1950s TX: Political Changes

1. 1950s TX: Political Changes • Essential Questions: • Analyze the political, economic, and social impact of political controversies such as desegregation and communism • Identify the different points of view of political parties in the 1950s

2. Political Parties Divide • After WWII, Republicans and Democrats both had members who disagreed on world affairs, New Deal programs, and segregation. • New political stances liberal (loose on tradition), conservative (strong on tradition), and moderate (in the middle) emerged. • Ex: “Conservative Democrats”

3. The Dixiecrats • Southern Democrats were not happy with President Harry S. Truman, a moderate Democrat, when he desegregated the military in 1948. • Those favoring segregation nominated Strom Thurmond of S. Carolina to run against him in 1948. • Formed the States’ Rights Democratic Party, or “Dixiecrats”; won 4 states, but party later dissolved.

4. 1948 U.S. Presidential Election

5. The “Tidelands” Controversy • Texans were upset that the federal government refused to allow Texas’s sovereignty beyond 3 miles from the coast—where potential of oil and gas was worth billions! • Dwight Eisenhower, a Republican running for President in 1952, promised Democrat Governor Allan Shivers he would sign a bill giving the tidelands to Texas if money from the tidelands went to support Texas schools.

6. Shivers-Eisenhower Connection • Governor Shivers organized “Democrats for Eisenhower” in 1952. • Shiver’s name was on the ballot for both parties—he won the election. • “Ike” also won and became president. • Shivers helped modernize Texas government by supporting funding for state hospitals, retired teachers and state employees, and roads and bridges.

7. 1952 U.S. Presidential Election

8. New Highways and Suburbs • President Eisenhower supported an interstate highway system to connect states with quality roads. • The Gulf Freeway, or I-45, in Houston was the first interstate in TX. • Developers purchased property miles from the city and began building residential areas called suburbs (ex: Kingwood).

9. Houston Suburban Areas

10. Drought in 1950s Texas • An extended drought began drying up reservoirs, wells, and rivers causing extensive damage and destruction. • It ended in 1957, but: • cities built new reservoirs • ranchers built more stock ponds • farmers turned more to irrigation • the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built more dams across Texas rivers

11. The Warren Court • President Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. • In the 1950s and 1960s the court consistently decided in favor of those seeking to end discrimination. • In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Thurgood Marshall, the first African American justice to the Supreme Court.

12. School Desegregation • In Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896), the Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation was legal as long as facilities of both races were equal. • In the Brown vs. Board of education of Topeka, Kansas case (1954), the Court ruled racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional—schools were ordered to desegregate. • Mansfield ISD in TX was the last to integrate in 1965. • It took 20 years for desegregation to fully occur.

13. Desegregation of Public Facilities • Minorities were still denied access to public facilities, parks, libraries, and swimming pools even though their taxes helped them. They sued to gain access. • A popular way to resist court desegregation orders was to turn operation of city facilities over to private clubs that maintained discrimination.

14. The “Red Scare” • The fear about the rise of communism led to many people, including labor unions and civil rights workers, being accused of Communist ties. • Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin accused many U.S. military leadersand politicians of being Communists. “McCarthyism” spread as some Hollywood stars were blacklisted too. • John Henry Faulk, an Austin native and radio star for CBS, was accused and fired. But he sued for libel and won!