Eisenhower Era

Chapter 37

Essential Questions?

• What political, social, and economic factors lead to the US becoming involved in the Vietnam conflict?

• How is America different because of the social movements that took place in the post WWII era?

Eisenhower Timeline• 1953: Eisenhower inaugurated

– CIA coup leads to shah controlled Iran• 1954: French defeat in Vietnam

– McCarthy hearings– Brown v. Board of Education– SEATO formed– 1st McDonald’s

• 1955: Montgomery Bus Boycott– Warsaw Pact created– AFL-CIO merger

• 1956: USSR crushes Hungarian movement– Suez crisis– Eisenhower reelected

• 1957: Little Rock 9– SCLC formed– Eisenhower Doctrine– USSR launch of Sputnik

• 1959: Castro takes over Cuba– Alaska and Hawaii statehood

• 1960: Sit-in movements– U-2 incident– OPEC formed– Kennedy elected president

Technology Boom• Massive suburban growth,

increased education, increased production, military spending all lead to new technologies.

• Computers: IBM pioneers the world of computing. – Original computers massive in size,

not capable of many functions– Calculators revolutionize

mathematics.

• Military research spawns aerospace industry.– Commercial jet travel becomes

affordable, common.

• New fields of work– White-collar jobs (not

physical) increase.• Return of the Cult of Domesticity

– Affluence of middle class leads many mothers to return to the home.

– TV and pop culture portray the “perfect” housewife.

• Birth of Feminism– Some lash back at this “regression” of

female opportunities.– Betty Friedan publishes The Feminine

Mystique, kicks of the new women’s right smovement.

Consumer Culture• Business caters to

growing middle class, whose wealth and recreation desires were exploited

• Fast food invented– McDonald’s

• Theme Parks– Disney Land

• Television– Revolutionized entertainment

and advertising– Christianity engages in

televangelism (Billy Graham)– Sports boom: baseball follows

Sunbelt out of Northeast– Music changes, geared toward

Baby Boomers• Elvis Pressley “invents” rock and roll

• New mass “common” culture pushes teenagers to conform – Hints of rebellion that will grow in the

60s.– Conflict between WWII/ Great

Depression parents and Baby Boomer kids.

1952 Election• 22nd Amendment passed, Truman

decides not to seek 3rd term.• Eisenhower

– Hero of D-Day– Courted by both Dems and

Rep as presidential candidate; chooses Republicans

• Democrats pick Adlai Stevenson• Issues: Korean War, Cold War• Ike’s VP Nixon was accused of

illegally accepting campaign $– Won nation over with “Checkers

Speech”– America likes Ike: 442 to 89

McCarthyism• 2nd Red Scare

– Red China– USSR develops Hydrogen Bomb– Spies in government (Hiss,

Rosenbergs)– Korean War

• America looking for someone to blame.

• Senator Joseph McCarthy looked to capitalize on Red Scare by claiming to have evidence of more spies in government.

• Used his position and television to “identify” potential threats.

• In Senate hearings he would allude to top-secret information in his accusations of “commies”.

• In reality, he had no information, just wanted to make a name for himself for future elections.

• At first many believed him, those accused lost jobs, some committed suicide.

• Eventually he began accusing top military officials. They exposed his fraud.

• Today, McCarthyism is synonymous with accusing someone of wrong while having no evidence.

Fighting Segregation• “Jim Crow” segregation laws had

existed since the end of Reconstruction.

• 1946: 14 year old Emmitt Till lynched in Mississippi.

• 1947: Jackie Robinson breaks color barrier in baseball.

• 1954: Brown v. Board of Education declared de jure segregation to be unequal– Case overturned Plessey v. Ferguson– Argued by future SC Justice Thurgood

Marshall– 1st of many cases ruled over by Earl

Warren who expands personal liberty in the 50s-70s

• 1955: Rosa Parks and Dr. King successfully lead the Montgomery Bus Boycott– Paved way for future civil

disobedience.

• President Eisenhower was reluctant to support the cause of civil rights.

• 1957: Eisenhower sends federal troops to Little Rock, AR to enforce Brown v. Board.

• Civil Rights organizations such as CORE and SCLC continue fight for integration peacefully.

Long Time ComingRosa Parks Dr. Martin L. King Jr.

Youth Action• College and high school AA follow

King’s example of nonviolent resistance.

• These young blacks of the 50s were growing up in a time of plenty, yet they were deprived of much opportunity.

• 1960: NC A&T students begin the “sit-in” movement at major chain store Woolworth’s in Greensboro.

• The idea spreads throughout the nation.

• SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) founded at Shaw U. in Raleigh.

Domestic Issues• 1950s conservative values clash

with changing culture.• Youth culture of change

contradicts middle class culture of tradition.

• Eisenhower and Reps. try to halt the creeping socialism of the New Deal and decrease the size of US gov.

• Operation Wetback: movement to curb illegal immigration from Latin America. 1 million immigrants sent back to Mexico.– Beginning of modern nativism toward

Hispanics.

• All of Ike’s anti-big government talk was contradicted by the largest works project ever.

• Interstate Highway Act employed thousands in the creation of the modern interstate highway system.

• New roads add to the commercial boom and economic expansion, yet increase our national debt.

Domestic IssuesOperation Wetback Interstate Highway System

Foreign Policy• New Sec. of State John Foster

Dulles promised to not just contain communism, but to “”roll back” the reds.

• Military focus became the Strategic Air Command, fleet of bombers capable of delivering nuclear bombs anywhere in the world.

• Hope comes when Stalin dies in 1953, but new Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev proves to be just as tough.

• Warsaw Pact: Alliance of Eastern European communist nations.– Rival of NATO

• The Truman Doctrine met a series setback during the Hungarian uprising.

• 1956: Hungary fights the USSR for independence, expect US support.

• US does nothing, Hungary gets crushed, other E. European nations feel they can not rely on US.

• Era of “massive retaliation” begins. USSR and US both were likely to blow each other off the map in the event of war.

• This fear shapes future decisions on both sides.

“Russians go Home”

Vietnam Develops• Vietnam had been a French colony

pre-WWII.• Japanese takeover.• After WWII France tries to retake,

defeated by Vietnamese forces at Dienbienphu.

• Vietnam was free, but the people disagreed on the new form of government.

• Ho Chi Minh was the “Washington” of Vietnam, and most of his followers wanted communism.

• UN divides the nation at the 17th parallel: Commies in North, Pro-American forces in South.

• South Vietnam leader Ngo Dinh Diem very cruel to pro-communist and Buddhists alike.

• Elections were to be held in late 1950s to decide on what type of government a united Vietnam would have.

• Elections never held because it was obvious commies would win.

• Vietnam would remain divided.• Problem!!!! Not everyone in

South Vietnam wanted democracy; most support Minh and the northern communists.

VietnamHo Chi Minh Ngo Dinh Diem

Vietnam

Middle East• Since Treaty of Versailles, UK and

France had controlled much of Middle East.

• Nations gain independence after WWII.

• A cheap supply of oil became increasingly important to US interests during the economic boom of the 50s.

• Fear of communism in ME sparked US interest in the region.

• CIA overthrows pro-USSR regime in Iran. Installs the Shah, a US friendly dictator.

• 1956: Egypt threatens to take over the UK owned Suez Canal, vital link for oil from ME.

• UK, France, and Israel coordinate an attack on Egyptian forces.

• US feared a USSR retaliation, and refused to aid UK, forcing them to withdraw.

• Major turning point!!!!! US and Europe prove that they are dependent on ME oil, becomes major issue for generations to come.

• Eisenhower Doctrine: US would provide aid to any ME nation threatened by communism.

• OPEC formed: organization of ME nations.– Power of oil gives them an upper hand

in dealing with US and USSR.

Space Race• Ike reelected in 1956: 457 to 73.• USSR causes US panic with launch

of Sputnik in 1957.• US fears that we have fallen

behind the USSR in technology.• NASA created, space race begins

to gain an upper hand in “New Frontier”

• National Defense in Education Act: increased emphasis on math and science.– Need to be sure future Americans can

compete.

– Loss of traditional education (history , Latin, French, reading)

• Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles: ICBMs developed

• New missiles can travel around the world in a few minutes, deliver a nuclear blast anywhere on globe.

• USSR soon develops there own. • Idea of massive retaliation

expands (nuclear clock begins to tick down to doomsday).

Space Race

Cold War Continues• 1960: US spy plane U2 was shot

down over USSR.– International crisis, world new we

were spying on Soviets.– Makes world feel sympathetic toward

commies, us look like bad guys.– USSR spying on us too, just can’t

catch them.

• Big trouble in Cuba– Since Spanish American War, US had

controlled Cuba.– We supported dictator Fugencio

Batista, but Cubans didn’t.– Very cruel and unfair to masses of

Cubans.

• 1959: Rebel leader Fidel Castro overthrows Batista. – Batista and supporters flee to US.

• US does little to help, believing that Castro would support US policies.– We were wrong!

• Castro is a communist, and allies himself with USSR.

• Now we have a communist enemy 90 miles away from Florida.

• US panics

Fidel Castro

1960 Election• 22nd Amendment prohibited

Eisenhower from 3rd term.• Republicans pick VP Richard

Nixon.• Democrats choose Senator John

Kennedy • Issues

– Kennedy was a Catholic– Civil Rights– Cuba– Cold War

• 1960 election largely influenced by TV.– 1st televised debates– Nixon looks tired, old.– Kennedy youthful and pretty.– Close election, but image wins the

day for Kennedy.– Marks the beginning of new era in

American politics: looks, not just substance matter.

• Kennedy wins 303-219

President John Kennedy

Literature of 1950s• Realism of 20s and 30s dies with

Hemingway and Steinbeck.• Psychedelic and surreal writing

carried the day.– Norman Mailer, Kurt Vonnegut.

• Pent-up youthful frustrations of the 50s were demonstrated by JD Salinger in The Catcher and the Rye.

• Playwrights Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller highlighted the misfits of this era of conformity.

• Ralph Ellison characterized the dilemma of AAs in The Invisible Man.– “Be your own father, young man. And

remember, the world is possibility if only you'll discover it. Last of all, leave the Mr. Nortons alone, and if you don't know what I mean, think about it. Farewell.”