America Under Eisenhower Section 1 – 820-825

1. America Under Eisenhower Section 1 – 820-825 • Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower became president in 1952. • He was a moderate Republican and a hero of WWII. • While Ike was in office, • Congress: • Raised Minimum wage • Expanded social security • Increased unemployment benefits • Nearly 60% of the American population qualified as middle class by earning between $3K-$7K/year. • People bought suburban homes with appliances, took vacations and sent their kids to college. • Ike’s first term was so successful that he was re-elected in 1956.

2. The Nuclear Age • In 1952 the U.S. tested the first hydrogen bomb on the small island of Elugelab in the West Pacific. • The hydrogen bomb proved to be far more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

3. The Nuclear Age • Less than a year later, the SU tested its own hydrogen bomb and the nuclear arms race between the U.S. and the SU was on.

4. The Nuclear Age • Many Americans feared the nuclear arms race and responded by: • Building bomb shelters • Stockpiling food, water, medical, and other supplies • Schools: “Duck and Cover” drills

5. The Nuclear Age • In 1957, the arms race extended into outer space when the SU launched Sputnik = the world’s first satellite. • By 1958, the U.S. had launched its first satellite and created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). • NASA’s purpose = conduct space research.

6. Eisenhower’s Foreign Policy • Eisenhower and Secretary of State John Dulles began a new era in foreign policy known as the “New Look.” • Their goal was not to just contain the spread of communism, but also eliminate it in certain areas. • The New Look strategy included massive retaliation or the threat of using nuclear weapons to end communist aggression. • Officials like Dulles argued that the U.S. would have to be skilled at brinkmanship = the art of getting to the “brink” w/o actually going to war. • The U.S. never did this, even when the SU crushed communist protests in East Germany in 1953. • The risk of nuclear war was too great.

7. Eisenhower’s Foreign policy • During the Eisenhower administration, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) became very powerful. • Often times the CIA carried out covert (secret) operations during the Cold War. • These covert operations took place all over the world, but they were focused mainly in areas where Communism was deemed to be a threat. • Today the CIA operates the same way, except that the focus has changed to preventing terrorism.

8. Cold War Crises • In 1953, Nikita Khrushchev became the Soviet premier when Joseph Stalin died. • He shocked the communist world by announcing that Stalin had committed criminal acts against the Soviet people and that they should no longer follow Stalin’s policies. • He also shocked U.S. leaders by stating that Communism and Capitalism could exist together peacefully. • As a result of Khrushchev's statements, many Soviet satellite nations hoped a new era was beginning.

9. Cold War Crises • In Hungary (Soviet satellite nation), in 1956, many leaders called for a western-style democracy. • An uprising started in support of the proposed reforms, and the Soviet Army invaded Hungary. • The U.S. publicly opposed the invasion, but only in words. The U.S. sent no military aid, as our government feared a war with the SU. • No other nation came to Hungary’s aid, and the Soviets crushed the rebellion.

10. Cold War Crises • In 1955 the U.S. agreed to help Egypt finance the construction of the Aswan High Dam on the Nile River. • The U.S. hoped this would win Egypt’s support in the Cold War. • Instead, the Egyptians bought weapons from Communist Czechoslovakia, invited Soviet engineers to the dam project, and recognized Communist China as an independent nation. • B/c of this betrayal, the U.S. backed out of the dam project.

11. Cold War Crises

12. Cold War Crises • When the U.S. backed financing was removed, the Egyptians decided to pay for the dam project by charging a toll on all shipping on the Suez Canal. • The toll $ would help finance the dam project. • Great Britain, France, and Israel objected to these tolls and invaded areas around the Suez Canal in 1956. This has come to be known as the Suez Crisis. • The SU vowed to crush the invaders and the U.S. threatened to send its own troops. • The SU did not attack and the U.S. joined the Soviets in condemning the invasion. • Great Britain, France, and Israel left Egypt, and tolls on the Suez Canal started.

13. A Thaw in the Cold War? • In 1959 V.P. Richard Nixon visited the SU and in the same year Khrushchev visited the U.S. • Khrushchev and Eisenhower agreed to meet in Paris in late 1960 to discuss peaceful relations between the two superpowers. But then… • In May, 1960 Khrushchev announced that the SU had shot down an American plane. • U.S. government claimed a weather plane was missing. • SU revealed that the pilot had survived the crash and that he admitted that he was on as secret mission in a U-2 spy plane. • Any possibility of a continuing thaw in the Cold War was over.

14. A Thaw in the Cold War? U-2 Spy Plane can fly at an altitude of 70,000 feet Francis Gary Powers’ mug shot in the SU shortly after being shot down. Powers spent almost two years in captivity b/f being traded for a captured SU spy.

15. A Changing Workforce Section – 2 826-831 • In the 1950s, automation = the use of machines replaced many low-level assembly line jobs. • More mid-level managers were needed = usually men. • Managers needed clerical assistants = usually women. • Clerical jobs paid very little and offered little room for advancement. • Women who took these jobs were often criticized by people who felt the woman’s role was in the home. • Union memberships declined b/c managers and clerical assistants didn’t want to, or couldn’t join them.

16. Suburban Life • In 1956 Congress passed the Highway Act which provided $ to create a national system of highways. • Business and personal travel greatly increased. • Many Americans moved to the suburbs and commuted to work. • By 1960, 25% of the U.S. population lived in suburbs.

17. Suburban Life • Because so many people were moving to the suburbs, massive amounts of housing were needed. • Home developer William Levitt began to mass-produce suburbs around East Coast cities. • Streets often had homes that all looked the same, or there were only a few different models to choose from. • At the height of production, Levittown developments were building 15-20 homes per day . • All the pieces of the home would be measured and cut offsite and then delivered to the lot. • At the lot, construction workers would nail and screw the pieces together as electrical and plumbing were connected. • Carpet and tile were installed along with appliances and the home was ready to move into the next day.

18. Suburban Life Sales brochure offering 3 different floor plans and 6 different exteriors. The prices ranged from $11,490 to $13,990.

19. Suburban Life • The Levittown “Wonder Kitchen.” • Complete with: refrigerator, clothes washer, sink, dishwasher, stove, and oven.

20. Suburban life Levittown, PA near Allentown “Cookie Cutter” Construction

21. Suburban life • In the 1950s, the country experienced the “Baby Boom.” • The young men and women who had lived through WWII were getting married and starting families. • They were moving to the suburbs and buying homes outfitted with the latest appliances and gadgets. • Many Americans still felt that the ideal suburban woman was a stay-at-home mom. • Despite that, many women worked part-time so that they could have extra money for things such as music and dance lessons for their children and be able to send them to summer camps. • Most suburban residents were middle-class white Americans. • Sometimes people were excluded b/c of race, religion, or ethnicity.

22. Suburban Life • Suburban communities offer: • Social networks of friends and extended family • Security • Increased consumerism = the need to “keep up with the Jones’” • Increased tax dollars • More funding for schools and other public services • As middle-class whites moved to the suburbs, poor and non-white residents began to see a decline in their urban surroundings. • Less tax $ meant less $ for schools and other public services. • Housing projects were built in run-down neighborhoods to provide low-cost housing to many people.

23. 1950’s Living

24. 1950’s Living

25. 1950’s Living

26. 1950’s Living

27. 1950’s Consumerism

28. 1950’s Consumerism

29. 1950’s Consumerism

30. The Golden Age of Television • In 1949, less than 1 million American homes had a TV. • By 1953, more than 20 million American homes had a TV. • Comedies, dramas, game shows, soap operas, and westerns were all popular. • Corporate sponsorship came on the TV scene and today TV commercials are a staple of large-company advertising.

31. Social Critics • Some artists, scholars, and writers criticized the materialism and conformity of American society. • They felt that defending moral principles by going against the crowd was disappearing. • Authors wrote novels that criticized the life that many Americans had come to embrace. • Beatniks or Beats criticized American life through their writing and behavior. • Beat Writers like Jack Kerouac inspired many people to reject traditional materialistic society and search for who they really were.

32. Young Americans • Social critics felt that many young people were being drawn into the same dull, materialistic, suburban life that their parents and others were in. • Teenagers and college students that fit this mold were called the silent generation. • Some teenagers and college students did rebel by: • Reading comic books and other writings that made fun of 1950s society. • Imitating young rebels they saw on TV and in the movies like James Dean, and Marilyn Monroe. • Listened to the music of Elvis Presley and other rock ‘n’ roll musicians.

33. Segregation after WWII • African Americans veterans of WWII focused their attention on equal voting rights. • Because of their actions, violence broke out. • In 1946, civil rights activists protested outside the White House. • 15,000 protesters marched to the Lincoln Memorial to demand that the KKK be outlawed. • In 1946, Truman responded to pressure by creating the Committee on Civil Rights (CoCR) to study racial discrimination and suggest federal solutions to the problem.

34. Segregation after WWII • The CoCR recommended that: • There be new laws to protect all voters, including African American. • Desegregation of the military • Creation of a Fair Employment Practices Commission. • Job hiring cannot include racial discrimination. • In 1948, Truman ended segregation in the military and banned racial discrimination in the hiring of federal employees.

35. Brown v. Board of Education • The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) wanted to end school segregation. • Many states kept separate schools for African American and white students. • Leaders in these communities claimed that the schools were “separate but equal.” • In reality, the African American schools usually received less money and supplies.

36. Brown v. BoE Protesting School Segregation Overcrowded Classroom

37. Brown v. BoE • In 1951, Linda Brown a 7 year old living in Topeka Kansas lived very close to a school for white children. • School officials forced her to attend an African American school located across town. • Linda’s father sued the school board to allow Linda to attend the nearby white school. • The NAACP took the case with Thurgood Marshall as its lead attorney. • Mr. Marshall argued that African American children felt less important b/c of school segregation. • The Supreme Court agreed and public school segregation was made illegal.

38. Brown v. BoE Linda and Mrs. Brown on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court Linda Brown in her new school

39. The Little Rock Nine • The Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. BoE said that all public schools must desegregate with “all deliberate speed.” • That statement leaves much room for the discussion of “How quick is quick?” • In 1954 only 3 school districts in the South desegregated. • In Little Rock, Arkansas, the school board decided to integrate one high school first and the slowly work down to the elementary level. • The BoE selected 9 outstanding African American students to attend Central H.S. in 1957.

40. The Little Rock Nine • Many white L.R. residents tried to stop the planned integration. • Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus tried to get a judge to stop the integration. The judge refused Faubus’ request. • Faubus then called out the National Guard to stop the integration. • He claimed the N.G. troops were there to prevent violence. • President Eisenhower requested that Faubus follow the law and permit the integration. Faubus refused Ike’s request.

41. The Little Rock Nine • In late September, 1957 Pres. Eisenhower sent troops from the 101st Airborne Division to enforce desegregation at Central H.S. • After the 101st left, Eisenhower ordered the N.G. to protect the students • Faubus continued to fight the decision and even closed all of the schools for the ‘58-’59 school year. • A court order ended Faubus’ fight and the school reopened in ‘59 and began to integrate.

42. The Little Rock Nine The first 9 African American students to attend Central H.S. Elizabeth Eckford

43. The Little Rock Nine 101st Airborne Escort Entering the Central H.S.

44. The Little Rock Nine The L.R. Nine in 2007 Bronze Monument at the Central H.S.

45. The Montgomery Bus Boycott • In most southern cities, all public facilities including buses, were segregated. • In Montgomery, AL African American passengers had to ride in the back of the bus. • If the white section in the front filled up, the African American passengers would have to give up their seats. • In 1955 African American Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger. She was quickly arrested.

46. The Montgomery Bus Boycott • As a result of Parks’ arrest, Montgomery’s African Americans joined together and boycotted public bus transportation. • 26 year old Martin Luther King help organize and lead the boycott. • 70% of Montgomery’s bus passengers were African American. • African Americans walked, carpooled and found other methods of transportation. • Violence broke out at times, and MLK’s home was bombed b/c of his role in the boycott. • The boycott lasted for 11 months, until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Montgomery’s segregated bus system was illegal

47. The Montgomery Bus Boycott “This part of the bus for the colored race” MLK marching in Montgomery AL

48. The Montgomery Bus Boycott The “Rosa Parks” bus on display in the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan Literature about the Boycott