THE EISENHOWER YEARS (Personified the 1950s)

ELECTION OF 1952  First republican victory in 20 years  “I like Ike”  Running Mate- Richard Nixon  Ran against Adlai Stevenson Nixon’s Checkers speech electoral votes

DOMESTIC POLICIES  Modern Republicanism= balanced and moderate approach  Came closer then any other successor in balancing the budget  Accepted New Deal programs as a reality of Modern life Extended social security to 10 million more Raised Minimum wage Additional public housing  Oppose federal health care and federal aid to education

DOMESTIC POLICIES  Highway system  Most permanent legacy (1956)  42k miles of highways  Used as a measure of national defense  Promoted trucking, growth of the suburbs

PROSPERITY  Steady growth rate  Deficits fall  Some historians rate his economic policies as the most successful of any president  disposable income  Americans had the highest standards of living in the world

ELECTION OF 1956  Eisenhower was again  Democrats win both houses of Congress

EISENHOWER AND THE COLD WAR  Secretary of State John Foster Dulles  Thought containment was too passive  talked of “liberating captive nations”  Took a hard line of “ Wanted to push Soviets and China  Eisenhower restrained him

EISENHOWER AND THE COLD WAR  Dullus wanted “more bang for the back” Place greater reliance on nuclear weapons and air power  To some Massive Retaliation looked more the Mutual Extinction (MAD – mutually assured destruction)

EISENHOWER AND THE 3 RD WORLD  Collapse of colonial empires after WWII were extremely significant  dozens of colonies in Asia and Africa gained their independence – India / Pakistan (1947)  Their need for foreign aid from either the U.S. or the Soviet Union made them pawns

EISENHOWER AND THE 3 RD WORLD  Use of correct action U.S. helps overthrow Government in Iran The shah was put into power promoted the West with favorable aid prices Guatemala, 1954 CIA overthrow a leftist government that threatened American business interests U.S. support of ruthless dictators – produced anti-growing US sentiment

ASIA  1953 (March) Stalin dies  China and North Korea sign an armistice with S. Korea  July 1953, exchange of prisoners  French try to retake Indochina after WWII  Native Vietnamese and Cambodians resist

ASIA  Federal imperialist aims increase communist support (anti-colonial war)  Truman’s government began to give aid to France  China and soviets arched Vietnam guerillas led by Ho Chi Minh  1954, French defeated at Dien Bien Phu – forced to surrender  1954, France agreed to give up Indochina at Genera Conference  Divided among Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam

VIETNAM  Divided at the 17 th parallel North (Ho Chi Minh) vs. South(Ngo Dinh Diem)  1955 to 1941 U.S. gives ones 1 billion in economic and military and to S. Vietnam  Domino Theory  SEATO( 8 nations, 1954 US,GB,FR,Pak.,Aus.,NZ,Thai,Phil

MIDDLE EAST  Balance maintaining financial ties with oil- rich Arab states while supporting Israel  Civil war fought to prevent Jewish State

SUEZ CRISIS  1. Arab nationalist and Nasser (Egypt) asked US for funds to build the Aswan dam on the  2. US says no because Egypt fought Israel  3.Egypt gets limited funds from Soviets  4. Egypt seizes Suez Canal (1956) – Nationalizes it  5. In response, GB, FR, and Israel launch a surprise attack against Egypt and retake the canal  6. Eisenhower furious- UN resolution condemning the invasion

EISENHOWER DOCTRINE  US pledges military aid to any middle Eastern country threatened by communism 1 st Applied in Lebanon (1958) sent 14k marines to prevent Muslim - Christian War

US SOVIET RELATIONS  Period characterized by relative calm to extreme tension  Spirit of Geneva  “Atoms for peace” = slow down arms race after Stalin’s death  Geneva, Eisenhower and Bulgaria “open skies ”, Soviets rejected proposal 1 st thaw  Kruschev denounced crimes of Stalin in early 1956 called for peaceful coexistence

US SOVIET RELATIONS  Sputnik shock = blamed American education national system and education Act – 100s millions to schools  2 nd berlin crisis= diffused at Camp David  U. 2 incident = US spy plane shot down over the Soviet Union  Cuba= Castro overthrew Battista January 1, 1959 Castro nationalized American businesses Communist Stole 90 miles off Fl. Coast Eisenhower used CIA to train anti-communist exiles to retake island Left up to Kennedy – Bay of Pigs Invasion  Military -Industrial complex