20th Century U.S. History Since World War II

Unit 3 – Eisenhower Administration (1953-1961)

“Modern Republicanism” When Eisenhower took office, he wanted to

limit the role of the presidential branch He wanted to bring back a better balance between

the branches He believed that the government should “be

conservative when it comes to money, liberal when it comes to human beings”

As for conservative spending, he wanted to cut the role of government in the economy

“Modern Republicanism” To do this, he wanted to:

Cut taxes Cut down the levels of funding Balance the budget after years of deficit spending Help encourage business growth

Even though he promoted strong business, the economic growth of the country slowed dramatically It had been 4.3% between 1947 and 1952 and

dropped to 2.5% between 1953 and 1960 There were also three recessions during Ike’s two

terms

Nettie Hunt and daughter on steps of U.S. Supreme Court after the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) decision

Start of the Civil Rights Movement In the postwar era, the National Association for the

Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and other groups sought to end segregation in the U.S.

Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (May 1954) Supreme Court ruled public school segregation illegal It stated that the “separate but equal” ruling put forth by

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) was unconstitutional However, many southern schools did not follow the ruling

Many became frustrated with the slow process of legally gaining more rights They instead turned to acts of civil disobedience These included mass sit-ins, boycotts, and “freedom rides” All of them were designed to be non-violent

Rosa Parks on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama

Start of the Civil Rights Movement On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested after

she refused to sit at the back of a Montgomery, Alabama bus Sparked a grassroots civil rights movement in the south MLK Jr. organized a citywide bus boycott in response The boycott lasted one year Supreme Court that forced the city to desegregate its

buses Southern resistance to civil rights increased

State legislatures made it more difficult for African Americans to vote by instituting poll taxes and literacy tests

The NAACP was outlawed in several states Local citizens organized councils to implement economic

reprisals against blacks who tried to attend white schools or vote

Start of the Civil Rights Movement On March 12, 1956, the southern members of

Congress issued the “Declaration of Constitutional Principles” It stated that the federal government did not have

the power to force desegregation on the states Also known as the “Southern Manifesto,” it was

signed by 101 Congressmen Eisenhower himself did not openly push for

desegregation Instead, he quietly worked towards desegregation

of federal offices in the south

Start of the Civil Rights Movement In January 1957, the Southern Christian

Leadership Conference (SCLC) was formed by black religious leaders including Martin Luther King Jr. They promoted non-violent civil disobedience

In South Carolina, Citizenship Schools were set up to teach blacks how to read and write to pass the voting tests

The Little Rock Nine being escorted by members of the 101st Airborne Division

The Little Rock Nine In 1955, the Little Rock Board of Education

agreed to the “Blossom Plan” This was to desegregate the school system

starting in September 1957 This was done in accordance to Brown It was unanimously approved by the board

In 1957, nine black students were selected to attend the Little Rock Central High

On September 2, 1957, Governor Orval Faubus ordered the Arkansas National Guard prevent these students from entering the school

The Little Rock Nine Eisenhower met with Faubus a week later to ask

him abide by Brown On September 20, a federal judge ruled that

Faubus illegally using the national guard Local police were to be used instead to keep the

peace On September 23, the police were able to

successfully get the students inside the school When news got out of this, over 1,000 people

confronted the police now outside of the school The police had to evacuate the nine students

On September 25, members of the 101st Airborne escort the students to school The Arkansas National Guard is placed under federal

control

Little Rock Crisis (1957)

Senator Joe McCarthy

Joe McCarthy Joe McCarthy was a senator from Wisconsin from

1947 to 1957 He is best known for leading the battle against

domestic communists during the early 1950s He originally saw the “Communist question” as a

rallying point for the Republican party Wheeling Speech (February 1950)

Given in front of the Wheeling, West Virginia Women’s Club

“I have here in my hand a list of 205 that were known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping the policy of the State Department”

Later on this list was pared down to 57 names

McCarthyism From 1950 to 1954, McCarthy attacked numerous

political figures, accusing them of being communists He used the press and television as part of his anti-

communist campaigns Anybody who spoke out against him was branded a

communist This worked because the American fear of communism

grew tremendously during this time period After the 1952 elections, McCarthy became the

chairman of the Senate Committee on Government Operations Part of this was the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on

Investigations McCarthy used this subcommittee to continue on with his

accusations and investigations

Army-McCarthy Hearings In 1953, McCarthy and his subcommittee began to

investigate the army This included a number of high-ranking officers

On March 11, 1954, the army then accused McCarthy of pressuring the army to give preferential treatment to a former aid who had been drafted McCarthy’s chief counsel, Roy Cohn, had also been

accused McCarthy believed this accusation was made in

retaliation for his investigations A special Senate committee was put together to

investigate the claims

Army-McCarthy Hearings The Army-McCarthy Hearings began in April

1954 and lasted 36 days It was televised across the country The committee found that McCarthy had done

nothing improper The televised hearings did change American

perception of McCarthy The American public saw McCarthy as a lying,

reckless bully After these hearings, McCarthy’s popularity

dropped dramatically

Election of 1956

Election of 1956 During the Republican National Convention in

August 1956, Eisenhower was unchallenged in gaining the party’s nomination There had been some doubts the previous year as

he suffered a heart attack and surgery for ileitus (inflamed small intestine) but had been cleared by his doctors

Nixon was once again approved as his running mate

The Democrats once again appointed Adlai Stevenson as their nominee Many Democrats did not seek nomination as

Eisenhower’s popularity was so high at the time

Election of 1956 Eisenhower ran his campaign on the successes

of the first four years of his administration This included ending the Korean War

Stevenson focused his attacks on Eisenhower’s expansion of the military and nuclear weapons program He called for a reduction in military spending

Eisenhower received 57.4% of the votes and 457 electoral votes Stevenson only received 42% and 73 respectively One “faithless elector” voted for Walter B. Jones

instead of Stevenson

1956 Election Results

“Joe-4”

The H-Bomb During Eisenhower’s administration, one of the key

issues with the atomic weapons program was to develop a viable delivery system While “Ivy Mike” was the first thermonuclear device

tested, it was too large to transport via plane or missile On August 12, 1953, the Soviet Union exploded its

first thermonuclear device, “Joe-4” It technically was not a “true” hydrogen bomb and was

not as powerful as the ones designed by the U.S. However, what made it so dangerous that the bomb

was small enough that it could be transported via plane

The H-Bomb The U.S. followed up with its “Castle Bravo”

test on March 1, 1954 The testing took place on the Bikini Atoll Scientists made an error in calculations for the

bomb so instead of being a 5 megaton explosion, it created a 14.8 megaton one

It was the largest nuclear device exploded by the U.S.

Japanese fishermen on the Fukuryu Maru were 90 miles off the coast of Bikini at the time of the test and died of radiation poisoning

Castle Bravo test (March 1, 1954)

Sputnik and the Start of the “Space Race”

The “Space Race” In 1952, the International Council of Scientific

Unions named the International Geophysical Year (IGY) It was going to be held from July 1, 1957, to

December 31, 1958 During this time the sun’s activity was going to be

at an 11-year high so scientists were encouraged to examine “global geophysical activities”

On July 29, 1955, the White House announced that the U.S. would participate in the IGY by launching an artificial satellite into orbit The project became known as “Vanguard”

The “Space Race” On October 4, 1957, the Soviets launched

Sputnik 1, the world’s first artificial satellite, into orbit

The U.S. was completely off-guard by this launch Vanguard was still in its developmental stage with

scientists still trying to develop the first stage of the rocket launcher

Many were shocked that the Soviets got their satellite up first since the U.S. had been considered the leader in space technology

It marks the beginning of the “space race” between the U.S. and the Soviets

The “Space Race” The Soviets then quickly followed up with the

launch of Sputnik 2 on November 3, 1957 This satellite carried the first ever live passenger,

a dog named Laika Panicked by the Soviets achievements, the

U.S. attempted to launch Vanguard TV-3 even though it was not ready On December 6th, the launch took place but the

engine injectors failed The rocket only rose about four feet, then

collapsed back to the ground and exploded

Vanguard explosion (Dec. 6, 1957)

The “Space Race” In February 1958, Eisenhower created the

Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) Part of the Department of Defense, ARPA was

designed to oversee research and development of new technologies for the military

Its focus in its early years was not just on the “space race” but on the development of ballistic missile defense and the detection of nuclear tests

On March 17th, Vanguard 1 was successfully launched into orbit There were four other failed tests afterwards

before Vanguard 2 was successfully launched on February 17, 1959

The “Space Race” On July 29, 1958, the National Aeronautics

and Space Act was signed into law It created the National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA) which was responsible for the U.S. space program

It also created the National Aeronautics and Space Council which would advise the president on matters regarding the space program

In 1959, Congress expanded funding to the National Science foundation by almost $100 million It was now receiving $134 million a year

The “Space Race” The U.S. also began the Polaris program

This was a research and development program to design submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) Ballistic missiles are designed as a delivery system for

nuclear weapons The program began in December 1956 with a contract

given to Lockheed to develop the missile On July 20, 1960, the first successful underwater

launch of the Polaris A1 took place from the U.S.S. George Washington

On May 6, 1962, a Polaris A1 was successfully launched into the Pacific with a live nuclear warhead This strategic missile launch was the only full live test done

by the U.S.

Bringing an End to the Korean War

Korean War In March 1953, the biggest turning point of the

Korean War occurred: Stalin died This left the Chinese with uncertainties about

continued Soviet support In May, Eisenhower stated that if negotiations for

a peace settlement failed, the U.S. would seek a “military solution” This implied a nuclear attack

On July 27, 1953, a cease-fire was put in place The Numbers:

142,000 casualties total with 33,000 of those in combat

17,000 UN forces died Around 2 million Koreans died

Effects of the Korean War U.S. military spending increased from $13

billion to $47 billion between 1950 and 1953 This followed the guidelines set by NSC-68

With the war, the U.S. started a more aggressive policy in Asia

A key component was the U.S. signing a peace treaty with Japan in September 1951 This treaty was designed to have Japan act as

balancing measure for the U.S. in the Pacific The U.S. increased aid to France when Ho Chi

Minh, leader of the anti-French movement in Vietnam, accepted aid from China and the Soviets

Effects of the Korean War The war prompted the U.S. to start plans to

rearm West Germany This was the first war that had African

Americans integrated in previously all-white units Their success on the front led to the acceptance of

fully integrated units North and South Korea are still divided along

the 38th parallel Neither side had accepted the peace agreement

put forth by the U.S. but they did sign a non-aggression pact in 1991

Crossing the 38th Parallel

Containment in the 1950’s Eisenhower had to reassess Truman’s containment

policy There was public criticism that the previous

administration had not done enough to contain communism

Secretary of State John Foster Dulles believed that it was not enough to contain communism He believed that the U.S. should promote democracy and

liberate countries from Soviet influence Eisenhower also spoke out against the Soviets

However, he was not so willing to help liberate Soviet satellites

He believed that getting involved would lead to a greater conflict

Throughout his two terms, the policy of containment remained the same as it had under Truman

Uprising in East Germany (1953)

Uprising in East Germany On June 17, 1953, a number of workers’ riots

broke out throughout East Germany Started when the Soviets increased production quotas

by 10 The rebellion then evolved into a political movement Many called for not only workplace reforms but

political ones as well, including free elections The Soviets responded by sending in tanks and

declaring a state of emergency Eisenhower did not want the U.S. to intervene for

fear of starting a third world war Organized a food distribution program to East Berlin It would not only help the striking workers but also

score brownie points for the U.S.

Nikita Khrushchev First Secretary of

the Communist Party (1953-1964)

“Khrushchev Thaw” In September 1953, Nikita Khrushchev

became Secretary of the Communist Party Control over the Soviet Union was divided

between him and Georgi Malekov until 1955 In 1955, he placed Nikolai Bulganin as the Soviet

Premier Khrushchev believed that Stalin had been too

tight on controls in the eastern bloc countries He believed that their relationship should be one

of cooperation rather than subjugation

“Khrushchev Thaw” On February 26, 1956, Khrushchev denounced

the harsh measures in place during Stalin’s regime in a secret speech to the Communist Party The report was called On the Personality Cult and

its Consequences On May 14, 1955, the Soviet Union and the

European Socialist countries signed the Warsaw Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance It was in response to the creation of NATO

NATO v. Warsaw Pact

Hungary 1956

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 Hungary suffered under political and economic

repression after World War II In July 1956, Hungarians replaced the old Stalin-

like Mátyás Rákosi This was in response to Khrushchev's “secret speech” He was replaced with a more “liberal” leader

Over the next few months, people began to speak out for more freedoms and political reforms

On October 23, 1956, over 200,000 marched in Budapest It was in sympathy to the Polish who had gained some

political reform after their uprising The demonstration started out mostly a peaceful

event They did tear down the 30 foot tall statue of Stalin

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 When Hungarian police began shooting tear gas

into the crowds, the demonstration became violent The next day, Soviet troops entered the city in an

attempt to seize control Many used Molotov Cocktails against the Soviet forces

as their only effect weapon against the Soviet tanks The rebels were able to force Soviet troops out of the

city by October 30 A new government was set up under Imre Nagy,

who was considered a more “moderate” communist Nagy wanted to push through numerous reforms,

including withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 Eisenhower said “I feel with the Hungarian

people” Even Secretary of State John Dulles told the

Hungarian people “To all those suffering under communist slavery, let us say you can count on us”

Both of these implied that the U.S. would be willing to help the new government

Khrushchev considered the loss of Hungary from the Pact too great a threat to Soviet interests

On November 1, 1956, Soviet forces invaded Hungary en masse to crush the rebellion They re-entered Budapest on November 4

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 Eisenhower did nothing to help the

Hungarians when the Soviets crushed their rebellion At the time, the U.S. was involved in the Suez

Crisis and in Vietnam Hungary was considered too deep into the Soviet

Bloc and if the U.S. got involved, this could possibly lead to another world war

Also, elections were coming up in the U.S. so there is a belief that Eisenhower did not want to jeopardize his chance at re-election

Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969)

Trouble in Southeast Asia Part of the policy of containment meant

protecting southeast Asia from communist infiltration

Indochina had been a French colony since 1887 It included Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos During World War II, Indochina was a French-

administered possession of Japan In 1930, Ho Chi Minh founded the Indochinese

Communist Party In 1941, Ho organized other Vietnamese

nationalist groups into the League for the Independence of Vietnam This later became known as the Viet Minh

Trouble in Southeast Asia After the Japanese surrender in August 1945, Ho

led an uprising and was able to seize power He established the Democratic Republic of Vietnam

The French were not so quick to give up the territory With the help of British forces was able to seize the

southern part of Vietnam By the beginning of 1946, there were two

Vietnams: A communist north controlled by the Viet Minh The south controlled by the French

First Indochina War At first, the two governments tried to work

together but their ideologies clashed The French wanted the area to remain a colony

while the Viet Minh wanted an independent Vietnam War broke out in November 1946 While Ho was a communist, he did not have

strong ties to the Soviets Truman, however, believed he did and saw this as

another move in the spread of Soviet power In 1950, the U.S. officially recognized the French

puppet government in Vietnam and began sending aid to the French

First Indochina War When Eisenhower came to office, he refused to

directly participate in the conflict “I am frankly of the belief that no amount of American

military assistance in Indochina can conquer an enemy which is everywhere and at the same time nowhere, ‘an enemy of the people’ which has the sympathy and covert support of the people” (1954)

On July 21, 1954, the Geneva Accords were signed Granted the independence of Vietnam, Laos, and

Cambodia Vietnam was divided into two separate zones that

were to hold free elections to be held in 1956 to unify the country

South Vietnam South Vietnam’s leader, Ngo Dinh Diem,

prevented the elections from occurring The U.S. supported his decision

The U.S. continued to provide economic aid and military advisement to South Vietnam

In response to the cancelled elections, opponents to Diem’s regime formed the Communist National Liberation Front This became known as the Viet Cong They received support from North Vietnam

Partition Plan for Palestine (1947)

Creation of Israel In 1947, the UN passed Resolution 181 to end

the Arab-Jewish conflict in the British Mandate of Palestine It divided Palestine into Arab and Jewish areas Jerusalem was to be kept an international zone

under U.N. control due to its religious significance A majority of Jewish groups supported the plan but

the Arab groups did not On May 14, 1948, the British left Palestine and

the state of Israel was officially created The U.S. recognized the state of Israel 15 minutes

after it was proclaimed

The 1948-1949 Arab-Israeli War On May 15, 1948 Arab forces invaded southern

and eastern Palestine that were not part of the Jewish state The forces were made up of troops from Jordan, Egypt,

Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon The Secretary-General of the League of Arab

States sent a letter to the U.N. Stated that it was not accepting the plan to create two

separate states Instead, they wanted to create a united state of

Palestine Israelis were able to drive the Arab forces out

Israel increased its borders to include most of southern Palestine

The West Bank and Gaza went to Jordan and Egypt

1949 Armistice Lines

Growing Arab-Israel Tensions While the treaties of 1949 temporarily ended

hostilities, it did not end the tension between Israel and the Arab countries

Later that year, Egypt closed the Suez Canal to Israeli ships Under economic pressure from the U.N., Egypt

was forced to reopen the Canal in 1951 In 1954, General Gamal Abdel Nasser came to

power in Egypt He was a staunch supporter of pan-Arabism He claimed he wanted Egypt to be neutral in the

Cold War

Gamal Abdel Nasser President of Egypt

(1954-1970)

Suez Crisis Both the U.S. and Britain offered to help Egypt

fund the building of the Aswan Dam This was to be a giant hydroelectric power station on

the Nile River Part of the reason why the U.S. did this was due to its

plan to prevent the Middle East from falling into Soviet influence

In 1955, Egypt purchased arms from Czechoslovakia and officially recognized the People’s Republic of China When the U.S. and Britain found out about this, they

withdrew their offer of funding the dam on July 19, 1956 This was continuing the policy of containment

Suez Crisis On July 26, 1956, Egypt nationalized the Suez

Canal This meant that he forcibly placed the canal under

Egyptian control Nasser hoped that the tolls accumulated from the

Canal would pay for the dam Part of the damn (44%) had been controlled

by British interests Many feared Nasser would prevent British and

French ships from traveling through the canal especially those carrying oil to western Europe

Egypt did restrict Israeli ships from traveling through the Canal

Suez Crisis After all diplomatic options had failed, the British

and French, along with the Israelis, came up with a covert plan to wrestle away control of the Canal

On October 29, 1956 Israel invaded the Sinai Peninsula Britain and France intervened stating both the

Egyptian and Israeli troops must leave the canal area They were doing so under the guise of enforcing a U.N.

ordered a cease-fire On November 5, British and French troops began

occupying the canal area When Eisenhower heard of this he was incensed

He immediately demanded the withdrawal of troops from Egypt

Suez Crisis Khrushchev warned of a possible Soviet strike

if the troops were not removed Eisenhower sponsored a UN resolution

condemning the attack by the Israelis He also convinced other nations to stop exporting

oil to Britain or France because of their actions On December 22, 1956, the British and French

troops withdrew from the canal under orders from the U.N. U.N. Emergency Forces took control of the Sinai

Peninsula March 1957, Israeli troops withdrew as well

Eisenhower Doctrine On January 5, 1957, Eisenhower declared that

the U.S. must protect independent countries from Soviet aggression This was mainly in response to the Soviet’s threat

during the Suez Crisis He put forth his ideas of what was to become

known as the Eisenhower Doctrine The U.S. would give both economic and military

aid to Middle Eastern countries to prevent Soviet influence in the region

This was designed to have the U.S. fill in the vacuum left by the British and French leaving the region

Gary Powers and the U-2 Spy Plane Crisis

U-2 Crisis On May 1, 1960, a U-2 spy plane was shot down

over the Soviet Union It had been photographing intercontinental ballistic

missile (ICBM) development sites The U.S. government denied it was a spy plane

and said it was NASA “weather research” plane NASA issued a statement on May 5 “confirming” this The government had assumed that the pilot, Francis

Gary Powers, was dead and the plane destroyed On May 7, Khrushchev revealed that he not only

had the plane but had Powers as well The U.S. responded by stating that the plane

was only gathering information as was necessary “given the state of the world today”

U-2 Crisis The Soviets were angered by the “aggressive

acts of American aviation” They also warned that “if similar provocations are

repeated, it will be obliged to take retaliatory measures”

This incident led to the failure of the Paris Summit which began on May 15, 1960 Khrushchev demanded an apology which

Eisenhower refused to give Khrushchev stated that it was impossible to have

discussions about a “peaceful co-existence” with a country that encouraged the use of spy planes

Powers had been tried and found guilty of espionage He was sentenced to three years imprisonment and

seven years hard labor

Kennedy-Nixon TV Debates

Elections of 1960 By the time the elections of 1960 came around,

the American people wanted change Domestically, they thought the government had

been stagnant for the past eight years Many people were upset about the recessions under

Eisenhower, especially the one during 1957-8 Internationally, they believed the U.S. foreign

policy had been stagnant as well Many Americans saw Soviet Premier Nikita

Khrushchev as intemperate and volatile There were also strong anti-U.S. protests taking

place throughout Latin America Liberation movements sprung up in Africa and Asia

Elections of 1960 The Republican nominee was Richard Nixon

He technically had more governmental experience because he served as V.P. under Eisenhower for eight years

Many considered the best candidate because of that The Democrat nominee was John F. Kennedy

JFK represented a new, young direction for the government

He was charismatic and symbolized strength, vigor and youth

He had been a Senator of Massachusetts for eight years

He was Irish Catholic which raised some controversy

Elections of 1960 The turning point of the campaigns was the four

televised debates between the two candidates The first debate was watched by over 80 million

viewers They both discussed the same issues:

Economic growth An end to communist expansion Each used the term “new frontier” to explain the

future course of America Those who listened to the radio broadcast of the

debates felt that Nixon was the dominant party and he had “won” the debate

Elections of 1960 Those who watched the debates on TV believed

Kennedy won They were not paying so much attention to what was

being said but rather how the candidates looked and acted

Nixon had recently been hospitalized with an infection in his knee He looked pale and gaunt He also refused makeup to cover his heavy beard stubble

Kennedy, on the other hand, looked tanned and rested He held himself well and projected self-confidence

It is believed that this debate swayed over 4 million viewers to Kennedy’s side

Elections of 1960 Kennedy won with a margin of only 120,000

votes The Electoral College vote was 303-219 This does not reflect the very small margins that

JFK won in certain areas Kennedy won the Northeast and most of the major

cities while Nixon won the Midwest and the rural areas

There were accusations of fraud against Kennedy in Illinois and Texas Nixon refused to pursue recounts

1960 Election Results