Chapter 37Eisenhower Era

1952-1960

Dwight D. Eisenhower

• Won Election of 1952 and 1956– Former general during WWII– Republican– His presidency was one of the most prosperous,

peaceful, and politically tranquil in the 20th Century.

Great Quote

A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.

- Eisenhower

The Arms Race

• Mutually Assured Destruction– policy in which the United States and the Soviet

Union hoped to deter nuclear war by building up enough weapons to destroy each other

Nuclear Warhead ProliferationYear U.S. USSR Britain France China1945 6 0 0 0 01950 369 5 0 0 01955 3,057 200 10 0 01960 20,434 1,605 30 0 01965 31,642 6,129 310 4 1

Nuclear Fear

Cold War Technology

• Inventions whose origins go back to the Cold War include:– Microwave Oven– Computer– Satellites– GPS– Internet– Space Travel

Space Race

• US falls behind in outer space– Soviet Union launched a satellite known as

Sputnik 1 (1957)• Following month, another satellite that carried a dog

named Laika– US feared that Soviet space technology gave them the rocket

power to launch missiles into American cities

The Space Program

• Yuri Gagarin became first human to go to space– April 12, 1961

• Alan Shepherd became first American to go to space

• May 5, 1961

The U-2 Incident

• U.S. used secret flights over Soviet territory– Francis Gary Powers was shot down on May 1,

1960• Increased tensions between the U.S. and USSR

The Television Effect

Television was a relatively new medium in 1954 when the McCarthy hearings aired. McCarthy’s power waned as people saw firsthand his bullying tactics. Investigate other ways in which television influenced national or world affairs during the Cold War.

Fifties = Twenties

• Life in the 50’s was very similar to life in the 20’s– Consumerism

• Buying things (much of it on credit)

– Hello “Middle Class”

50’s Television

• TV ownership boomed– Radio networks bought up hundreds of stations

• ABC, CBS, NBC– Networks then sold airtime to companies for advertising

» Spawned fads which encouraged consumers to spend.

• TV reinforced gender and racial stereotypes• TV greatly affected politics

50’s Social Conformity

• People were “too timid to be individuals”– Women were encouraged to be obedient

housewives– Men had absolute authority

• TV programs reinforced conformity

• Asch’s Experiments in Conformity

Rock ‘n’ Roll

• Embraced by teenagers and feared by parents– Rock is made up of gospel, folk, blues, and country

• Cultural Backlash– Said to encourage race mixing and immoral

behavior• Known as:

– Devil’s music– A communist plot– A Communicable disease

50’s Teenage Rebellion

• Juvenile delinquency was hyped by ’50s mass media– Dress and hair styles became more “rebellious”– Influenced by rock music and the “Beats”

James Dean

The Beat Generation

• Group of American writers– Rejected much of American values and culture

• Wrote about their dissatisfaction of middle-class society.

– Many of these people became involved in the “hippie” movement.

Jack Kerouac

McCarthyism

• Term refers to unfair or unwarranted accusations towards someone.

• Named after Joseph McCarthy– Architect of the “Second Red Scare”

• He claimed that communists had infiltrated several government agencies.

The Interstate Highway System

• Championed by Eisenhower– Created the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956

• Interstate highways joined major cities

Eisenhower Doctrine

• U.S. foreign policy promising military or economic aid to any Middle Eastern country needing help in resisting communist aggression

• Feared radical nationalism would combine with international communism in the region and threaten Western interests

Life in the 50’s• Television• Juvenile Delinquency• Rock ’n’ Roll• Conformity

– “keep up with the Joneses” • Beat Writers

– Against conformity; stifled individualism• Baby Boom

– WWII soldiers making up for lost time• Nuclear Family

– Mom, Dad, Children• Religious Revival

– More churches = better community • Improved healthcare

– Vaccines, Antibiotics

Segregation Divides America

• South– Jim Crow Laws– De jure segregation

• Segregation is imposed by law– Ex. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

» “separate but equal”

– Segregation in schools, hospitals, transportation, restaurants, cemeteries, and beaches

Brown v. Board

• Brown v. Board of Education (1954)– This said that separate but equal is not equal– Supreme Court agreed with the NAACP’s

argument that segregated public education violated the U.S. Constitution

• The Court called for the implementation of its decision “with all deliberate speed” across the nation

Montgomery Bus Boycott

• 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger

Supporting the Boycott

• Bus boycotts spread throughout Montgomery– Walking, bicycles, hitchhikes, carpools, etc.

• Supreme Court ruled in favor of integrating the buses

The “Little Rock” Nine

• Desegregation in the South moved slowly– Started in 1957 with admission of nine African

Americans to an all-white high school

• Governor Orval Faubus blocked the nine– Used the Arkansas National Guard

Eisenhower’s Response

• Eisenhower responded with 1,000 federal troops to let the nine in– He took offense to Faubus disregarding the

federal courts.

Elizabeth Eckford Hazel Bryan

The Murder of Emmett Till

• Accused of whistling at a white women– 14 year old Till was brutally beaten and shot in the

head.• His death became a rallying cry in the Civil Rights

Movement.

The Greensboro Sit-In

• Woolworth’s Lunch Counter– Four African American college students were

denied service at lunch counter; they stayed until closing time

• Sparked other sit-in’s that helped overturn business segregation

Movement Grows

• Southern Christian Leadership Conference– (SCLC)– Alliance of church-based African American

organizations dedicated to end discrimination

• Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee– (SNCC)– Grass-roots movement that involved all classes of

African Americans in the struggle to defeat white racism and to obtain equality