Transcript The Eisenhower Years, 1952-1960

Cold War and
Culture:
The Eisenhower
Years, 1952-1960
“America has been in
existence for 150 years and
this is the level she has
reached. We have existed not
quite 42 years and in another
seven years we will be on the
same level as America. When
we catch you up, in passing
you by, we will wave to
you.”
-Nikita Khrushchev,
July 24, 1959
Main Ideas
• Eisenhower’s Administration- Domestic and
Foreign Policies
• Eisenhower and the Cold War
• Nuclear Threat: MAD
• The C.I.A.
• The U.S. in Asia and the Middle East; Eisenhower
Doctrine
• U.S. and Soviet Relations- containing
communism in the 1950s
• Popular Culture of the 1950s
• Social changes in the 1950s
The 50s
The maximum territorial extent of
countries in the world under Soviet
influence, after the Cuban Revolution of
1959 and before the official Sino-Soviet
split of 1961
• The 1950s have the popular image
of the “happy days,” when the
nation prospered and teens
enjoyed the new beat of rock and
roll music
• While middle-class suburbanites
enjoyed their chrome-trimmed
cars and tuned in “I Love Lucy”
on their new television sets, the
Cold War and threat of nuclear
destruction loomed in the
background
The Election of 1952
Presidential election results map. Red
denotes states won by Eisenhower/Nixon,
Blue denotes those won by
Stevenson/Kefauver. Orange is the electoral
vote for Walter Burgwyn Jones by an
Alabama faithless elector. Numbers indicate
the number of electoral votes allotted to
each state.
• In the last year of Truman’s
presidency, Americans were
looking for relief from the
Korean War and an end to
political scandals
• Republicans nominated
Dwight D. Eisenhower (“Ike”)
and Richard Nixon for his
running mate
• The Democrats nominated
Adlai Stevenson, a popular
governor of Illinois (the
darling of liberals for
confronting McCarthyism)
Campaign Highlights
Eisenhower
• Eisenhower had a spotless record, but his running
mate Nixon had used campaign funds for his own
personal use
• Nixon managed to defend himself and save his
political future by effectively using television to
portray his positive virtues
• In his so called Checkers speech, Nixon won the
support of millions of viewers by tugging at their
heartstrings
• With his wife and daughters around him, he
emotionally vowed never to return the gift of their
dog Checkers
• What became the decisive issue was Eisenhower’s
pledge to go to Korea and end the war
• Eisenhower won 55% of the popular vote and an
electoral college landslide of 442 to 89
Domestic Politics
Charles Wilson
• As president, Eisenhower adopted a style
of leadership that emphasized the
delegation of authority
• He filled his cabinet with successful
corporate executives, such as General
Motors’ head Charles Wilson
Modern Republicanism:
-Eisenhower was a fiscal conservative who
curbed federal spending
-as a moderate on domestic issues,
Eisenhower accepted and in some
instances extended New Deal programs
Domestic Politics continued…
• During Eisenhower’s two terms in office:
(1) Social Security was extended to 10 million more Americans
(2) The minimum wage was raised
(3) Additional public housing was built
(4) Created the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
under Oveta Culp Hobby, the first woman in a Republican
cabinet
(5) The creation of a soil-bank program that reduced farm
production and thereby increased farm income
(6) He opposed the ideas of federal healthcare insurance and
federal aid to education
• This so called balanced and moderate approach was dubbed
“modern Republicanism”
• Critics called it “the bland leading the bland”
Interstate Highway System
Interstate
Highways or in the
cities-Freeways
• The most permanent legacy of the
Eisenhower years was the passage in 1956 of
the Highway Act which:
(1) Authorized the construction of 42,000 miles
liking major cities
(2) Justified new taxes on fuel, tires, and
vehicles to bolster national defense
(3) Created an immense public works project
creating jobs
(4) Promoted the trucking industry, accelerated
the growth of suburbs, and contributed to a
more homogeneous national culture
(5) Hurt the railroads and environment-little
attention was paid to public transportation
Prosperity
• Eisenhower’s domestic legislation was modest and during his
years in office:
(1) The nation enjoyed a steady growth rate (inflation at 1.5%)
(2) Deficits fell in relation to the national wealth
(3) Per-capital income increased
(4) The American family had twice the real income of a
comparable family during the boom years of the 1920s
(5) The postwar economy gave Americans the highest standard of
living in the world
The Election of 1956
Presidential election results map. Red
denotes states won by Eisenhower/Nixon,
Blue denotes those won by
Stevenson/Kefauver. Orange is the electoral
vote for Walter Burgwyn Jones by an
Alabama faithless elector. Numbers indicate
the number of electoral votes allotted to
each state.
• Toward the end of his term,
Eisenhower suffered a heart
attack and Democrats
questioned his health for a
second term
• The Democrats ran Adlai
Stevenson again, however the
results were the sameEisenhower won by an even
greater number than in 1952
• It was a personal victory onlythe Democrats retained control
of both houses of Congress
Eisenhower and the Cold War
• Most of Eisenhower’s attention was
focused on foreign policy and
various international crises arising
from the Cold War
• The experienced diplomat who
helped shape U.S. foreign policy
throughout Eisenhower’s presidency
was Secretary of State John Foster
Dulles
John Foster Dulles served as U.S.
Secretary of State under Republican
President Dwight D. Eisenhower from
1953 to 1959. He was a significant figure
in the early Cold War era, advocating an
aggressive moralistic stance against
communism throughout the world.
Dulles’ Diplomacy
Dulles with president Eisenhower in
1956
• Dulles was critical of Truman’s policy of
containment as too passive
• He advocated a “new look” to U.S.
foreign policy that:
(1) Challenged the Soviets and Chinese
(2) Wanted to liberate captive nations of
Eastern Europe and encouraged the
Nationalist government of Taiwan to
resist “Red” China
(3) Advocated the idea of pushing
Communist powers to the brink of war
to force them to back down or face
nuclear annihilation (brinkmanship)
Massive Retaliation
Operation Castle became the
highest-yield nuclear test series
ever conducted by the United
States.
• Dulles advocated placing greater reliance on
nuclear weapons and air power (spend less on
conventional forces of the army and navy)
• In theory, this would save money, help
balance the budget, and increase pressure on
potential enemies
• In 1952, the U.S. developed the Hydrogen
bomb which could level cities (the Soviets
developed the bomb within a year after)
• To some, the policy of massive retaliation
appeared more like a policy for mutual
extinction
• Nuclear weapons were a powerful deterrent
against direct conflict between the
superpowers, however, smaller wars could not
be prevented
Unrest in the Third World
Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder
and first Governor General of
Pakistan, delivering the opening
address of the 1947 Constitutional
Assembly, explaining the foundations
for the new state of Pakistan.
• The collapse of colonial empires after
WWII may have been the single most
important development of the postwar
era
• Between 1947 and 1962, dozens of
colonies in Asia and Africa gained
independence
• These Third World nations often lacked
stable political and economic institutions
–this made many of them reliant on the
U.S. or Soviet Union for aid
Covert
Actions
The Shah and his wife
left Iran on 16 January
1979
• Part of the “new look” in Eisenhower’s conduct
of U.S. foreign policy was the growing use of
covert action
• In 1953 the CIA played a role in overthrowing
the government in Iran that had tried to
nationalize the holding of foreign oil companies
• The overthrow of an elected government
allowed for the return of Reza Pahlavi, or the
shah (monarch) of Iran
• The shah provided the West with favorable oil
prices and made enormous purchases of
American arms
• In Guatemala (1954), the CIA overthrew a
leftist government that threatened American
business interests
• It seemed that America supported corrupt and
often ruthless dictators if those dictators were in
opposition to Communism (led to poor relations
in Latin America)
Asia
Delegates sign the
Korean Armistice
Agreement in
P’anmunjŏm, Korea
Korean armistice:
-soon after Eisenhower’s inauguration, he went to Korea to visit
U.N. forces and see what could be done to end the war
-With diplomacy, the threat of nuclear war, and the death of Stalin
in March 1953 China and North Korea agreed to an armistice and
exchange of prisoners
-Korea would remain divided near the 38th parallel, and despite
years of negotiations, no peace treaty was ever concluded
Asia continued…
Fall of Indochina:
-after losing their colonial possessions to the Japanese in WWII,
the French attempted to reassert themselves in Southeast Asia
(Indochina)
-support for nationalists and Communists led by Ho Chi Minh
resisted
-the U.S. sent aid to the French and the Soviets and Chinese aided
the Viet Minh guerrillas
-after a disastrous defeat at Dien Bien Phu, the French tried to
convince Eisenhower to send American troops (Eisenhower
decline)
-At the Geneva Conference, the French agreed to give up
Indochina, which was divided into the independent nations of
Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam
Division of
Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh
• By the terms of the Geneva Convention, Vietnam
was temporarily divided at the 17th parallel until a
general election could be held
• The new nation became divided as two hostile
governments took power on either side (in the
North, Ho Chi Minh and the South, Ngo Dinh
Diem)
• The general election to unite Vietnam was never
held because South Vietnam’s government feared
that the Communists would win
• From 1955 to 1961, the U.S. gave over 1 billion in
economic and military aid to South Vietnam
• Eisenhower justified this action by making an
analogy to a row of dominoes
• According to the domino theory (later to become
famous), if South Vietnam fell under Communist
control, one nation after another in Southeast Asia
would also fall
SEATO
The leaders of some of the SEATO nations in
front of the Congress Building in Manila, hosted
by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos on 24
October 1966
• To prevent the “fall” to
communism of South Vietnam,
Laos, and Cambodia, Dulles put
together a regional defense pact
called the Southeast Asia Treaty
Organization (SEATO)
• Eight nations, U.S., Great
Britain, France, Australia, New
Zealand, the Philippines,
Thailand, and Pakistan, would
agree to protect each other in
case of attack within the region
The Middle East
The term "Middle East" may have
originated in the 1850s in the British
India Office. However, it became more
widely known when American naval
strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan used the
term in 1902 to "designate the area
between Arabia and India“.
• In the Middle East, the U.S. had the
difficult balancing act of maintaining
friendly ties with the oil-rich Arab states
while at the same time supporting the
new state of Israel
• Israel was created in 1948 under U.N.
auspices, after a civil war in the British
mandate territory of Palestine left the
land divided between the Israelis and
the Palestinians
Suez Crisis
The location of the Suez Canal,
which connects the Mediterranean
and the Indian Ocean via the Red
Sea.
Suez Crisis:
-led by Arab nationalist General Gamal
Nasser, Egypt asked the U.S. for funds to
build the ambitious Aswan Dam project
-U.S. refused, primarily because of Egypt’s
threat to Israel
-the Soviets agreed to provide limited aid for
the project (not enough)
-Nasser sensed an opportunity to gain more
funding by precipitating a international
crisis when he seized the British and
French owned Suez Canal
-this act threatened Western Europe’s supply
line to Middle Eastern oil
-in a surprise attack, Britain, France, and
Israel retook the canal
-the U.S. sponsored a U.N. resolution
condemning the invasion of Egypt forcing
the invading powers to withdraw
Eisenhower Doctrine
Eisenhower and Vice President
Richard Nixon with their host, King
Saud of Saudi Arabia, Washington
1957
• The U.S. quickly replaced Britain and
France as the leading Western
influence in the Middle East, but it
faced growing Soviet influence in
Egypt and Syria
• In a policy pronouncement in 1957,
Eisenhower pledged the support of
the U.S. to any Middle Eastern nation
threatened by communism (example:
Lebanon (1958)-14,000 U.S. marines
prevented an outbreak of civil war
between Christians and Muslims)
OPEC and Oil
Current OPEC members
• In Eisenhower’s last year in
office, 1960, the Arab nations
of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq,
and Iran joined Venezuela to
form the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries
• The combination of growing
Western dependence on Middle
Eastern oil, spreading Arab
nationalism, and a conflict
between Israelis and
Palestinians, complicated
American foreign policy in the
region
U.S.-Soviet Relations
Superpower rivalry
• In terms of U.S. security, nothing
was more critical than U.S.
diplomatic relations with its chief
political and military rival-the Soviet
Union
• Throughout Eisenhower’s
presidency, the relations between the
two superpowers fluctuated between
relative calm and extreme tension
Spirit of Geneva
• After Stalin’s death in 1953, Eisenhower called for a slowdown
of the arms race and presented to the United Nations an “atoms
for peace plan” (Soviets also showed signs of peace; established
peace with Turkey and Greece)
• By 1955, a desire for peace prompted a summit meeting in
Geneva, Switzerland
• Soviet premier Nikolai Bulganin (less than a year later replaced
by Nikita Khrushchev) and Eisenhower discussed an agreement
called “open skies,” allowing aerial photography over their
territory to lessen the chance of a surprise nuclear strike
• The Soviets rejected the proposal, however, the “spirit of
Geneva” was widely seen as the first thaw in the Cold War
Hungarian
Revolt
Time's "Man of the
Year" for 1956 was the
Hungarian Freedom
Fighter.
• The Soviet Union after World War II
dominated Hungary
• Imre Nagy, a popular liberal Hungarian
Communist leader formed a new
government
• He called for free elections, denounced the
Warsaw Pact, and demanded that all Soviet
troops leave Hungary (October of 1956)
• The Soviet response was swift-tanks rolled
into Hungary and put down the revolt
• An estimated 30,000 Hungarians were killed
and Nagy was executed
• The United States and the U.N. did nothing
(Ended Dulles’ talk of liberating Eastern
Europe and the Soviets vetoed any U.N.
resolutions that condemned actions by the
Soviets)
Sputnik
Shock
Sputnik I: beep beep…
• After Stalin’s death in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev
gained power and believed that communism could
prevail peacefully by competing with the United
States scientifically and economically
• The space race was a key area of competition for
the Soviets and the Americans
• The Soviets struck first by launching Sputnik (a
satellite) October 4, 1957; Americans were
shocked
• Americans blamed the schools as scientifically
inadequate
• In 1958, Congress responded with the National
Defense and Education Act-giving millions of
dollars to schools for science and foreign
language education
• In the same year, the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA) was created to
guide the building of missiles (rockets) and
explore outer space
• Less than a year later after a humiliating launch
that blew up, the United States finally launched
their first satellite into orbit
The Second Berlin Crisis
Nikita Khrushchev
• Khrushchev boasted, “We will bury
capitalism” and told the United States and
the West that they had 6 months to leave
West Berlin
• The United States refused, and instead,
Eisenhower invited the Soviet premier to
visit the United States
• At the presidential retreat of Camp David in
Maryland, the two agreed to put off the
crisis and schedule another summit
conference in Paris for 1960
U-2 Incident
• U-2 spy planes were flying over Soviet
territory since 1957, and the Soviets were
aware of these flights starting in 1958
• A U-2 plane, piloted by Francis Gary
Powers, was shot down in 1960
• The U-2 incident caused tension between
the U.S. and Soviets and effective killed
the friendly “spirit of Camp David”
• Eisenhower took full responsibility for the
incident and Khrushchev called off the
Paris summit
Francis Gary Powers
Communism in Cuba
Fidel Castro becomes the
leader of Cuba as a result
of the Cuban Revolution
• Perhaps more alarming than any other Cold
War development during the Eisenhower years
was the loss of Cuba to communism
• Fidel Castro overthrew Fulgencio Batista in
1959 and nationalized American owned
businesses and properties in Cuba
• Eisenhower retaliated by cutting of trade
which forced Castro to seek help from the
Soviets
• Within a year, Castro announced the creation
of a communist state which prompted
Eisenhower to authorize a CIA mission to
train Cuban exiles and plan an attack to
liberate the island
Eisenhower’s Legacy
Eisenhower’s
White House
portrait
• After leaving the White House:
(1) Eisenhower claimed credit for checking
communist aggression and keeping the peace
without the loss of American lives in combat
(2) Relaxed tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet
Union
(3) He initiated the first arms limitations by
voluntarily suspending above ground testing of
nuclear weapons
• In his farewell address, Eisenhower warned
against the negative impact of the Cold War on
U.S. society
• He also warned the nation to “guard against the
acquisition of unwarranted influence…by the
military industrial complex”
Popular Culture of the Fifties
The Fifties
• Among white suburbanites, the
1950s were marked by conformity to
social norms
• Consensus about political issues and
conformity in social behavior were
safe harbors for Americans troubled
by foreign ideology of communism
• At the same time, the fifties were the
hallmark of a consumer-driven mass
economy
Consumer Culture and Conformity
• Television, advertising, and the middle-class move to the
suburbs contributed mightily to the growing homogeneity of
American culture
Television:
-television programming was dominated by three national
networks which presented viewers with a bland menu of
comedies, westerns, quiz shows, and sporting events
-critics of TV, such as FCC chairman Newton Minnow, called this
new media a “vast wasteland” and worried about its impact on
children
-yet TV became a cultural phenomenon
Consumer Culture and Conformity
continued…
In the mid-1950s
Elvis Presley
became the leading
figure of the newly
popular sound of
rock and roll
Advertising:
-in all the media, aggressive advertising by name brands
also promoted common material wants
-the introduction of suburban shopping malls and plastic
credit cards provided quick gratification for Americans
-the proliferation of McDonald’s yellow arches on the
roadside was an example of how successful new
marketing techniques and standardized products
became in America
Paperbacks and records:
-Americans read more books than ever before
(introduction of paperbacks)
-long-playing (LP) records become mass produced and
cheap
-Teenagers fell in love with Rock and Roll music (Elvis
Presley become the king!)
Corporate
America
Sleeping Beauty Castle, the
icon of Disneyland Park
• In the business world, conglomerates with
diversified holdings began to dominate
such industries as food processing, hotels,
transportation, insurance, and banking
• For the first time in history, more American
held white-collar jobs than blue-collar
• Large corporations of this era promoted
teamwork and conformity (especially dress
code)
• Big Unions became more powerful after
the merger of the AF of L and the CIO in
1955 (unions became more conservative as
blue-collar workers enjoyed the middleclass)
• For most Americans, conformity was a
small price to pay for the new affluence of
a home in the suburbs, a new automobile,
good schools for children, and a possible
vacation (Disneyland opens 1955)
Religion
• Organized religion expanded dramatically
after WWII with the building of thousands
of new churches and synagogues
• Will Herberg’s book Protestant, Catholic,
Jew commented on the new religious
tolerance of the times and the lack of
interest in doctrine, as religious
membership became a source of both
individual identity and socialization
Women’s Role
• The baby boom and running a home in the suburbs made
homemaking a full-time job for millions of women
• In the postwar period, the traditional view of a women’s role
as caring for children and the home was reaffirmed in the mass
media and in the best-selling self-help book-Baby and Child
Care (Dr. Benjamin Spock)
• At the same time, evidence of dissatisfaction was growing,
especially among well-educated women of the middle class
• More married women, especially as they reached middle age,
entered the workforce
• Yet women in the fifties were viewed as wives and mothers,
and women’s lower wages reflected this attitude
Social Critics
• Not everyone approved of the social trends of the 1950s:
(1) In The Lonely Crowd, Harvard sociologist David Riesman
criticized the replacement of “inner-directed” individuals in
society with “other-directed” conformists
(2) In The Affluent Society, the economist John Kenneth
Galbraith wrote about the failure of wealthy Americans to
address the need for increased social spending for the
common good
(3) The sociologist C. Wright Mills portrayed dehumanizing
corporate worlds in White Collar (1951) and threats to
freedom in The Power Elite (1956)
Social Critics
continued…
Beat, Beat, Beat by
William F. Brown
Novels:
-some of the most popular novelists of the
fifties wrote about the individual’s struggle
against conformity
-J.D. Salinger provided a classic commentary
on “phoniness” as viewed by a troubled
teenager in The Catcher in the Rye (1951)
-Joseph Heller satirized the stupidity of the
military and war in Catch-22 (1961)
Beatniks:
-a group of rebellious writers and intellectuals
made up the Beat generation of the 1950s
-Led by Jack Kerouac and poet Allen Ginsberg,
the Beatniks advocated spontaneity, use of
drugs, and rebellion against social standards
-the Beatniks became the models for the youth
rebellion of the sixties
Timeline
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1951 - Internal Security Act (McCarran Act)
- Twenty-second Amendment (two terms for president) ratified
- J. D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye published
1952 - United States explodes first H-Bomb
- Dwight D. Eisenhower elected thirty-fourth president
1953 - Execution of convicted spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
1954 - Brown v. Board of Education
- Senator Joseph McCarthy censored by Senate
- SEATO formed
- Dien Bien Phu captured by Vietminh
- Atomic Energy Act
- Elvis Presley introduces his style of rock and roll
1955 - Summit conference at Geneva
1956 - Suez crisis
- Hungarian revolt
- Federal Aid Highway Act
- Allen Ginsberg's poem Howl introduces the "Beat Generation"
1957 - Eisenhower Doctrine
- Sputnik (first earth orbiting satellite) launched by Soviet Union
- Defense Reorganization Act
- Jack Kerouac's On the Road published
- Postwar Baby Boom peaks
1960 - John F. Kennedy elected thirty-fifth president
- U-2 incident
Key Names, Events, and Terms
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Dwight Eisenhower
Richard Nixon
Modern Republicanism
Oveta Culp Hobby
Soil-bank program
Highway Act (1956); interstate
highway system
John Foster Dulles; brinkmanship
Massive retaliation
Third World
Iran
Covert action
Indochina
Geneva Conference
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Ho Chi Minh
Vietnam
Domino theory
Southeast Asia Treaty
Organization (SEATO)
Suez Canal crisis (1956)
Eisenhower Doctrine
Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC)
“spirit of Geneva”
Open skies crisis
Nikita Khrushchev
Peaceful coexistence
Hungarian revolt
Warsaw Pact
Key Names, Events, and Terms
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Sputnik
National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA)
U-2 incident
Fidel Castro
Cuba
Military-industrial complex
Corporate America
Consumer culture
The Lonely Crowd, David Riesman
The Affluent Society, John Kenneth
Galbraith
Beatniks
Question
U.S. intervention in Iran in 1953 and in Guatemala in
1954 are examples of
(a) the use of covert action by CIA
(b) the application of the Eisenhower Doctrine
(c) U.S. efforts to stop the proliferation of nuclear
weapons
(d) the use of U.S. troops to support democratic
governments
(e) the policy of brinkmanship
Answer
A: the use of covert action by CIA
Question
The United States during the Eisenhower years
was characterized by
(a) decreased spending for defense
(b)breakup of conglomerates
(c) increased tension between Protestants,
Catholics, and Jews
(d)increased middle-class affluence
(e) radical protests on college campuses
Answer
D: increased middle-class affluence