Dwight David Eisenhower

Birth-Death: (1890 - 1969 ) Term: (1953-1961 )

President Eisenhower followed in the footsteps of his predecessors, and continued most of the policies set by the New Deal and Fair Deal programs. It was during his Presidency that desegregation began moving forward, and he enforced the Supreme Court decisions with the full force of his Executive authority.

Domestic Events of Dwight Eisenhower

    The presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower is characterized by the major changes in the treatment and the attitude towards African Americans. In 1954, the Supreme Court was presented with the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas case. The case protested segregated schools claiming that they cannot be "separate but equal." They also claimed that the refusal to permit their children to attend the schools was unconstitutional under the Fourteenth amendment.

    In the end, the Supreme Court reversed its original decision by stating that "Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Therefore, we hold that the plaintiffs and others similarly situated . . . are . . . deprived of the equal protection of laws guaranteed by the Fourteenth amendment."

    In 1957 the first man made satellite went into the low earth orbit. Unfortunately for the United States, the satellite had been launched by their arch rival, the Soviet Union. In the next four years the Soviets also beat the Americans in putting the first animals on orbit, sending satellites to the moon, photographing the moon, and eventually putting a man in space. The Americans were quick to put their first satellite, Explorer One, into low Earth orbit about six months after the Russians. However, it would not be until Neil Armstrong stepped on the moon that the Americans could consider themselves on an equal level.