Unit 2: Topic 1: The Presidency under Eisenhower Flashcards
When was the first time Eisenhower voted?
1948
When did Eisenhower run for president?
1952.
Who was Eisenhower’s opponent for the Republican candidacy?
Senator Robert Taft.
How much deficit did Truman budget have?
$14 billion.
Before Eisenhower, how long had it been since the Republicans had won the presidency?
20 years.
How much of the vote did Eisenhower win?
55% (a landslide victory)
Who was Eisenhower’s Democratic competitor for the Presidency?
Adlai Stevenson.
How many states did Eisenhower secure in the South?
5
How much was Truman’s approval rating at the end of his presidency?
22%.
Who was involved in the scandal under Truman and when was it?
- The Internal Revenue Service
- 1951
What was Eisenhower’s campaign slogan?
I like Ike.
What was Eisenhower’s election campaign?
K1C2- Korea, Communism, Corruption
How much money was Nixon accused of accepting in the scandal during Eisenhower’s election campaign?
$18,000
What was the name of Nixon’s speech to the public?
The Checkers Speech.
How many people watched the Checkers speech?
60 million
When was the second presidential election for Eisenhower?
1956.
What was Eisenhower’s average approval rating?
64%.
Which crises did Eisenhower deal with in the run up to the 1956 election?
Crises in Hungary and Egypt.
When did Eisenhower have a heart attack?
September 1955.
Which country did Eisenhower make independent?
South Vietnam.
What is the key term for dynamic conservatism?
Conservative with money liberal with people
How much did defence expenditure rise as a result of Eisenhower’s dynamic conservatism?
- 1953- 31%
- 1961- 49%
When was the federal highways act?
1956.
How much money was spent on the federal highway act?
$26 billion
How many miles of road were built by the federal highway act and how long did it take?
- 41,000 miles
- 20 years
What did Eisenhower establish to deal with over-production of food?
The Soil Bank
By how much did Eisenhower increase the minimum wage by?
25%.
When did Stalin die?
1953.
Who took over from Stalin?
Khrushchev.
How much did housing increase by over the 1950s?
30%.
How did the economy grow each year on average in the 1950s?
2.5% each year.
How did GDP grow?
- 1950 at $350 billion.
- 1960 at $500 billion.
How much did real income increase from 1945 to 1960
25%.
How much was unemployment in 1957?
4.5%.
What was the average inflation rate?
2%
By how much did defence expenditure increase in Truman’s final years?
300%.
How did Eisenhower’s budget change Truman’s defence expenditure defecit?
- 1954
- Reduced the defence expenditure by $5 billion
- Cut the $10 billion budget defecit by half.
When did Eisenhower achieve a balanced budget?
- 1956
- 1957
- 1960.
By how much did Eisenhower reduce the Tennessee Valley Authority funds?
- 1952- $185 million
- 1960- $12 million
How much did government spending rise during Eisenhower’s presidency due to the increased military spending on the space race and the collapse of farming?
11%.
How many years did Eisenhower have to work with a Democrat dominated Congress?
6/8 years
How many bills were rejected by the Democrat Congress under Eisenhower?
10/83
Which ally did Eisenhower betray to Mccarthy?
General George Marshall.
What was Eisenhower’s most common approval rating?
70%.
What was Eisenhower’s average approval rating
64%.
When did the Republican Party lose congress?
In the 1954 midterms.
When did the Soviets put the satellite Sputnik and Laika the dog into space?
1957.
What was the name for the group of influential figures in the army and industry that put pressure on Eisenhower to spend more than on defence than he considered necessary?
The military industrial complex.
When did Eisenhower propose legislation to finance schools construction in poorer states that was rejected?
1955.
By how much did Eisenhower expand Social Security benefits.
Included 10 million more people.
By how much did Eisenhower increase the minimum wage?
25%.
How much did Eisenhower spend on low income housing?
500 million.
When will Eisenhower’s two civil rights acts?
1957 and 1960.
When did Eisenhower build a sea route and what was it called?
- 1959
- The St Lawrence Seaway.
When was Eisenhower’s national defence education act introducing the concept of federal aid to education, federal funds to states to improve science, maths and foreign languages education and loans to college students?
1958.
When was the federal highway act?
1956
How many miles of road were built by the federal highway act and how long did it take?
- 41,000 miles
- 20 years
How much money was spent on the federal highway act?
$26 billion
Which sociologist criticised Eisenhower for not understanding the extent of poverty in America?
Michael Harrington.
When was the Indian relocation act attempting to assimilate indigenous americans?
1956.
What did Eisenhower establish to pay performers to stop producing crops to maintain food prices after overproduction?
A soil bank.
When did Eisenhower balance the federal budget?
1956 1957 and 1960.
How much did defence expenditure rise as a result of Eisenhower’s dynamic conservatism?
- 1953- 31%
- 1961- 49%
How much did inflation average during Eisenhower’s presidency?
2%.
What was the unemployment rate in 1957?
4.5%.
When was the employment act tasking the president with a new role of managing prosperity, meaning Eisenhower had to promote maximum employment, production and purchasing power?
1946.
How many Americans were in poverty during Eisenhower’s years of presidency?
1/4
How much of the US’s poverty did the South have?
1/2
How much did government spending rise by under Eisenhower due to increased military spending on the space race and agricultural initiatives?
11%
When and how much was the highest employment rate during Eisenhower’s presidency?
- 1957
- 7.5%
When were the three recessions during Eisenhower’s presidency?
- 1953
- 1957-8
- 1960
What were the effects of the 1957 to 1958 recession?
- Unemployment rose from 4.5 percent to 7.5%.
- Production fell by 14%.
How much did Eisenhower’s soil bank increase expenditure on agriculture by?
$5.1 billion a year- 1960
When was Nixon elected into the House of Representatives?
1946.
Which case about an American spy did Nixon play a role in and when?
The Alger Hiss case 1948 with HUAC.
When was the Californian Senate election where Nixon accused his Democratic opponent of being a communist to defeat her?
1950.
When was Nixon selected to be vice president?
1952.
When did Eisenhower have a heart attack?
1955.
When was the Presidential elections in the middle of Eisenhower’s presidency?
1956.
How much money was Nixon accused of receiving from home state supporters in a scandal?
$18,000
How many people watched the Checkers speech?
60 million.
When did Eisenhower stop the Korean War?
1953.
When were the kitchen debates in Moscow with Khrushchev, the Soviet leader?
1959.
Which debates did Nixon take part in in Moscow and who with?
- Kitchen debates.
- Khrushchev, the Soviet leader
Which area did Nixon visit where he was subjected to protest and resentment?
Latin America
How long did Nixon preside over the presidency when Eisenhower was incapacitated by a heart attack?
6 weeks.
When did Eisenhower have medical incidents?
- 1950 had a heart attack.
- 1956 had a stomach operation.
- 1957 had a stroke.
When did Vice President Nixon meet Martin Luther King on a trip to Ghana while it was celebrating its independence and meet a man who made a profound comment about freedom?
March 1957.
When Nixon asked a man how it felt to be free in after the independence of Ghana, what did the man reply?
I wouldn’t know, sir. I’m from Alabama.
1.
How narrow was the Republican majority in Congress in 1952?
- Three seats in the House of Representatives.
- One seat in the Senate
When did the Republicans lose Congress and not regain it for the rest of Eisenhower’s presidency?
1954.
What was the name for the conservative group within the Republicans?
The old guard.
What was the name for the more liberal group within the Republicans?
The moderates.
When did Republican Senator Robert Taft die?
1953.
We replaced Senator Robert Taft as the leader of the old guard of the Republican Party.
Senator William Knowland.
When did the Republican Party vote against joining NATO?
1949.
When did the Soviet Premier Krushchev visit the US?
1959.
When was the proposed Bricker amendment that aimed to reduce the president’s power to make treaties abroad, that Eisenhower had to use the Democrats to defeat?
1953.
When did Eisenhower introduce a large tax cut?
1954.
What does a RINO stand for?
Republican In Name Only
Which were conservative Republican took over the Republican Party after Eisenhower left in 1964?
Barry Goldwater.
What did opinion polls show about Mccarthy and when?
- 50% supported McCarthy
- 1954
Which organisation did McCarthy attack and how many firings did it lead to?
- The Voice of America (US broadcaster for foriegn nations)
- 830 employees fired
How many of those on Joseph McCarthy’s lists were actually communist spies?
9.
When were the Army- McCarthy hearings.
June 1954.
Who was accused of blackmailing the army in the Army-McCarthy hearings?
- Joseph McCarthy
- Roy Cohn
Who was the lawyer who fought on the side of the army in the Army-McCarthy hearings?
Joseph Welch
Who was the individual who McCarthy agreed not to mention in the Army-McCarthy hearings, but eventually did.
Fred Fisher.
What was the key quote from the Army-McCarthy hearings?
‘have you no decency’
When did the Senate vote to censure McCarthy?
March 1957.
