C38 - The Eisenhower Era 1952-1960 Flashcards
McCarthyism
See Joe McCarthy flashcard.
Hungarian revolt
- Hungarians rose up against Soviet rule. They asked for US backing, but US was not able to help.
desegregation
process of ending segregation, which is unequal treatment based on skin color.
Martin Luther King Jr.
He was 27 years old and a pastor at a Baptist Church in Montgomery AL. The Rosa Parks episode helped to make him famous. He came from a prosperous family and had not experienced bad treatment like the blacks he spoke to.
He had great oratory (speaking) skills and was a Biblical and Constitutional scholar. He agreed with the non-violent principles of India’s Ghandi.
South East Asia Treaty Organization
x
National Defense Education Act
1958 - this law authorized $ for student loans and grants for needy college students.
Civil Rights Act of 1957
Set up permanent Civil Rights Commission to investigate violations of civil rights.
Brown v. Board of Education
1954 Supreme Court ruling that held that segregation (separate treatment) for blacks was unlawful. Overturned a 1896 ruling in Plessey v. Ferguson which said that “separate but equal” treatment was OK.
military-industrial complex
x
Geneva Conference
- Eisenhower tried to improve relations with Russia by offering peace proposals at the Geneva Conference to the new president of Russia, Nikita Krushchev (Stalin died in 1953). Russia rejected any proposals, leaving the relationship still “cold”.
The Feminine Mystique
1963 book by Betty Friedan, which launched the modern women’s movement.
Earl Warren
Supreme Court Chief Justice appointed by Eisenhower. Took an activist role in accepting and ruling in favor of civil rights rulings which helped blacks.
Landrum-Griffith Act
1959 - law passed to deal with corruption in Labor Unions
“massive retaliation”
x
U-2 incident
- US spy plane was shot down over Russia. This caused a breakdown of planned talks that included US and Russia.
Sputnik
- Russia was first to launch a satellite into space - it was Sputnik.
Gamal Abdel Nasser
Leader of Egypt during Suez Canal crisis.
Rosa Parks
- This college-educated white woman refused to sit in the back (black section” of a bus in Montgomery AL. She was arrested for violating Jim Crow laws…she brought publicity to these laws and to treatment of blacks in the south. Blacks boycotted city busses for 1 year.
John F. Kennedy
Democrat who became the 1st Roman Catholic President of the US in 1960.
Plessy v. Ferguson
See Brown vs. BOE of Topeka KS flashcard.
Eisenhower Doctrine
- Stated that the US would help militarily and economically, any Middle Eastern country that was being threatened by Communism.
Ngo Dinh Diem
Leader of US-backed South Vietnam government. He turned out to be autocratic and probably not a good leader for the US to back.
Joseph McCarthy
Republican Senator from WI who became famous for “red hunting”. He accused many public officials of being communist sympathizers. He ruined careers and in effect stifled free speech. He was formally sanctioned by Congress for his behavior and died of alcoholism a few years later.
“McCarthyism” is a word that still exists, used to refer to people who are on a witch hunt and are willing to ruin people’s careers by accusing them of something that may or may not be true.
“creeping socialism”
Eisenhower wanted to repeal some of FDR’s New Deal programs because he thought they showed creeping socialism. He thought the federal government was too big and too much a part of citizens lives. He favored having private business handle needs vs. having the federal government get involved, when possible.
“missile gap”
Perception in the US that Russia was ahead of the US in terms of number of missiles and in terms of ICBMs (Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles) which could reach the US from Russia.
Dwight Eisenhower
Republican who won 1952 Presidential election. Had a distinguished Military career and had been president of Columbia University before being elected.
Likable grandfather-like personality.
White Citizens’ Councils
x
Fidel Castro
1959 - he engineered a revolution in Cuba and became President. Cuba became Communist and closely affiliated with Russia. US broke relations with Cuba in 1961, and many Cuban refugees came to America.
Nikita Khrushchev
President of Russia after Stalin died in 1953.
Betty Friedan
Feminist author who published The Feminine Mystique in 1963.
Suez crisis
October 1956, Nassar, the leader of Egypt, closed the Suez Canal, through which most Middle Eastern oil was carried. This started due to a dispute between Nassar and France/Britain who owned stakes in a dam on the Nile. France/Britain attacked without the US knowing. Caused a crisis where the US refused
Ho Chi Minh
Vietnamese leader who fought against the French (this was a french colony). This leader was nationalistic and fighting for independence. He was communist though, so not backed by the US.
feminism
x
Adlai E. Stevenson
Democrat candidate in 1952 election.
Billy Graham
Evangelist Baptist minister who used TV to get his message out to millions.
James R. Hoffa
Leader of the Teamster’s Union. Corrupt - spent time in jail.
John Foster Dulles
Eisenhower’s Secretary of State who favored doing more than just “containment” when it came to Communism. He favored taking action to roll communism back around the world and try to free people from communist rule.
Richard M. Nixon
Eisenhower’s VP running mate in 1952 election. He was chosen to appease the hardline anti-communist supporters in the Republican Party. Nixon was known as a red-hunter.
Emmitt Till
- Mob lynched (killed) this 14-year-old black boy for allegedly leering at a white woman.
Elvis
x
Eisenhower’s Farewell Address
x
Iran
1953, the US CIA helped to engineer a “coup” a government takeover, which installed a new Shah or leader in Iran. the US did this because they believed that Russia had been controlling the former government in Iran, which was starting to give US oil companies trouble. Oil was very important to the US economy.
This coup caused many Iranians to hate the US for helping to put this dictator in place.
