Terms
"modern Republicanism"
This was Eisenhower’s political philosiphy. He combined conservative and moderate policies. Eisenhower was not a strong part man and often took the common-sense, compromise solution.
Eisenhower’s views on executive power
Eisenhower did not exercise his power directly, but delegated authority to subordinates. He was not strong-willed and often compromised. To him, the President was one of the players on the executive team.
The Oppenheimer case
Robert Oppenheimer, the head of the Los Alamos, New Mexico lab that created the atomic bomb, was investigated in 1950 by the FBI. In 1953, Oppenheimer was denied security clearance that he neede to continue working for the Atomic Energy Commission after a government hearing. Oppenheimer’s crime was that he could not recall a 1943 conversation about Soviet interest in the atomic bomb.
Army-McCarthy hearings
These hearings were held by a Senate subcommittee in 1954 after Senator McCarthy accused, while on national TV, the army of shielding Communists. By a 67 to 22 vote, the Senate condemned McCarthy. McCarthy lost all of his power and turned to alcohol which caused his death by cirrhosis of the liver in 1957 at age 48.
Yates v. U.S.; Watkins v. U.S.
On June 17, 1957, the Supreme Court made decisions in these two Court cases which ended judicial suppression of dissent. In Yates v. U.S., it was decided that people advocating the forceful overthrow of the U.S. government could only be convicted if they advocated revolutionary action. The preaching in itself was not a crime. In Watkins v. U.S., John T. Watkins was allowed to refuse to reveal his past to the HUAC.
Ezra Taft Benson; “soil bank” program
Ezra Taft Benson was Eisenhower’s Secretary of Agriculture. In 1956, the administration tried the “soil-bank” program to end overproduction. Farmers were paid to turn part of their crop land into forest of pastrue. This program failed as per-acre yield increased, negatting the land that was converted.
Sputnik I; N.D.E.A.
In 1957, the Russians successfully launched Sputnik, the first satellite sent into orbit from the earth. In order to keep up in the future, the U.S. created the National Defense Education Act in 1958. Over $1 billion was allocated in federal aid for education.
Election of 1956
Despite poor health, Eisenhower was renominated by the Republicans. Richard Nixon was able to survive a “Dump Nixon” movement to be renominated for Vice President. Adlai Stevenson was nominated by the Democrats after beating out his eventual running mate, Senator Estes Kefauver. Eisenhower easily won, carrying 41 states and winning the popular vote, 35 million to 26 million.
Eisenhower’s views on civil rights
Eisenhower sympathized with the civil rights movement, but feared a volatile situation. He stated “there must be no second-class citizens in this country,” but he did not take any initiative for civil rights.
Brown case
This 1952 case overturned the 1896 court case of Plessy v. Ferguson which had created the “separate, but equal” doctrine. In this case, an eight-year old black child had to attend a black school two miles away instead of a school blocks from her house.
Little Rock, Arkansas; Eisenhower’s response
In 1957, Governor Orval Faubus of Arkansas called in the Arkansas National Guard to prevent black students from entering Litte Rock’s traditionally while high school, Central High School. Reluctantly, Eisenhower nationalized the Arkansas National Guard and sent army paratroopers to enforce a Court order allowing the blacks to attend the school and protect the students.
Civil Rights Act of 1957
This act sought to end practices that perpetuated discrimination. The Civil Rights Commission was created to investigate violations of voting rights and the attorney general was given authority to seek injunctions protecting the voting rights of all Americans.
Montgomery Bus Boycott; Rosa Parks
In December 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks, a black seamstress, refused to vacate her seat in the white section and was arrested. Subsequent boycotts of Montgomery buses were lead by Martin Luther King. In December 1956, the Supreme Court ordered the desegregation of the buses.
Martin Luther King, Jr.: SCLC
Martin Luther King, Jr. became the leader of the Congress of Racial Equality and created the Southern Christian Leadership Conference which used passive resistance and civil disobediance to achieve goals.
John Foster Dulles
Dulles was President Eisenhower’s Secretary of State. He had been educated at Princeton University and George Washington University in law. He had assisted Woodrow Wilson at Versailles, was a senior partner in a Wall Street firm, and had been an officer of the Federal Council of Churches. He was internationally experienced. Dulles appointed former McCarthy henchman, Scott McLeod, as chief security officer of the State Department. Many innocent and talented officers were forced to resign from the Foreign Service.
Massive retaliation; the “New Look”; liberation; brinkmanship
These were Eisenhower administration terms. Massive retaliation was the phrase for nuclear obliteration of the Soviet Union or People’s Republic of China. The “New Look” was tjhe new, air-powered, nuclearly enhanced, American army. Liveration was the freeing of Eastern European countries from Soviet control. Brinksmanship was the policy of not backing down in a crisis, even if it brought the U.S. to the brink of war.
Quemoy and Matsu
Quemoy and Matsu were two of the islands of Taiwan (Formosa). Chiang Kai-shek used them as commando bases against the PRC. In 1954, the PRC bombed the islands. Eisenhower then let it be known that he was considering the use of nuclear weapons. Congress passed the Formosa Resolution (1955) which authorized the President to send troops to Formosa and adjoining islands.
Suez Crisis
Gamal Abdul Nassar was the leader of Egypt. He wished to push the British out of the Suez canal and the Israelis out of Palastine. The U.S. wished to keep oil holdings in the area, but did not wish to alienate Jewish-Americans. In July 1956, the U.S> withdrew an offer to help finance the Aswan Dam which would have provided water and electricity to Egyptial farmlands because Nassar had declared neutrality. Nassar then nationalized the Suez Canal for its profits. On October 29 to 31, the Israelis, British, and French invaded the Suez. An angered Eisenhower demanded a pull out. The troops withdrew as Egypt paid $81 million for the canal and the Soviets eventually built the Aswan Dam.
the CIA in Guatemala
In 1951, anti-American leftist Jacobo Arbenz Guzman was elected President of Guatemala. Arbenz expropriated United Fruit Company’s land and offered compensation. The United Fruit Company was the largest landower in Guatemala and it assets totaled $580 million. United Fruit the claimed a Communist threat. The CIA was brought in and Arbenz turned to Moscow. The CIA airlifted arms to United Fruit and in June 1954, CIA-led Guatemalans drove Arbenz from power and gave United Fruit its land back. Latin Americans were alienated as the Good Neighbor Policy was violated.
“Spirit of Camp David”
Both leaders emerged heartened over amicable spirit of talks (Soviet and American).
“Open Skies” proposal
This was a 1955 proposal for arial surveillance of the United States and the Soviet Union to prevent a surprise attack from either side.
Cuban Revolution; Fidel Castro
In 1959, Fidel Castro and the rebels of his 26th of July Movement ousted the American-supported dictatorship of Fulgencio Bautista. Cuba became Allied with the Soviets and Castro became dictator.
“Military-Industrial Complex”
Shortly before leaving office in 1961, Eisenhower warned against a “military-industrial complex.” Demands fro national security were threatening personal liberties. 1,400 retired military officers above the rank of major were employed by the 100 leading defense contractors.
U-2 incident; Francis Gary Powers
Two weeks before a May 1960 summit meeting in Paris, an American U-2 spy plane carrying high-powered cameras was shot down. Washingto denied that its planes had flown in Soviet air space, but the Soviets displayed CIA pilot, Francis Gary Powers, and his pictures. Washington then refused to apologize and the Soviets walked out of the Paris summit.
Eisenhower’s presidency assesed
Eisenhower is now known as an influential man with command of policy-making, being sensibly moderated to most problems, political savvy, and popularity. He was competent, pragmatic, and compassionate. As a grandfather figure, he gave economic confort and anticommunism. He was unsuccessful in domestic policy and allowed McCarthyism to drag on. He could not relax the Cold War and unleashed the CIA. Eisenhower was able to control military budgets, avoid major military ventures, curb inflation, build an interstate highway, and expand Social Security.
Eisenhower Doctrine
In 1957, Eisenhower proclaimed this doctrine which stated that the U.S. would intervene in the Middle East if any government threatened by a Communist takeover asked for help. In 1958, 14,000 American troops were sent to Lebanon.
“Baby Boom”
During this period of time, large numbers of babies were born. In 1950, 3.5 million babies were born as compared with 1940 when 2.5 million were born. While from 1940 to 1950, 83% of births were of 1st childeren, from 1950 to 1954, 84% of births were of non-1st children. Buiness Week was right when it stated that this boom shaved confidence in the economy. The birthrate was increasing among professionals and white-collar workers and buisness made a lot of money.
Growth of Suburbia
In the 1940s, migration to suburbs substantially increased. By 1960, almost as many people lived in suburbs, as lived in cities. People wanted the nature and lawns of suburbs. Homes in the Suburbs provided more rooms, closets, utility rooms, and privacy. Citizens could become involved in suburbian government. Most people in suburbs were of the same age and understood each other.
The Other America
In 1962, 42.5 million Americans (1 of 4) were poor. These families earned less than $4,000 for a family of four or $2,000 for a single person. 1/4 were over age 65. 1/3 were under the age of 18. 1/5 were people of color (1/2 of all the blacks and native americans). 2/3 lived in households headed by a person with an 8th grade education or less. 1/4 lived in households headed by women.
Suburbia; Arthur Levitt
Arthur Levitt and Sons, a company that planned communites (Levittowns), created a pattern for building the suburbs: they used interchangeable materials and designs. Rows of nearly identical houses were built. Supermarkets, gas stations, shopping centers, and malls were built nearby.
Highway Act of 1956
This Act launched a 41,000-mile nationwide network. Federal funds on highways went from $79 million in 1946 to $4.6 billion by 1970.
Dr. Benjamin Spock
Dr. Spock was a child care expert and urged mothers to always think of their children first. Past experts had told mothers to consider both their need and the child’s needs. Spock encouraged communication and encouraging the baby’s “self-realization,” “self-discovery,” and “self-motivated behavior.” Many women of this period embraced Spock’s ideas.
“Momism”
Philip Wylie, author of Generation of Vipers, described Spock-believing mothers’ actions as Momism. They sacrificed for children, but caused emotionally dependent children that did not want to leave the home. Some blamed this for the nervous disorders of many soldiers.
The Feminine Mystique
This was a 1963 book by Betty Frieden which described the dilemma of females at the time. Homes often needed full-time housewives to provide for her husband and children while women needed their own haven and wished to work.
G.I. Bill of Rights
Also known as the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, this act provided living allowances and tuition payments for veterans going to college. Almost 1,000,000 GIs enrolled in 1946, forming half of the college-bound students. Veterans were often good students and used the education to improve their standard of living.
“family togetherness”
Most adults of this time period had their adolescents during the 1930s and young adulthoods during WWII. They often anchored their lives around their family and children. These baby-boom parents participated in activities with their children such as TV-watching, outings to parks and beaches, and Little League games. Many people preached this “family togetherness” in which the family worked together.
Norman Vincent Peale
Peale was the author of The Power of Positive Thinking (1952), a book with relgious themes. Peale was a reverend.
Billy Graham
Graham, an evangelist, exhorted television viewers and stadium audiences throughout the United States.
The Kinsey Report
Dr. Alfred Kinsey was the director of the Institute of Sex Research at Indiana University. In 1948, his controversial book, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, was published. His report estimated that 95% of men had masturbated, engaged in premartial or extramartial intercourse, or engaged in homosexual activities. Kinsey’s 1953 book, Sexual Behavior in the Human Female estimated that 62% of women had masturbated and 50% of women had premartial intercourse. Many were offended and attacked these reports.
Jack Kerouac; the “Beats”
In the 1950s, a group of writers repudiated the middle class and suburbs. This “Beat Generation” flaunted their freewheeling sexuality and consumption of drugs according to Kinsey. Jack Kerouac wrote On the Road in 1957, offering the nation’s youth an alternative to their parents’ materialism and righteous self-congratulation.
Galbraith’s The Affluent Society
This was economist John Kenneth Galbraith’s 1958 book. He wrote that economic growth would bring prosperity to all. Poverty was not even mentioned until Chapter 23 and it was dismissed because it was not “a universal or massive affliction.”
The “cult of youth”
The youth during this period compromised most moviegoers. They also listened to 45 rpm records of Bill Haley, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, and Elvis Presley. The television, comic books, new music, and new youth films were blamed for juvenile delinquency during this period.
Additional Notes
Civil Rights Act of 1960 Voting School desegregation Watkins v. U.S. involved Cabinet member Jack Watkins is labor leader Eisenhower regreted appointing Earl Warren to Supreme Court Warren was controversial Let out a lot of criminals on technicalities Parity- highest price ever - current price 1960s- stability Buisness suffers when capitalism consolidates Too much government subsidy and surplus to agriculture Termination ended because Indians could not be integrated into society 2 responsibilities of government to economy- inflation and the budget 3 purposes of government- protection of individual freedom, welfare, economic growth labor- wanted job security and better wages Problems when Brown decision not implemented immediately Set up private schools as public schools were closed down Foreclosed houses Took jobs from blacks Credit denial AFL-CIO Merger controlled most unions (not railroad) Eisenhower’s response to Little Rock is reluctant Election of 1952 Senate is even Republicans control House by 8 Democrats control governorships 1954- Democrats win back both Houses of Congress Eisenhower’s Dynamic Conservatism Minimize government regulation RFC gone Oppose TVA expansion Civil Rights Commitment in theory Doubts that laws change nature of man Prefer local action Sipuel v. Board of Regents Eisenhower Did little for black rights Did poorly with Third World GNP rose H-bomb developed- 750 times as strong as atomic bomb 2 largest populated countries were India and Indonesia 6 nations became countries during the 1950s- Tunisia, Monoco, Guinea, Sudan, Ghana, and Malaysia Soviet ideological edges- Russia had encouraged anti-colonialism; free from years of imperialism United Fruit Company Chance for Peace Speech- economic money could have been used on schools and hungry instead of military Eisenhower’s confidence grew uneasy upon hearing U.S. could blow apart USSR Importance of 3rd World Nations raw materials, markets, UN support, military and intelligence bases, foreign investment Eisenhower Administration unable to help Hungarians with out igniting WWIII Foreign Services (State Deparment) Asian experts wer forced out of positions 3 reasons Eisenhower angry at Britain, France, and Israel about attack on Egypt 1. Eisenhower was not consulted 2. The attack took the spotlight from Soviet aggression in Hungary 3. Nassar then turned to the Soviets for help Quemoy and Matsu Formosa Resolution Arms Race accelerated after Stalin’s death H-bomb B-52 ICM Space Programs CIA overthrew governments Iran and Guatemala Failed in Cuba and Indonesia Atom for Peace Initiative (1950) Atomic energy for peaceful means Bondung Conference (1955) 29 non-aligned nations agree to promote neutrality Research and Development Education was main focus of family 1950s- 40% of kids in elementary schools eventually go to college Transportation- car leads to suburbia (Levittowns) Literature Paperbacks Hemmingway (won a Pulitzer), Fitzerald, Faulkner (won Nobel Prize), Steinbeck John Hersey, Norman Mailer, James Jones (From Here to Eternity) wrote about World War II Sabelous and Malamud (Assistant, The Natural) J.D. Salinger (Catcher in the Rye) Southern Authors included Welty, McCullers, Flannary O’Connor, and Robert Penn Warren (All the King’s Men- Pulitzer Prize winning novel about Huey Long) Black Authors included Richie Wright (Native Son), Baldwin, Ralph Ellison (Invisible Man- a novel that showed the inequalities of the time period), Langston Hughes Poetry- Robert Frost, e.e. Cummings (older generation of poets) Brooks was 1st black to receive a Pulitzer in poetry (“Annie Allen”) Beat Movement- disenchanted with all aspects of conventional society Jack Kerouac, Snyder, Ginsberg Ferlinghetti read poetry to music Painting Traditional- Georgia O’Keefe, Wyeth, Birchfield, Grandma Moses Abstract- Jackson Pollack (pour and drip technique), Robert Motherwell (uncontrolled hand and brush; all paintings titled “Untitled”) Opart- Andy Warhol, Riley, Anuzkiewicz, Poons, Lickstein, Rauchenberg Sculpture- Picasso, Henry Moore, Alexander Calder, Richard Lippold, Claus Oldenberg (giant replication of objects) Architecture- split level home glass and steel skyscrapers Frank Lloyd Wright (Gugenheim Museum), Mies Van Derrohe (Hancock Center in Chicago), Eero Saarinen (Work in stainless steel, MIT campus, Dulles center, TWA in Kennedy airport) Drama- Theatre- Tennesse Williams (Glass Managerie, Cat on Hot Tin Roof), Eugene O’Neill, Arthur Miller (Crucible, Death of a Salesman) Theatre of Absurd- Samuel Beckett (Waiting for Gidot), Arthur Albee (Zoo Story) Movies- Casablanca, Citizen Cane Western- High Moon Ten Commandments Alfred Hitchcock Science Fiction- Day Earh Stood Still, Invasion of the Body Snatchers James Dean Musicals- Rogers and Hammerstine, Oklahoma, The King and I Lerner and Lowe- My Fair Lady Bernstein- West Side Story Music- Rock and Roll Bill Haley Elvis- Heartbreak Hotel young people relate to experience Classical Mussic- Bernstein Sports- Baseball is national pastime Jackie Robinson Dodgers and Giants go west NFL-AFL merge Basketball (NBA) spreads Hockey (NHL), Boating, Golf, Tennis, Bowling