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The Advent of Eisenhower

1952 Election

    • Democrats Party was hurt by deadlock in Korea, Truman’s clash with MacArthur, war-bred inflation, and whiffs of scandal
    • Republicans nominated popular General Dwight D. Eisenhower with Richard Nixon

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Adlai Stevenson

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Richard Nixon (Rep-CA)

Eisenhower left the rough campaigning to Nixon

  • Nixon accused of having slush fund, made a “Checkers speech” that saved him
  • Eisenhower cracked the solid South wide open and ensured GOP control of the new Congress

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Ike wins in landslide

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The Advent of Eisenhower

Television- Nixon and

Eisenhower took advantage

of television “I like Ike!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMoNazHmjRI

Eisenhower’s leadership style

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Rise and Fall of Joseph McCarthy

McCarthy Army Hearings- McCarthy went after communists in the military

    • military fought back in televised hearings; did not get political or popular support
    • Ended McCarthy’s anti-Communist raids

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CONSENSUS AND CONFORMITY: Politics

“Dynamic Conservatism” (Modern Republicanism)

    • Fiscal Conservative: sound business principles, Reduce federal spending, balance budget and cut taxes
    • Social Moderate: maintain existing social and economic legislation (New Deal)
    • Tried to avoid partisan conflicts

President Eisenhower (Courtesy Dwight D. Eisenhower Library)

Ike with VP Nixon on the Links.

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CONSENSUS AND CONFORMITY: Politics

Federal Highway Act (1956)- build interstate highway system with federal funds, states paid 10%, new taxes on gas and diesel fuel

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President Eisenhower (Courtesy Dwight D. Eisenhower Library)

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Eisenhower Domestic Policies

Nativism

  • Operation Wetback deported a million illegal Mexican immigrants
  • Eisenhower sought to cancel the tribal preservation policies of “Indian New Deal”—proposed to terminate the tribes as legal entities and revert to assimilationist goals of the Dawes Act of 1887

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Eisenhower Domestic Policies

Moderate Conservative- Supported New Deal programs like Social Security, unemployment insurance and labor and farm programs

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Conservative

Nativism

  • Operation Wetback deported a million illegal Mexican immigrants
  • Eisenhower sought to cancel the tribal preservation policies of “Indian New Deal”—proposed to terminate the tribes as legal entities and revert to assimilationist goals of the Dawes Act of 1887

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Eisenhower Foreign Policy

Secretary of state John Foster Dulles wanted to “roll back” communism, not contain it

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Strategic Air Command (SAC) fleet of superbombers equipped with nukes would allow “massive retaliation” instead of needing large army and navy (cheaper deterrent)

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Brinkmanship

Secretary of state John Foster Dulles shifted policy away from containment and more toward using the threat of “massive retaliation” to get the Soviets to back down. This was called brinksmanship, pushing USSR to the break of war in

order to get concessions.

Mutual Assured Destruction –

neither side would engage

in nuclear war because

nuclear war brought

total annihilation

http ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1KP9V_I8CQ

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The Advent of Eisenhower

End of Korean War- Ike visited Korea in December 1952 (promised in campaign)

  • Truce was only agreed after Ike threatened to use atomic weapons
    • Established status quo ante
  • 54,000 Americans killed, over million Chinese and Koreans killed

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Cold War Crises in Europe, Southeast Asia, and Middle East

Easing of Tensions- Eisenhower negotiated arms-control agreements with Moscow; sought to curb military spending

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Nikita Khrushchev denounced the bloody excesses of Joseph Stalin—hope for the future.

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Although both were pragmatists, they still had to politically navigate a delicate foreign policy between hardliners, idealists to try to win the Cold War by any means.

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Cold War Crises in Europe, Southeast Asia, and Middle East

Cold War Conflicts

1. Hungarian Revolt- Soviets brutally repress Hungarian revolution; US refused to helphttp://www.britishpathe.com/video/soviets-crush-hungarian-revolt/query/occupying

2. Vietnam War begins when US supports French in Indochina against communist leader Ho Chi Minh (Geneva Convention divided Vietnam into North and South)

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Menaces in the Middle East

3. Iranian Coup led by CIA 1953 that installed Mohammed Reza Pahlevi as the Shah of Iran to guarantee western access to Iranian oil

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMrJu8Gx9eY

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Menaces in the Middle East

4. Suez Crisis 1956- Arab nationalist President Nasser of Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal (taken from British and French)

    • Israel, France and Britain launch attack on Egypt without America’s approval
    • US refused to support invasion, so it ended
    • Demonstrated west needed US support for military engagements

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U2 spy photo of Suez Crisis

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Menaces in the Middle East

Eisenhower Doctrine 1957- pledged US military and economic aid to Middle Eastern nations threatened by communist aggression

    • Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) established; also beneficial to US interest in oil+link- http://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/eisenhower-doctrine

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Sputnik and Space Race

  • Sputnik I (Oct 1957)
  • Sputnik II (Nov 1957)
    • Satellite launched carrying a dog
  • Space Race
    • Fear of Soviet superiority shattered American confidence and led to increased science education and production

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Sputnik and Space Race

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) created and billions spent on missile development

    • US gets first satellite in orbit Feb 1958 called Explorer

In 1958 the National Defense and Education Act (NDEA) authorized $887 million in loans to needy college students and in grants for the improvement of teaching the sciences and languages