The

Eisenhowe

r Era

Chapter 37

Prosperous 50s• Surge in home ownership

– 25% of all homes standing in 1960 were built in the 50s

– 83% in suburbia• Science and Technology drove

economic growth– IBM– Boeing’s 707

• White collar workers outnumbered blue collar workers

Women in the 50s• Post war cult of domesticity

– Leave it to Beaver mothers• New jobs in the clerical area opens new

opportunities for women in the 50s– Pink-collar ghetto– Women were now both workers and

homemakers• Betty Friedan published “The Feminine

Mystique” in 1963– Classic feminine protest literature– Her indictment of the boredom of housewifery

Consumer Culture of the 50s• 1950 saw a huge expansion of the

middle class and the blossoming of a Consumer Culture– Diners Club put out the first credit card in

1950– McDonalds opened in San Bernardino– Disneyland opened in 1955– Easy credit, high-volume fast food, and new

forms of recreation brought on a new life style

TV

• played an important role 7 million sets sold in 1951 by 1960 almost everyone had one.

• Television brought together the commercialization of professional sports

• By 1955 advertisers spent 10 billion to sell their goods.

• Televangelists

Dwight Eisenhower• Had a leadership style which projected sincerity,

fairness, and optimism• He had dealt well with difficult allies• In the war he was seen to be an unmilitary

general in the white house, he was an unpolitical president

• Biggest asset was the affection and respect of the people

• His record will indicate that pres. Eisenhower’s strongest commitment during his presidency was to social harmony

Joseph McCarthy• Says that there were 205 card caring communists in

the state dept.• Later said 112 then 57 and when all was said and

done he failed to find even one • Flourished during the cold war (witch hunt mentality)• The careers of countless officials, writers, actors, and

others were ruined after McCarthy had named them• Politicians were afraid because opinion polls showed

approval • His communist crusade ended when he alleged that

there were communists in the army. The hearings were broadcast on television

Segregation• Jim Crow• 20% of blacks in the south could vote and

about 5% in some states• Some post war progress was made in the

North– Jackie Robinson– Equal access to public accommodations

• Sweatt v. Painter in 1950 said that separate professional schools were not equal

• 1944 white primaries unconstitutional

Civil Rights• Earl Warren named Chief Justice by Eisenhower• Warren became a judicial activist not the

conservative everyone had thought• He encouraged the court to apply populist

principals to their interpretations of the constitution (judicial legislation)

• One of the most famous cases was Brown v. Board of Ed. 1954

• This overturned Plessy v. Ferguson from 1896• Desegregation must go ahead with all deliberate

speed• Southern congressman pass the Dec. of

Constitutional Principles in 1956 pledging their resistance to desegregation

Eisenhower’s record • He had advised against integration of the

armed forces in 1948• He had criticized Pres. Truman’s call for

establishing a permanent Fair Employment Practices Commission

• Said that Brown had upset the customs and convictions of a least 22 generations of Americans

• Forced to act at Little Rock when Orval Faubus ordered the National Guard to prevent 9 black students from entering

Rosa parks begins Montgomery bus boycott• Martin Luther King Jr. leads boycott• Southern Christian Leadership

Conference formed in 1957 to mobilize the power of black churches on behalf of civil rights

• Sit-in movement launched in 1960 in a Greensboro, NC at a Woolworths lunch counter.

• 1960 Student non-violent coordinating committee to give more focus and force to the efforts. More radical.

Civil Rights Act of 1957 was passed -- first since reconstruction

• Set up a civil rights commission to investigate civil rights violations

• Authorized federal injunctions to protect voting rights violations

Dynamic conservatism• “ in all those things which deal with people be

liberal be human” but when it comes to people’s money, economy, or government, be conservative.”

• Balance budget which he did 3 times• Transferred offshore oil fields to states• Encouraged competition in TVA• Sec. of HEW condemned the free distribution of Salk

vaccine as socialized medicine• Sec. of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson tried to decontrol the

farm by turning it back to the free market but he still buys a tremendous amount of surplus

• The biggest economic problem of the 50s was low farm prices

Takes part in the New Deal by• Extending social sec.

• Increasing minimum wages to 1.00

• Creating an interstate Highway system

Foreign Policy

– Sec of state John Foster Dulles– Don’t just contain but roll back

communism– Massive retaliation “more bang for the

buck”– U.S. could not act quickly in Hungary

because we did not have the weapons to do so (too rigid)

– Became very expensive

FOREIGN POLICY ISSUES

• Warsaw pact created to counter NATO

• Khrushchev becomes dictator of Russia and denounces Stalin

• Hungarians go on strike for their freedom and Russia rolls in with tanks

• CIA engineers coups in both Iran and Guatemala any government just not communist

Suez crisis

• Pres. Nasser of Egypt seeking funds to build a dam flirts with the soviets to get support and U.S. and Britain withdraws.– Nasser nationalizes Suez– British French and Israel attack Egypt in Oct.

1956– U.S. sides with UN and Russia sides with US

for cease fire – Gives strength to the UN

Communist pressure in Middle East causes Eisenhower Doctrine 1957

• Empowers the Pres. to extend economic and military aid to the nations of the Middle East

• U.S. forced to send troops into Lebanon under Eisenhower Doctrine to keep it from communism in July 1958

Brinkmanship

• used by Dulles in China in support of Chiang Kai- shek (Jjaing Jeishi)

Sputnik Oct. 1957

• Shook Americas confidence

• Fear of missile gap

• Causes the U.S. to pass National defense Education Act 1958

Paris summit in may 1960

• Hopes were high

• Both to firm stands on Berlin

• killed by U-2 incident

Latin American Policy in Cuba• We support dictator Batista in Cuba• When Castro takes over in 1959 an

denounces Yankee Imperialism we cut off Cuban sugar imports

• Cuba became a Soviet Satellite and we break off diplomatic relations– One million Cubans between 1960 and

2000 come to America

Election of 1960

• Republicans choose Nixon • Demos. Choose Kennedy over

Johnson but Johnson placed on the ticket to appease the south

• Kennedy was Catholic and rich and Young

• TV debates probably tipped the scales to Kennedy

Life in Post War America• Literary Greats

– Hemmingway• realist

– Steinbeck• Portrayals of American society

– Norman Mailer• Soldiers life in WWII

– Joseph Heller• Catch 22

– Arthur Miller• Crucible