1950s

POSTWAR AMERICA

BABY BOOM 1. Explosion of Marriages and Births 2. 50 million babies between 1945-1960 3. Women focused on raising children and homemaking 4. By 1960, 1/3 of all married women worked outside of home

SUBURBAN GROWTH 1. Construction Boom 2. William Levitt-led growth with ”Levittown” development, 17,000 low priced, mass produced homes on Long Island, NY 3. Low interest rates 4. Large cities became poor and racially divided

RISE OF THE SUNBELT 1. States in the South and West 2. Popular due to; climate, lower taxes, economic opportunities and defense-related industries 3. Shifts political power from Northeast and Midwest to South and West

GI BILL 1. Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 2. 15 million veterans in peacetime economy 3. Gave money to those who wanted to attend college-increase in higher education 4. Gave loans to buy homes, farms, or start businesses

ELECTION OF 1952 A. Republican nominee-Dwight D. Eisenhower-war hero; running mate-Richard Nixon-Senator from California B. Democratic nominee-Adlai Stevenson-Governor of Illinois

CAMPAIGN 1. Eisenhower-spotless record 2. Nixon-accused of using campaign funds for personal use-”Checkers Speech” 3. Eisenhower vows to end war in Korea 4. IKE won 55% of popular vote and 442 to 89 in the Electoral College

EISENHOWER’S DOMESTIC POLICY

MODERN REPUBLICANISM 1. First priority to balance budget 2. Expanded social security, raised minimum wage, and added to public housing 3. New cabinet position-Dept. of Health, Education, and Welfare 4. Opposed federal health care and aid to education

INTERSTATE HIGHWAY SYSTEM 1. Highway Act of 1956-authorized the construction of 42,000 miles of interstate highways linking all the nation’s major cities 2. Hurt railroad industry 3. Little attention paid to public transportation

PROSPERITY 1. Between 1945-1960, American’s disposable income tripled 2. By 1955, average family had twice the income of a family during the 1920s 3. Highest standard of living in the world

ELECTION OF 1956 1. Eisenhower suffers heart attack in 1955 2. More popular-renominated by Republicans 3. Democrats renominate Stevenson 4. Eisenhower wins by bigger margin than in 1952 5. Democrats retained control of Congress

EISENHOWER & THE COLD WAR

DULLES’ DIPLOMACY 1. Secretary of State-John Foster Dulles 2. “Brinkmanship”-idea of pushing Communist powers to the brink of war, knowing they would back down due to our nuclear capabilities 3. Eisenhower kept Dulles from going to the extreme

DULLES’ DIPLOMACY 4. “More bang for the buck”-spend more money on nuclear weapons then conventional weapons 5. 1953-Developed the hydrogen bomb 6. 1954-Soviet’s develop their own nuclear bomb 7. Massive retaliation= massive extinction

ASIA End of the Korean War-March 1953, Korea remained divided at the 38th parallel-no treaty Indochina French Imperialism v. Communist Forces Truman gives aid to France-but does not send troops Geneva Conference (1954) France gave up Indochina Divided into three independent nations; Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam

ASIA Vietnam Divided at the 17th parallel N. Vietnam-Communist-led by Ho Chi Minh S. Vietnam-Democratic-led by Ngo Dinh Diem 1955-1961-US sent one billion dollars to support S. Vietnam to avoid Eisenhower’s “domino theory”

ASIA Southeast Asia Treaty Organization Also Known as SEATO Created in 1954 with 8 nations Objective-to prevent S. Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from becoming Communist nations

MIDDLE EAST 1. Eisenhower Doctrine (1957)-gave economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism. First country-Lebannon (1958) 2. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, and Iran form The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 1960

SOVIET UNION 1. Stalin dies in 1953, is replaced by Bulganin, and in 1961he is replaced by Nikita Khrushchev 2. Khrushchev supported “peaceful coexistence” with the US-first “thawing” of the Cold War 3. Sputnik (1957)-USSR surprised the world by launching the first satellite into orbit 4. US responds with the National Defense and Education Act which gave millions of dollars to schools for science and foreign language education 5. Created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)-to direct efforts to build missiles and explore space

SOVIET UNION 6. U-2 Incident Eisenhower and Khrushchev planned to meet in Paris for a peace summit Two weeks before the summit was to happen, the Russians shoot down a US spy plane over the Soviet Union The plane was taking infra red pictures of Missile sites Eisenhower takes full responsibilities and Khruschev calls off the summit

CUBA 1959-Revolution led by Fidel Castro Eisenhower cuts off trade with Castro-”Embargo” Castro sets up a communist government with the support of the Soviet Union Eisenhower authorized the CIA to train Cuban exiles in order to retake the island

EISENHOWER’S FAREWELL ADDRESS Warned against the influence of the military Beware an arms race