Chapter 38
The Eisenhower Era
1952-1960
The Advent of Eisenhower
Lacking public support for Truman, the Democrats nominated Adlai Stevenson for the election of 1952 and the Republicans nominated Dwight D. Eisenhower. Eisenhower was already well-liked by the public. Richard M. Nixon was chosen for vice-president to satisfy the anticommunist wing of the Republican Party. During this election, TV became a popular medium for campaigning.
During the campaign, Nixon went on TV to defend himself against corruption allegations "Checkers speech".
Eisenhower won the election of 1952 by a large majority.
"Ike" Takes Command
President Eisenhower attempted to end the Korean War. In July 1953, after Eisenhower threatened to use nuclear weapons, an armistice was signed, ending the Korean War. Despite the Korean War, Korea remained divided at the 38th Parallel.
Eisenhower's leadership style of sincerity, fairness, and optimism helped to comfort the nation after the war.
The Rise and Fall of Joseph McCarthy
In February 1950, Republican Senator Joseph R. McCarthy accused Secretary of State Dean Acheson of employing 205 Communist party members. Even though the accusations later proved to be false, McCarthy gained the support of the public. With the Republican victory in the election of 1952, his rhetoric became bolder as his accusations of communism grew.
McCarthyism, the practice of spreading treasonous accusations without evidence, thrived during the Cold War. Though McCarthy was not the first red-hunter, he was the most ruthless.
In 1954, McCarthy went too far and attacked the U.S. Army. Just a few months later, he was condemned by the Senate for "conduct unbecoming a member." (Army-McCarthy hearings)
Desegregating the South
All aspects of life of black life in the South were governed by the Jim Crow laws. Blacks were segregated from whites, economically inferior, and politically powerless. Gunnar Myrdal exposed the contradiction between America's professed belief that all men are created equal and its terrible treatment of black citizens in his book, An American Dilemma (1944).
In Sweatt v. Painter (1950), the Supreme Court ruled that separate professional schools for blacks failed to meet the test of equality.
In December 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white person on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Her arrest sparked a yearlong black boycott of the city buses (Montgomery bus boycott) and served notice throughout the South that blacks would no longer submit to segregation.
Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. rose to prominence during the bus boycott.
Seeds of the Civil Rights Revolution
Hearing of the lynching of black war veterans in 1946, President Harry Truman ended segregation in federal civil service and ordered "equality of treatment and opportunity" in the armed forces in 1948.
After Congress and new President Eisenhower ignored the racial issues, Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren stepped up to address civil rights for African Americans.
In Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954), the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public schools was unequal and, thus, unconstitutional. The decision reversed the previous ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).
Southern states opposed the ruling. Congressmen from these states signed the "Declaration of Constitutional Principles" in 1956, pledging their unyielding resistance to desegregation.
Crisis at Little Rock
President Eisenhower did not support integration because he shied away from social issues. In September 1957, Orval Faubus, the governor of Arkansas, used the National Guard to prevent 9 black students from enrolling in Little Rock's Central High School. Confronted with a direct challenge to federal authority, Eisenhower sent troops to escort the children to their classes.
In 1957, Congress passed the first Civil Rights Act since Reconstruction Days. It set up a permanent Civil Rights Commission to investigate violations of civil rights and it authorized federal injunctions to protect voting rights.
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1957. It sought to mobilize the power of black churches on behalf of black rights.
On February 1, 1960, 4 black college students in Greensboro, North Carolina demanded service at a whites-only lunch counter. Within a week, the sit-in reached 1,000 students, spreading a wave of wade-ins, lie-ins, and pray-ins across the South demanding equal rights. In April 1960, southern black students formed the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to give more focus to their efforts.
Eisenhower Republicanism at Home
When dealing with people, President Eisenhower was liberal, but when dealing with the economy and the government, he was conservative. He strived to balance the federal budget and to guard America from socialism.
In 1954, giving in to the Mexican government's worries that illegal Mexican immigration to the United States would undercut the bracero program of legally imported farmworkers, President Eisenhower deported a million illegal immigrants in Operation Wetback.
Eisenhower tried to revert to the policy of assimilating Native American tribes into American culture,but his plan was dropped in 1961 after most tribes refused to comply.
Eisenhower wanted to cancel New Deal programs, but he lacked pulic support to do so. He supported the Federal Highway Act of 1956, which created thousands of miles of federally-funded highways.
Eisenhower only managed to balance the budget 3 times while in office (8 years). In 1959, he incurred the biggest peacetime deficit in the history of the United States.
A New Look in Foreign Policy
In 1954, secretary of state John Foster Dulles proposed a policy of boldness in which a fleet of superbombers would be built and equipped with nuclear bombs (called the Strategic Air Command, or SAC). This would allow the U.S. to threaten countries such as the Soviet Union and China with nuclear weapons.
At the Geneva summit conference in 1955, President Eisenhower attempted to make peace with the new Soviet Union dictator, Nikita Khrushchev, following Stalin's death. Peace negotiations were rejected.
The Vietnam Nightmare
In the early 1950s, nationalist movements tried to throw the French out of Vietnam. Vietnam leader Ho Chi Minh became increasingly communist while America became increasingly anticommunist.
After the nationalists won at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954, a peace was called. Vietnam was divided at the 17th parallel. Ho Chi Minh was given the north, while a pro-Western government, led by Ngo Dinh Diem, was given the south. The Vietnamese nationalists were promised a nationwide election two years after the peace accords, but this never happened because it looked the communists would win.
A False Lull in Europe
In 1955, West Germany was let into NATO. Also in 1955, the Eastern European countries and the Soviets signed the Warsaw Pact. This was a communist military union to counteract NATO.
In May 1955, the Soviets ended the occupation of Austria. In 1956, Hungary rose up against the Soviets attempting to win their independence. When their request for aid from the United States was denied, they were slaughtered by the Soviet forces. America's nuclear weapon was too big of a weapon to use on such a relatively small crisis.
Menaces in the Middle East
In 1953, in an effort to secure Iranian oil for Western countries, the CIA created a coup that installed Mohammed Reza Pahlevi as the dictator of Iran.
President Nasser of Egypt sought funds from the West and the Soviets to build a dam on the Nile River. After the Americans learned of Egypt's involvement with the Soviets, the Americans withdrew their monetary offer. As a result, Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, which was owned by the French and British. In October of 1956, the French and British attacked Egypt, starting the Suez Crisis. The two countries were forced to retreat after America refused to provide them with oil.
Eisenhower Doctrine: a 1957 pledge of U.S. military and economic aid to Middle Eastern nations threatened by communist aggression.
In 1960, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, and Venezuela joined together to form the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Round Two for Ike
President Eisenhower decidedly beat his Democratic opponent, Adlai Stevenson, and he was reelected in the election of 1956.
Fraud and corruption in American labor unions caused the president to take an interest in passing labor laws. In 1959, President Eisenhower passed the Landrum-Griffin Act. It was designed to hold labor leaders more accountable for financial illegalities.
The Race with the Soviets into Space
On October 4, 1957, the Soviets launched the Sputnik I satellite into space. In November, they launched the satellite Sputnik II, carrying a dog. The two satellites gave credibility to Soviet claims that superior industrial production is achieved through communism.
In response, President Eisenhower established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The technological advances in the Soviet Union made Americans think that the educational system of the Soviet Union was better than the United State's system. In 1958, the National Defense and Education Act (NDEA) gave $887 million in loans to college students and in grants to improve teaching sciences and languages.
The Continuing Cold War
Due to environmental concerns, the Soviet Union and the United States suspended nuclear tests in March and October 1958, respectively.
In July 1958, Lebanon called for aid under the Eisenhower Doctrine as communism threatened to take over the country. In 1959, Soviet dictator Khrushchev appeared before the U.N. General Assembly and called for complete disarmament. In 1960, an American U-2 spy plane was shot down in Russia, ending the possibility of an quick peaceful resolution.
Cuba's Castroism Spells Communism
Latin Americans began to show dissent towards America as the United States seemed to neglect Latin America's economic needs in favor of Europe's. They also despised constant American intervention. In 1954, for example, the CIA led a coup that overthrew a leftist government in Guatemala.
Fidel Castro led a coup that overthrew the American-supported government of Cuba in 1959. Castro became militarily and economically allied with the Soviet Union; it had become a military satellite for the Soviet Union.
In August 1960, Congress authorized $500 million to prevent communism from spreading in Latin America.
Kennedy Challenges Nixon for the Presidency
The Republicans nominated Richard Nixon to run for president and Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. for vice president in the election of 1960. The Democrats nominated John F. Kennedy to run for president and Lyndon B. Johnson for vice president.
The Presidential Issues of 1960
John F. Kennedy's Catholicism irritated the Protestant people in the Bible Belt South.
Kennedy said that the Soviets, with their nuclear bombs and Sputniks, had gained on America's prestige and power. Nixon was forced to defend the existing administration (Republican) and claim that America's prestige had not slipped.
Television played a key role in the presidential election as Kennedy's personal appeal attracted many people. Kennedy won the election of 1961, gaining support from workers, Catholics, and African Americans.
An Old General Fades Away
America was economically prosperous during the Eisenhower years. Alaska and Hawaii became states in 1959. As a Republican president, Eisenhower had helped integrate the reforms of the Democratic New Deal and Fair Deal programs into American life.
Changing Economic Patterns
The invention of the transistor in 1948 sparked a revolution in electronics, especially in computers. Computer giant International Business Machines (IBM) grew tremendously.
Aerospace industries grew in the 1950s, in large part due to Eisenhower's SAC and to an expanding passenger airline business.
In 1956, the number of "white-collar" (no manual labor) workers exceeded the number of "blue-collar" (manual labor) workers. As a result, union memberships declined.
White-collar jobs opened up opportunities for women. The majority of clerical and service jobs created after 1950 were filled by women. Women's new dual role as a worker and a homemaker raised questions about family life and about traditional definitions of gender roles.
Feminist Betty Friedan published in 1963 The Feminine Mystique, helping to launch the modern women's movement. The book discussed the widespread unhappiness of women who were housewives.
Consumer Culture in the Fifties
The innovations of the credit card, fast-food, and new forms of recreation highlighted the emerging lifestyle of leisure and affluence. In 1946, there were only 6 TV stations, but there were 146 by 1956. "Televangelists" like Baptist Billy Graham used the TV to spread Christianity.
As the population moved west, sports teams also moved west. Popular music was transformed during the 1950s. Elvis Presley created a new style known as rock and roll.
Traditionalists were critical of Presley and many of the social movements during the 1950s.
The Life of the Mind in Postwar America
Pre-war realist, Ernest Hemingway wrote The Old Man and the Sea (1952). John Steinbeck, another pre-war writer, wrote graphic portrayals of American society. Joseph Heller's Catch-22 (1961) discussed the antics and anguish of American airmen in the wartime Mediterranean.
The problems created by the new mobility and affluence of American life were explored by John Updike and John Cheever. Louis Auchincloss wrote about upper-class New Yorkers. Gore Vidal wrote a series of historical novels.
Poetry and playwrights also flourished during the postwar era. Books by black authors made best-seller lists. Led by William Faulkner, the South also had a literary renaissance.
