Chapter 26 Section 1 Postwar America Riddlebarger The Eisenhower Era Chapter 26 Section 1 Postwar America Riddlebarger

The Election of 1952 Truman’s admiration of Eisenhower may have affected his decision not to run in 1952. 22nd Amendment passed in 1951 Truman also felt 8 years was enough Stevenson vs. Eisenhower Eisenhower sharply criticized Democrats for their handling of Korean War. “Ike” vowed to end the war Americans seemed to trust and admire Eisenhower.

Eisenhower/Nixon Elected

Eisenhower’s Cold War policies Ike negotiates cease fire in Korea. Ike’s Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles wants new approach to communism. Rather than just containing it, he wants to roll it back.

Brinksmanship To do this, Dulles favors building more nuclear weapons He felt only the threat of nuclear war would stop the Soviets. Brinksmanship policy- going to the brink of war without actually getting into war. Make threats strong enough to get results without actually having to follow through on them. Massive Retaliation- pledge that U.S. would use overwhelming force against Soviets, including nukes to settle a serious conflict. MAD

Arms Race After WW2, U.S. is building up stockpile of atomic weapons and experimenting with new ones. Hydrogen Bomb– hundreds of times more powerful. Once Soviets get H-bomb, both sides try to keep ahead of the other. ICBM’s (missiles) wiki

Space Race Begins Soviets launch first artificial satellite- Sputnik Concern in America that Soviets are passing us by. Education impact We establish NASA

The Warsaw Pact forms 1955: Soviets establish Warsaw Pact A military alliance with Soviet dominated E. Europe. Like NATO, collective security Soviet communist control is firm & ruthless when necessary. NATO vs. Warsaw Pact

Central Intelligence Agency Formed in 1947 to collect information about, and spy on, foreign governments. The CIA is increasingly active in 1950’s. Covertly helped overthrow governments in Guatemala and Iran.

Television Age Television popularity grows after WW2 5 million sets in homes in USA between 1945-50. By 1959, 40 million homes have at least one. Impact upon politics, advertising, children, culture. Breakdown of regional differences

New Communities Growth of suburbs in America accelerates after World War II. Why? See p. 866-67 in text Mostly white & higher economic class U.S. population shifts from North to South and West Interstate Highway System– network of connected highway systems across U.S. Eisenhower administration starts it in1956.

Changes in Immigration

Immigration Act (1965) Replaced national origin quotas with hemisphere based quotas. Priority to those with family already here or desired jobs skills Effect: opens up immigration to people from countries that had previously been denied entry into US Significance: triggers new wave of immigration to US Asia & Latin America replacing Europe