1. America in the 1950s
                                              

2. The Election of 1952 Republican Democrats “I like Ike” Adlai Stevenson
Eisenhower runs with Nixon on VP ticket
Adlai Stevenson
Made out to be soft on Communism by Nixon
Promises an end to the Korean War
Nixon crisis over political gifts
“I like Ike”

3. Eisenhower in Office Moderate President Economic Policy
                                           
Economic Policy
Smaller Federal Gov’t
Limiting Gov’t spending
Removed price control and transferred financial authority to the states
Budget Surplus

4. Eisenhower Continued…
Nation Expands
Social Programs
Welfare- extended Social Security and unemployment
Federal Highway Act- expanded interstate
Increased minimum wage
and public housing
1959 Alaska and Hawaii added-50 states
Created Dept. of Health, Edu. and Welfare (Hobby)

5. Eisenhower and the Cold War

6. US and USSR United States and Soviet Rivalry Foreign Policy
-Space Race and Sputnik
NASA
Foreign Policy
- Brinksmanship (Dulles)
- Arms Race (IRBM ICBM)
- Civil Defense Administration- edu. of nuclear attack

7. Foreign Policy Challenges
Middle East
-France And Brit. Invade Egypt Israel helps
-Tensions high due to Arab attack on Israel in 1948
- Pressure from US and UN results in F/B/I withdrawal. Agree to UN border patrol
- US backs Israel
- USSR backs Arab States
-Fighting erupts over Suez Canal- Egypt Pres. Nationalizes Canal- Brit. feared would cut off oil supply

8. Foreign Policy Challenges Cont...
Hungary
Southeast Asia
-Student uprisings result in new gov. that demanded Soviet withdrawal
VIETNAM- French colony
※ In 1950’s US gave France $$$to fight Vietminh (Communist leader= Ho Chi Minh)
-Soviets call in Red Army and crush revolt
※ France trapped and US refused to send troops

9. Vietnam Geneva Accords -Negotiated with France and Viet.
- Withdrawal of French troops
“Temporarily” divided Viet. at 17th parallel
- Free elections in 1956
- Vietminh = North
- “Friendly” Gov’t in South

10. Domino Theory
“You have a row of dominoes set up. You knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is that it will go over very quickly”
Eisenhower

11. Troubles in Latin America
Communist Challenges in Latin America
+ CIA helped overthrow Jacobo Arbenz in Guatamala
Result= Protest against “Yankee Imperialism”
Erode Good Neighbor policy of 1930’s
+ Fidel Castro takes control in Cuba (1959)- seizes foreign owned property and est. dictatorship.
Ties with USSR US cut relations with Cuba.

12. Eisenhower’s Farewell Address- Warns @ arms race
Cold War Thaws
Nikita Khrushchev –successor to Stalin
U2 Incident
- An American U2 spy plane is shot down over Soviet Territory (1960) Pilot is captured
Geneva Summit
- No agreement but hopes for peace friendly talk
- Ends Thaw
Peaceful Coexistence
Eisenhower’s Farewell Address- arms race
- Us and USSR try and avoid war

13. 1950s Prosperity-Booming Economy
Production increases 250% b/t
WHY?
1. Military spending
2. Gov. Spending
3. Technological advances
4. Computers- IBM 129 orders (1955)

15. A Changing Nation WHY? * Baby Boom-20% pop. increase -Higher Incomes
-Nation at Peace
- Better Health Care
* Medical Advances- Antibiotics and Vaccines (polio-1955)

16. Impacts -Women Stayed Home -Increased the Economy
-School enrollment increased

17. Growth of the Suburbs Levittown-1st suburban development Suburbs
- Affordable
Away from the cities
- Spacious
- Sense of Community
- Left out minorities

18. America on Wheels Car Travel Air Travel -Made Suburban Life Possible
- Introduction of the Commercial Jet
- Commute

19. Consumer Culture *Appliances- dishwashers, TV, clothes
*Cars- bigger and better
*Advertising
*Fads- Hula Hoop, poodle skirts, pizza

20. American Culture TV Rock n’ Roll
+ Shaped expectations of people’s own lives (Leave it to Beaver, I love Lucy)
+ Blend of African American, and rhythm and blues with country
+ Effect on consumer culture, age of conformity
+ Elvis Presley
+ Music formed teen identity and bond

21. Problems During Prosperity
Rural Poverty
Urban Poverty
* 20% of Amer. in poverty (1950s)
* Poor left behind with suburban migration
* Farm income decreases
* African American and Hispanic migration North for jobs
* Small farmers driven out
* Ghettos develop
* Sharecroppers/Tenant farmers (Appalachia) - very poor!

22. Urban Unemployment - Automation Decreases # of Jobs Discrimination
- Crime and Violence Increases
MINORITIES

23. Dissent Social Critics Beat Generation
Upset with- Loss of individuality and cultural materialism
Social Critics
Beat Generation
William Whyte Jr.- business life
Jack Kerouac- author
Allen Ginsberg- author
John Kenneth Galbraith- prosperity causes ignorance to hardships
* Rebellion and isolation from society (influenced rebellion of 1960s)

24. Questioning Roles Women African American
- Betty Friedan: rebelled against “perfect housewife”
- Civil rights
- Brown v. Board of Ed. -integration
- Little Rock: forced integration
- Boycotts

25. Images Little Rock 9: Central High 1957
Desegregation of the Armed Forces: 1947
Little Rock 9: Central High 1957

26. Images Continued…
Sit-ins

27. Bus Boycott
Black men sitting in “Whites Only” section of the bus