eisenhower 1953-1961 Flashcards
election
american war hero
‘i like ike’
promised to end korean war
attacked truman
mistakes inc not defending marshall and the corruption under nixon
dynamin conservatism
emphasised need for balanced budget
domestic policies
creation of the new department of health, education and welfare
expansion of social secruity to cover 10 million americans
increase in minimum wage by 25 cents - challenged free market
500 million made available for low income public housing - although was insuffiencent to deal with all problems
federal aid highway act 1956 - 41,000 miles of interstate highway built over 20 yrs
establishing a soil bank
admitted alaska and hawaii as states
introduce 2 CR acts
however years were not total success in domestic policy
- had 3 recessions
- growth of CR campaigns
- dealing with McCarthy
only 10 of 83 bills sent to congress were rejected
in final years as president republicans performed badly in the midterm elections 1958 - 34 of 98 senators
his administration was blamed for second recession and perciebed defeat in space race
also struggled with promise to reduce spending - rose from 31% of the budget to 49% in 1961.
40 million were living in poverty
unsuccessfully tried to assimilate idigenous Americans into mainstream society - indian relocation act 1956
eisenhower changed direction of US - religion 1957 66% of pop were protestant
consumer society
factors which helped growth:
maturing of war bonds
advertising grew from 6 billion to 13 billlion in 1963.
business were investing heavily - these consumer goods inc tvs
building boom followed with large suburbs being built like levittown in new york - for 80,000 families at cost of 8000 per home.
first credit card from diners club 1950 and then american express in 1958.
private debt doubled from 104 billion to 263 billion by 1960 as consumers borrowed to buy cars, tvs ect
growth in debt further stimulated the economy
baby boom added millions of new Americans
late 1950s first of the boomers entered their teenage years - life magazine describe them as a 10 billion power
by 1960 americans owned nearly half of the cars and telephones in the world and 90% of families had a tv.
most workers enjoyed 2 weeks paid holidays
access to suburbs made possible by car boom - chrysler and ford jumped from 5.1 million vechicles per anum to 7.9 million by 1955
highway act further created jobs
kitchen debate
increase in service sector of the economy
live sport and music became more popular - came at expense of cinema
- exception was disney who opened first park in california in 1955
first climate controlled indoor shopping mall opened in Minnesota 1956 - 72 stores and 5200 parking spaces
development of fast food - ray crocs mcdonalds (bought out for 2.7 million) and burger king in 1954.
artists like jackson pollock and muscians like bob dylan.
limits of consumer boom -
quater still lived in poverty
years saw 2 recessions - saw 5 million americans unemployed and production fall by 14%.
overall unemployment remained low - 4.5% and inflation low at 2%
balanced budget by scaling back some of new deal - eg sold off power plans and allowed money from drilling rights to go to states rather than federal gov.
however spending rose by 11% due to military increase and space race
had to set up soil bank as the real prices of food dropped requiring gov to provide subsidies to farmers of 5 billion in 1960
rich grew richer eg rockefellers
ray kroc ammassed fortunes
howver many women lost jobs
old people were isolated
foreign policy
space race - 1957 soviet put first man made object in space - sputnik and then put sputnik 2 1958 containing dog laikia in space
the US rocket satellite blew up after only climbing 4ft - nicknamed flopnik
arms race - by 1953 hydrogen bombs with power 7x that unleashed on hiroshima were made.
by 1955 the US was keeping a third of its nuclear weapons ready to go at 15 mins notice.
in 1957 usa had 5543 nuclear weapons compared to USSRS 650
developed ICBMS
more bang for the buck
hunagary - 3000 killed and US failed to help
berlin - 1958 krushev demanded west pull out within 6 months - led to geneva conference 1959 - meant krushev came t0 US for 11 day tour
U2 crisis - soviet shot down american U2 spy plane - damaged relations
korea - 1953 armistace signed leavimg korea divided helped by Dulles said they were prepared to use nukes.
vietnam - dulles suggested providing france with nuke, french support slipping so eisenhower agreed to help with air support.
- agreements made to split into north and south
1955 CENTO set up inc iran iraq uk pakistan and turkey
suez crisis
civil rights
de facto remained norm in north
white flight often left harsh divided eg 8 mile road in Detroit.
black residents who lacked access to cars had shop at local stores which at higher prices.
malcom X tv the hate that hate produced - effect was to terrify white viewers.
south - NAACP court victories against jim crow laws
brown vs board of education - earl warren annouced court ruled in favour of brown.
- caused KKK to revitalise and signing of southern manifesto by 101 dixiecrat
eisenhower avoided commenting on Emmett till in mississipi
also did not intervene in autherine lucy was expelled from uni of alabama even after NAACP won court case Lucy v Adams
little rock crisis - 1957 set to accept first black students however governor fallbus encouraged opposition - protestors blocked students - eisenhower forced to federalise national guard - escorted them day to day but Cldnt stop intimidation.
montgomery bus boycott - lead by MLK, 381 days of not using buses costing bus companies 80% of their costs per day - browder v Gayle ruled that bus segregation unconstitutional
civil rights bill - subject to filibustering from strom thurmond for 24 hrs and 18 minutes
56% of black citizens in 1959 lived below the poverty line
