Eisenhower Flashcards
Who was Dwight Eisenhower?
During World War 2, his title was Supreme Allied Commander of Allied Forces in Europe, which basically means he was calling the shots when the USA invaded Nazi Europe.
He ran for President in 1952 and Harry Truman didn’t run for re-election, so it was some unimportant person that Eisenhower beat to win the Presidency.
How did the Korean War end?
When Eisenhower was running for President he promised to bring an end to the Korean War, and so he did.
The Korean Peninsula is divided, to this day, between North Korea and South Korea.
What happened in the middle eastern country of Iran in 1954?
Iran elected President Muhammad Mossadeq. The USA didn’t like President Muhammad because the USA *incorrectly* believed that this dude was a communist.
So the USA kidnapped the President of Iran, and threw him in a house.
What did the USA do after they kidnapped the President of Iran and threw him in a house?
To replace the kidnapped President, the USA installed a fascist dictator in Iran, who was friendly to capitalism, to control the Iranian people and ensure the oil in Iran was going to the USA.
Three years later, the kidnapped President of Iran dies, allowing the fascist dictator supported by the USA to rule Iran, with no one questioning his power..
P.S A President is like Premier, it’s a different title but similar job. Muhammad was technically the Premier of Iran, not the President, just for you nerds that care <3
What happened in the Latin American country of Guatemala?
What happened in Iran.
President of Guatemala, Jacob Arbenz, who was elected by the people, was thought to be a communist by the US government, so they sent CIA (spy) people to go and remove him from office.
Who did the American government replace the President of Guatemala, Jacob Arbenz, with?
A fascist dictator who was super friendly to capitalism <3
Why is the USA installing fascist dictators in countries like Guatemala and Iran?
Both leaders in Guatemala and Iran wanted to give money from the rich to the poor. This is called”redistributing wealth”, and it is often seen as a communist idea.
Cmon Kohn, it can’t be that bad, installing a fascist dictator in a country like Guatemala. Is it really that bad?
Yeah. American-supported fascist dictatorships in Guatemala alone killed 200,000 people over a 36 year period.
This is an event in history referred to as the Maya Genocide, and it would not have been possible without the $$$ from American taxpayers and the United States government!
What happened in 1957?
The Space Race began
What’s the Space Race?
A race between the United States and the Soviet Union to domination in Space.
What started the Space Race?
The Soviet Union launched a rocket into space that was carrying a satellite called Sputnik.
In Russian, Sputnik means satellite.
What is a satellite?
A machine that is floating in space.
How did the USA respond to the launching of Sputnik?
They took the threat very seriously and created a new government agency called NASA.
What happened in Cuba in the 1950s?
The Cubans overthrew the American-approved, capitalist-friendly, fascist dictator that the Americans had installed in Cuba.
The person who overthrew the fascist dictator was a Cuban revolutionary named Fidel Castro.
What was happening with roads in the USA during the 1950s?
The USA was creating the Interstate Highway System.
The purpose of the highways was to improve travel between cities in the event of a Soviet invasion, but it ended up improving the quality of life and improving travel that people enjoy to this day.
Did schools in the South follow what the Supreme Court said to do, about mixing White and Black students?
No, they refused to.
What did Eisenhower do when racist schools in the South refused to mix White and Black students?
He sent in the federal troops to make sure that Black kids were allowed to go to school.
The most famous example are the “Little Rock 9”, who were 9 students from Little Rock Arkansas who bravely went to a White school despite being hated on by the students and teachers there.
Who got arrested in the 1950s?
Well, lots of people, but you have to remember that Rosa Parks got arrested while Eisenhower was President.
She refused to give up her seat to a White person, so she was removed from the bus and arrested.
After Rosa Parks got arrested, what happened?
The Montgomery Bus Boycott began.
Since the busses were used more by Black people than White people, when Black people stopped using the Bus, the city started to lose money.
After 13 months, it ended, but only because the Supreme Court stepped in and said that segregation on public busses was illegal and unconstitutional.
Who got famous for organizing the Montogomery Bus Boycott?
Martin Luther King Jr.
What did Martin Luther King Jr do after the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
He organized the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, also called the SCLC.
What did the SCLC do?
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference organized non-violent protests and boycotts throughout the South to fight racism and White Supremacy
Who invented the vaccine for polio? (thats his pic)
Jonas Salk
How much money did Jonas Salk make off the polio vaccine, he must have been insanely rich?
No, he gave the vaccine away, for free. He didn’t make any profit because he wanted to help people.
Who is the most famous of the Rock and Roll musicians from the 1950s?
Elvis Presley
What was the dominant culture in America during the 1950s?
A materialist culture where people are valued not by who they are, but what they own.
Who were the “weird” people of the 1950s?
They are called the Beatniks.
These were people who didn’t care about what they owned and rejected many of the traditions of the 1950s.
While the mainstream culture was materialist, these Beatniks were the opposite and rejected what society expected of them.
