Presidents & Politics 1950s 1960s

In America, anyone can become president In America, anyone can become president. That's one of the risks you take. -Adlai E. Stevenson, 1952 Democratic candidate for president Truman 1945-1953 Kennedy 1961-1963 Nixon 1969-1974 Eisenhower 1953-1961 Johnson 1963-1969

Truman 1945-1953 On April 12, 1945, when President Franklin Roosevelt died and Vice President Harry Truman became President, he told reporters, "I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me." "The buck stops here." Most Memorable Moments: Drop atomic bomb on Hiroshima & Nagasaki 1945 Signed United Nations Charter 1945 Proposed “Fair Deal” to continue and modify FDR’s domestic policies of Social Security, fair employment and public housing Korean War 1950 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhUCmarpJV0

Although commander during WWII and considered a Cold Warrior, Ike said, "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” Eisenhower 1953-1961 Most Memorable Moments: Ended Korean War 1953 Opened negotiations with Soviet Leader Nikita Khrushev Signed important Civil Rights legislation and ordered National Guard enforcement of integration of Little Rock High School in 1957 “From this day forward, the millions of our schoolchildren will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural schoolhouse, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty.” -- On signing a bill that added “Under God” to Pledge of Allegiance The url takes you to the living room candidate where you can listen to Ike for President http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1952

Kennedy Most Memorable Moments: Increase “advisors” to Vietnam 1961 "Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth." "Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names." "Too often we...enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought." "Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate." Kennedy 1961-1963 Most Memorable Moments: Increase “advisors” to Vietnam 1961 Bay of Pigs 1961 Cuban Missile Crisis 1962 Peace Corps 1961 Assassination 1963 Launch Apollo campaign The Living Room Candidate - Commercials - 1960 - Debate 2

“Learn from your dreams what you lack.” Johnson 1963-1969 Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was thrust into the presidency by an assassin's bullet. He took that legacy and used it to advance civil rights. “The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men.” Most Memorable Moments: Vietnam War escalation (1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution) Civil Rights Act of 1964 Voting Rights Act of 1965 Great Society social programs Declined to seek re-election in 1968 because of turmoil related to Vietnam War “Learn from your dreams what you lack.”    “Boys, I may not know much, but I know chicken shit from chicken salad.” http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1964

Nixon 1969-1974 Republican Richard Nixon rose to the presidency in large part because of the confusion set off among Democrats by LBJ’s decision not to run. While much happened during Nixon’s terms of office, he is remembered almost exclusively as the only president to resign from office. “The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis.' One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger - but recognize the opportunity.”  “We cannot learn from one another until we stop shouting at one another - until we speak quietly enough so that our words can be heard as well as our voices.” Most Memorable Moments: Vietnam War Arms reductions with Russia Watergate http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1968