Road