Chapter 28

1. Chapter 28 Affluence and Its Discontents, 1954-1963 Web

2. Foreign Policy, 1954-1960 • The New Look • Less reliance on expensive ground forces • Greater reliance on airpower, advanced nuclear capabilities, and covert action • Massive retaliation • Threat of U.S. atomic weaponry would hold communism in check • International alliances • Expanded NATO to include West Germany (1955) • Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (1954) • Central Treaty Organization (1959)

3. Foreign Policy 1954-1960 (cont.) • Psychological warfare and informational programs • Voice of America • Radio Free Europe • Radio Liberation (directly to the Soviet Union) • Radio Asia • Arms limitation • “Open Skies” proposal, 1955

4. Covert Action and Economic Leverage • Focus of Cold War shifted to Third World • Use of CIA covert action around the world • Thereafter, CIA grew enormously in influence and power • Trade and aid

5. America and the Third World • Latin America • Talked of supporting democracy • Regularly supported dictatorial regimes so long as they accepted U.S. investment • Caused resentment among Latin Americans • Cuba situation demonstrated anti-American sentiment • Egypt • Rise of Gamal Abdel Nasser • Call for Arab nationalism and “positive neutralism” • Nationalization of Suez Canal, 1956 • Caused U.S. rift with Britain • Loss of U.S. prestige and Power in Middle east

6. America and the Third World (cont.) • Middle East • Eisenhower Doctrine, 1957 • Defense of Middle Eastern countries against “international communism” • Followed up with intervention in Lebanon and Jordan • Vietnam • Drive for independence under way after World War II • French decided to withdraw in 1954 { Dien Bien Phu} • Geneva Peace Accords • Temporary division in North and South Vietnam • Eventual elections for reunification • Administration belief in “domino theory” • Provided aid to government in south Vietnam • Feared the loss of another Asian nation to communism

7. Affluence – “A People of Plenty” • Highways and waterways • Highway Act of 1956 • First centrally planned transportation in nation’s history • Dams, irrigation canals, reservoirs • Transformed western agriculture • Created huge governmental bureaucracies • Environmental consequences • Labor-management accord

8. Affluence –”A People of Plenty” (cont.) • Retreat from labor demands for “management prerogatives” • Focus on wages and fringe benefit issues • Disavowal of wildcats • Real economic gains for most workers • American standard of living became envy of world • Political pluralism • Exaltation of role of religion in American life • Multi-Denominational emphasis • Reverence and celebrity for individual religious leaders

9. ©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license. Steady Growth of Gross National Product, 1940-1970

10. Discontent among Affluence • Conformity • Cultural critics condemned lack of individuality in American society • William H. Whyte, Jr., The Organization Man (1955) • David Riesman, The Lonely Crowd (1950) • Vance Pickard, The Hidden Persuaders (1957) • Youth Culture • Increasing concerns about young people • Rock ‘n’ roll music • Mass Culture • Critics decried mass-marketed products • Fear that “bad” art was driving “good” from the marketplace • Television became a prominent target of social critics • Decried both quality of programming and its impact on the public

11. The Fight Against Discrimination • Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) • School segregation violated constitutional guarantee of equal protection under the law • Implied that all segregated public facilities were unconstitutional • Race could no longer be treated as simply a regional issue • South becoming more like rest of the country • Racial composition of rest of country becoming more like South • Segregationists promised “massive resistance” to Brown • Violence, vigilantism, terror became rampant • Montgomery bus boycott, 1955-56

12. The Fight Against Discrimination (cont.) • Vaulted Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. into national prominence • Spurred creation of Southern Christian Leadership Conference • Civil Rights Act of 1957 • procedure to expedite lawsuits by African Americans who claimed their voting rights had been violated • Created permanent Civil Rights Commission to hear complaints • Politics of civil rights • Southern Democrats in Congress tried to block real action on civil rights • Southern states defied Brown order on school desegregation • Eisenhower forced to act in Little Rock crisis, 1957

13. ©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license. Shifts in African American Population Patterns, 1940-1960

14. American Indian Policy • Eisenhower lacked a coherent policy • Termination • Treat Indians as individuals rather than members of a tribe • Relocation • Encourage Indians to leave reservations and take jobs in urban areas • Programs had disastrous consequences for Indians

15. ©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license. Total urban and Rural Indian Population in the U.S. 1940-80

16. Growth of Spanish-Speaking Populations • Large numbers of immigrants from Puerto Rico and Mexico • Bracero program encouraged emigration of agricultural workers • “Operation wetback” • Mass Deportations of Mexican immigrants • Organizations appeared to crusade for better treatment for immigrants • League of United Latin American Citizens • Unity League • Increased concentration in cities rather than rural areas

17. Emergence of Urban Issues • Growth of suburbs created new urban issues • Redlining contributed to decay of inner cities • Urban renewal often amounted to “urban removal” • Public housing proved a grave disappointment • New and Fair deal urban programs considered failures by end of 1950s

18. Debates over Government’s Role in the Economy • Eisenhower and the new conservatives • Ike’s centrist policies eared ire of political conservatives • Barry Goldwater, Conscience of a Conservative,(1960_ • William F. Buckley, Up From Liberalism (1959) • Advocates of a more active government • Liberals criticized Eisenhower for failing to use government power to address pressing public issues

19. Debates over Government’s Role in the economy (cont.) • Especially critical of failure to address racial discrimination • Others criticized apparent shortcomings in national security policy • Gaither Report (1957) warned of holes in the nation’s defenses • Education policy also came in for scrutiny • Rudolph Flesch, Why Johnny Can’t Read (1955) • National Defense Education Act (1958) • Calls for increased social welfare spending • John Kenneth Galbraith, The Affluent Society (1958)

20. The Election of 1960 • Democrats ran John F.Kennedy • New Frontier • Support for civil rights • Social programs • Tax cuts and deficit spending • Heavy defense spending and “flexible” response to communist threat • Republicans ran Richard M. Nixon • Remained on defensive throughout campaign • Performed poorly in first of several televised debates • Kennedy won narrow electoral victory

21. ©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license. Presidential Election, 1960

22. Kennedy’s Foreign Policy • Dramatic Initiatives • Peace Corps • Alliance for Progress • Cuba • Bay of Pigs, April 1961 • Operation Mongoose • Cuban Missile Crisis, October 1962 • Berlin • Berlin Wall constructed, August 1961 • Southeast Asia • Goal to build South Vietnam into a viable non-Communist state • Test case for flexible response • Coup against Ngo Dinh Diem, November 1963

23. Kennedy’s Domestic Policy • General policymaking goals • Tax cuts for everyone, special cuts for corporations • Higher minimum wage and urban renewal • Crusade against organized crime (Robert Kennedy) • Civil Rights • Concerned about Southern conservatives • Initially, did nothing on civil rights front • Sit-in movement, early 1960 • Freedom rides, 1961 • Forced to send marshals to protect riders • Universities of Mississippi and Alabama • Forced to intervene to protect black students • Executive order banning segregation in public housing, November 1952

24. Kennedy’s Domestic Policy (cont.) • Moderate civil rights bill, February 1963 • Called to action by violence in Birmingham, Spring of 1963 • Support for stronger civil rights bill • March on Washington, August 1963 • Women’s issues • Presidential Commission on the Status of women • Documented discrimination in employment opportunities and wages • Equal Pay Act of 1963

25. The Assassination of John F. Kennedy • Shot in Dallas on 22nd November, 1963 • Official report blamed Lee Harvey Oswald as lone assassin • Conspiracy theories and uncertainties remain decades later Web