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Postwar Society & Liberalism Chapters 19. Dwight D. Eisenhower  Eisenhower won the election of 1952.  In presiding over the changes taking place in.

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Presentation on theme: "Postwar Society & Liberalism Chapters 19. Dwight D. Eisenhower  Eisenhower won the election of 1952.  In presiding over the changes taking place in."— Presentation transcript:

1 Postwar Society & Liberalism Chapters 19

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3 Dwight D. Eisenhower  Eisenhower won the election of 1952.  In presiding over the changes taking place in American society in the 1950s, President Dwight David Eisenhower projected an aura of paternal calm.

4 Eisenhower and the Domestic Agenda  Pursuing what he called “moderate Republicanism,” Eisenhower sought consensus, not confrontation.  Eisenhower’s approach to the presidency:  Methodical staff work  Leadership through persuasion and conciliation  Eisenhower did not try to dismantle New Deal programs.  “Conservative when it comes to money and liberal when it comes to human beings.”

5 Eisenhower and the Domestic Agenda  He even agreed to increases in social security, unemployment insurance, and the minimum wage.  He created the Department of Health, the Department of Education, the Department of Welfare, and pushed through the Interstate Highway Commission, which was the largest public works plan in history.

6 Postwar Society and Liberalism  Characteristics of postwar liberalism  American exceptionalism (People of Plenty).  Government manages the economy.  Government should provide a basic standard of living.  Government should distribute prosperity.  Civil Rights.  The first three were generally accepted by the public during postwar prosperity.

7 Affluence – 1950s  People who had know deprivation and sacrifice for over a decade began to enjoy unprecedented prosperity.  During the war, Americans had postponed purchases of major items such as cars and houses and in the process had saved $150 billion.  Result: Americans obsessed with consumption

8 1950s- Age of television  1946: 7,000 TV sets  1960: 50 million  9 out of 10 homes  TV advertising taught the public to consume more  Shopping became a major recreational activity  1945: 8 shopping centers  1960: 4,000

9 A Boom in Babies  “Baby Boom”-population grew by 30%  Reinforced the idea that a woman’s place was in the home

10 Transition from Rosie the Riveter to the Ideal Homemaker

11 The Rise of the Suburbs  The GI Bill of Rights  Federal Housing Administration (FHA)  Migration  3.6 million whites move outside of city centers to suburbs  4.5 million blacks move into vacated city centers  1960 1/3 of nation lives in suburbs  1960 ¼ of homes were 10 years old or less

12 Conformity in the 1950s  In an era of prosperity and peace, some commentators began to speak of a “consensus”  A general agreement in American culture, based on values of the broad middle class.  Religion played a role in American conformity in the 1950s.

13 Cracks in the Consensus  The Rebellion of Young America  Juvenile delinquency  1 million teens arrested each year  Rise of rock ‘n’ roll  R & B “race music”  Little Richard, Ray Charles  Elvis Presley

14 The Early Civil Rights Movement  Postwar racial situation  Segregated neighborhoods in North  In 1948, Democrats include Civil Rights plank in platform to capture black votes  Truman desegregates the military after war  National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)  Fight against discrimination with legal challenges  Resolved to test the “separate but equal” doctrine that had upheld racial segregation

15 The Brown Decision  Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954)  Strikes down Plessy v. Ferguson’s “separate but equal” doctrine in regards to education.  Eisenhower supports but does not aggressively push.  Reinforced by the Civil Rights Act of 1957  There is token desegregation in Little Rock, Arkansas.  Nine black students tried to attend Little Rock High School in 1957  Eisenhower ordered a thousand paratroopers to Little Rock to protect the students.

16 Boycotts of the 1950s  Baton Rouge Bus Boycott (1953)  1st successful black boycott in South  Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955) – Rosa Parks was secretary of local NAACP  These boycotts demonstrated that blacks were not happy with the system.  The emergence of a young black leader Martin Luther King, Jr.  He grew up in an affluent black community in Atlanta, went to seminary in the North and would become the most well-known of the leaders.

17 Eisenhower and the Cold War  Had a different view of the Cold War  Need more restraint in military spending.  Cautious in troop use.  Use nuclear bomb threat rather than on military spending (conventional).  More willing to use covert activities— increased U.S. covert involvement by CIA around the world.  Cold War Spreads During Second Administration

18 The Beginning of the Space Race  The Soviets launched the first satellite, Sputnik I (October 1957)  Americans suddenly noticed an apparent “missile gap”  Enlarged defense spending  Created the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA)  National Defense Education Act of 1958 authorized federal grants for training in sciences, math, and foreign languages

19 The “U-2 Summit”  Stalin had died in 1953.  Nikita Khrushchev visited the U.S. in 1959 to endorse “peaceful coexistence” and agreed to a summit  The summit blew up in Eisenhower’s face  Soviets shot down an American U-2 spy plane over Soviet territory in 1960  Eisenhower refused to repudiate U-2 flights and said that he had personally authorized them for reasons of national security

20 Castro’s revolution in Cuba  Fidel Castro at first had American support  In 1959, Castro crushed the opposition, became dictator, and welcomed Communist aid  The U.S. responded with an embargo of Cuba

21  1946 Levittown construction begins Significant Events  1950 Kefauver crime hearings  1952 Fertility rate in USA reaches new high  1954 St. Lawrence Seaway Act  1955 Elvis Presley ignites rock and roll  1957 Sputnik launched  1958 Richard Nixon attacked in Latin America NASA established  1959 Kruschev visits United States  1960 Kennedy-Nixon debates  1961 Alliance for Progress Peace Corps begun Kennedy steps up U.S. role in Vietnam  1962 Cuban Missile Crisis


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