Dwight D. Eisenhower - Domestic policies Flashcards
The Checkers Speech - Nixon as VP
September 1952, Nixon received allegations that he used a secret slush fund of over $18000 from a California “millionaires club” to pay for his personal and campaign expenses.
On September 23rd, Nixon appeared on TV in a fight to save his political career. He discussed the fund, described the audit that had cleared him and listed his assets (equity in two houses and and an Oldsmobile) and debts ($30,000 on two houses and a $4500 loan from Washington bank). Nixon said “Well that’s about it, That’s what we have, and that’s what we owe”.
He related that someone in Texas has sent his family a cocker spaniel, which his 6 year old daughter named ‘Checkers’. He urged the 55 million viewers to write to the RNC, to say whether he should stay on the ticket.
Eisenhower and US reaction to the Checkers speech
Before the speech, Eisenhower ordered an independent audit of the fund of Nixons financial affairs, in which Nixon was within the legal limits of his fund. However, Eisenhower’s top advisers urged Eisenhower to drop him from the ticket as Nixon was a liability.
After the speech, the RNC received 200,000 letters and telegrams, $60,000 in contributions, almost enough to cover the $75,000 cost of the broadcast, dog blankets, dog collars, and a years supply of dog food.
The Checkers speech eliminated the final obstacle to a Republican victory, allowing the republicans to hammer away at the domestic and foreign policies of Truman.
Brown V Board case 1954
In 1951, 13 parents worked NAACP to highlight the unfairness of segregated schools. They would try to enrol their children in white schools in Topeka Arkansas.
Reverend Johnathan Brown, enrolled his daughter, Linda Brown, but none were accepted.
Articles written in southern magazines, such as ‘mixed schools and mixed blood’ wrote about mixed schools causing miscegenation.
“School desegregation is a bigger threat to the US than the Soviet Union”.
In 1954, the Supreme Court decided segregated education was psychologically harmful to children, which was unconstitutional, so schools should desegregate.
Brown II case 1955
In May 1955, a second Supreme Court case based on Brown Vs. Topeka ruled desegregation should be carried out with ‘deliberate speed’ - the states had to make a prompt and reasonable start.
Reaction to the Brown case in the southern border states.
The southern border states and District of Columbia desegregated schools in the years following Brown Vs Topeka - there were protests about federal intervention and petitions not to segregate, but little violence.
By the end of 1957, 723 school districts desegregated.
Reaction to the Brown case in the Deep South
In the Deep South, the Brown rulings became known as ‘Black Monday’ - naacp members & black citizens who had integrated in white schools became the target of threats and violence.
*Many school boards said they were making plans to integrate schools but did nothing.
- Governors of states such as Kansas didn’t accept desegregation. In Mississipi, Senator Harry Byrd demanded ‘massive resistance’, and would close public schools who chose to desegregate.
*Citizens in Indiana, Mississipi, set up the White Citizens Council (WCC) in July 1954, to preserve segregation
Montgomery Bus Boycott
When branch secretary, Rosa Parks, was arrested in December 1955 for refusing to give her seat to a white man, the NAACP organised a boycott of buses by black colleges and black churches.
26 year old, Martin Luther King led the boycott, and most of Montgomery’s 50000 pop. participated.
+ Montgomery’s WCC organised opposition to boycotts, using arrests & intimidation to frighten leaders, bringing favourable attention to the black communities efforts.
+Demonstrated potential power of mass direct action, as the NAACP used litigation to desegregate Montgomery buses in the Browder V. Gayle ruling of November 1956.
-However, only Montgomery buses desegregated.
What happened to Emmet Till in 1955?
When Emmet Till, a 14 y/o visited his cousin in Mississippi in 1955, he was dared to go into Roy Bryants store and talk to Carolyn, his wife - Carolyn said Till grabbed her making sexual suggestions, but his cousins only admitted it was a wolf-whistle.
When Roy Bryant returned the next night from a trip, he kidnapped Till from his uncles house - he brutally beat Emmet and attached weights to him in a river with barbed wire around his neck.
Reaction to the Emmet Till case
Till’s Mother, Mamie Bradley insisted on an open viewing of her sons body in Chicago’s funeral home.
This led to huge publicity and outrage amongst both black & white people, in which the trial of Till’s killers was reported across the whole country - however, the jury cleared the defendants after only an hour.
Emmet Hill did not get justice, and murders still occurred in Mississipi, fueling civil rights protests - the NAACP produced a pamphlet called “M is for Mississipi and Murder” connecting the murders of Lee, Smith & Till
The Little Rock Crisis
The NAACP encouraged 9 African American students to enrol at the Central High School in Sept. 1957. But, Arkansas Governor, Faubus, ordered the Arkansas national guard to keep the students out.
The Little Rock Nine suffered violent attacks (pushed down stairs, chemicals and burning paper thrown at them). Faubus closed all Little Rocks high school down in 1958-59 to stop integration, but Central High was integrated in 1960, and all schools in 1973.
Eisenhower’s role in the Little Rock crisis
Although Eisenhower sent 1000 troops to Little Rock, he demonstrated no moral leadership in civil rights - he said in a tv statement he intervened because of the breakdown of law and order, not support desegregation
Ike’s speechwriter, Larson, said the president ‘was neither emotionally or intellectually in favour of combatting segregation’.
Civil Rights Act 1957
To win the black vote in 1956, Ike’s administration proposed a civil rights bill to ensure black voting rights.
- 80% of Southern blacks were not registered (Ike expressed ‘shock’ that only 70,000 out of the 900,000 black population were registered)
Southern democrats worked to weaken the bill and Eisenhower didn’t work to maintain it. he said ‘there were certain phrases I did not completely understand’.
But it was the first black act since 1875, and King said ‘the present bill is far better than no bill all’. It became illegal to stop blacks from voting, however the juries would favour the defendant.
Civil rights Act 1960
May 1958, Eisenhower was concerned about bombings of black churches and schools in the South.
Thus, he introduced a civil rights bill in 1960, but southern democrats diluted it again.
It made the obstruction of court ordered desegregation a federal crime, and penalties for stopping black voting.
But, bills only added 3% to black electoral roles in 1960.
