The Eisenhower Era

 

I.                    Affluence and Its Anxieties

a.       Home Construction

                                                               i.      Economic boom caused boom in housing

                                                             ii.      1 of 4 homes in 1960 had been built in the 1960s; 83% of new homes in suburbs

b.      Computers

                                                               i.      Drove economic growth

                                                             ii.      Transistors made possible computers, beginning in the 1940s

                                                            iii.      International Business Machines (IBM) expanded

                                                           iv.      Computers and calculators were later made smaller

                                                             v.      Computers transformed old business practices like billing, inventory, airline scheduling, high-speed printing, and telecommunications

c.       Airline Business

                                                               i.      Military and civilian aircraft production grew (Eisenhower built up the Strategic Air Command - SAC)

                                                             ii.      In 1957, Boeing Company created the 707, the first large passenger jet.  Its design and control were owed to the development of the SAC’s bomber the B-52

                                                            iii.      In 1959, Boeing created the first presidential jet for Eisenhower, the Air Force One

d.      White-Collar Employment

                                                               i.      In 1956, “white-collar” (office workers) outnumbered “blue-collar” workers

                                                             ii.      Organized labor declined with industries that had been its mainstay

                                                            iii.      Some thought that they had played their role to improve conditions of workers and would disappear eventually

e.       Changing Female Roles

                                                               i.      Most women who had worked in plants during WWII returned to conventional female roles as wives and mothers

                                                             ii.      The idea of the “cult of domesticity” popped up again, but this time in popular culture.  1950s shows like “Ozzie and Harriet” or “Leave It to Beaver” depicted suburban families with a working husband, two children, and a wife who didn’t leave the home often

                                                            iii.      However, as the 1950s progressed, most women weren’t living that way.  Of the 40 million new jobs created from the 1950s-1970s, more than 30 million were in clerical and service work, which women often filled

                                                           iv.      Women now had a dual role as both worker and homemaker.  This raised new social and psychological questions about family and gender

                                                             v.      Betty Friedan wrote The Feminine Mystique (1963) – a best seller and classic that launched the modern women’s feminist movement.  She spoke in rousing terms to millions of able, educated women who applauded her indictment of the stifling boredom of the suburban housewife.  Many women who worked struggled with guilt of not being able to maintain a “cult of domesticity”

II.                 Consumer Culture in the 50s

a.       Expansion of the Consumer Culture

                                                               i.      1948 – First McDonald’s open

                                                             ii.      1949 – First credit card

                                                            iii.      1955 – Disneyland opens in Anaheim, CA

                                                           iv.      New forms of recreation were a part of a new lifestyle by the end of the decade

b.      Television

                                                               i.      1946 – 6 TV stations were broadcasting; 1956 – 442 TV stations were broadcasting

                                                             ii.      1940s – TVs were novelties; 1951 – 7 million TVs were sold; 1960 – nearly every house had one

                                                            iii.      FDR was the first president to appear on TV; he gave a speech in 1939 at the New York’s World Fair, where television was being officially introduced to the mass public

                                                           iv.      As a result:

1.      Movie attendance declined

2.      Shows like the Honeymooners, I Love Lucy, and The Ed Sullivan Show gained popularity

3.      Advertisers spent $10 billion annually in the mid-1950s

4.      People believed the TV was lowering society’s social, moral, political, and educational standards

c.       Televangelists

                                                               i.      Billy Graham and Oral Roberts, and others were on TV

d.      Sports

                                                               i.      Commercialized sports – viewing audiences outnumbered stadium crowds

                                                             ii.      Reflected the move to the West and South; in baseball, the:

1.      New York Giants moved to San Francisco

2.      Brooklyn Dodgers moved to LA

                                                            iii.      The shift in population and increasing salaries led to the expansion of major baseball, football, and basketball leagues

e.       Music

                                                               i.      Was transformed, primarily by Elvis Presley (also by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Chuck Berry, and Buddy Holly)

                                                             ii.      He fused black rhythm and blues with white bluegrass and country to create rock and roll (coined by Alan Freed, a Cleveland disc jockey; also produced the first rock and roll concert)

                                                            iii.      It appealed to both blacks and whites

                                                           iv.      Millions listened, danced, and watched his sexually suggestive dance moves

f.        Sexual Allure

                                                               i.      Marilyn Monroe, with her smile and curved hips, helped to popularize and commercialize sexuality

                                                             ii.      Playboy magazine did as well; first published in 1955

g.       Critics of the Consumer Lifestyle

                                                               i.      Authors portrayed the postwar generation as conformists

                                                             ii.      Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith questioned the relation between wealth and the public good in a series of books beginning with The Affluent Society (1958).  He claimed that postwar prosperity produced a troublesome combination of private opulence amid public squalor (increased wealth causes morals to decline)

III.               Dwight D. Eisenhower

a.       Democratic National Convention

                                                               i.      Nominated Adlai E. Stevenson, the governor of IL

                                                             ii.      He had to face these problems:

1.      Military deadlock in Korea

2.      MacArthur’s firing

3.      Inflation

4.      Rumors of scandal

b.      Republican National Convention

                                                               i.      Nominated Dwight D. Eisenhower, the WWII hero; running mate was CA senator Richard Nixon

                                                             ii.      Eisenhower left most of the campaigning up to Nixon, who charged that his opponents:

1.      Cultivated corruption

2.      Caved in on Korea

3.      Appeased the communists

c.       Nixon Controversy

                                                               i.      Reports surfaced of a secretly financed “slush fund” he had tapped while holding a seat in the Senate

                                                             ii.      He responded with a self-pitying speech on TV, during which he referred shamelessly to the family cocker spaniel, Checkers.  The “Checkers Speech”:

1.      Saved Nixon’s candidacy

2.      Showed the potential of TV

3.      TV was bypassing the radio

d.      Campaigns and TV

                                                               i.      Eisenhower appeared in short televised “spots” that foreshadowed the future of political advertising

                                                             ii.      The “spots” were devoid of substance and oversimplified problems/solutions

e.       Results of the Election of 1952

                                                               i.      Eisenhower won after pledged to go to Korea himself:

1.      34 million-27.3 million

2.      442-89

                                                             ii.      Won many Southern States

                                                            iii.      Republicans won control of Congress

f.        Korean Armistice

                                                               i.      December 1952 – Eisenhower went to Korea for 3 days, but couldn’t end the war until 7 months later, when he threatened to use nuclear weapons (people thought)

                                                             ii.      The war was really ended because the Chinese couldn’t afford to support the North Koreans anymore

g.       Results of the Korean War

                                                               i.      Lasted 3 years

                                                             ii.      54,000 Americans died; 1 million Chinese, North Koreans, and South Koreans

                                                            iii.      Cost billions of dollars

                                                           iv.      Korea remained divided at the 38th parallel

                                                             v.      Americans took comfort in the communism had been contained and that it didn’t turn out to be another world war

h.       Eisenhower As President

                                                               i.      Eisenhower got a reputation as being sincere, fair, and optimistic during this war; he wasn’t partisan

                                                             ii.      He played a role of like a grandfather bringing stability to his family during the 1950s

                                                            iii.      However, critics charge that he should’ve used his popularity to further civil rights; he cared more for social harmony than for social justice

IV.              The Rise and Fall of Joseph McCarthy

a.       The Rise of Senator McCarthy

                                                               i.      Was a Republican Wisconsin Senator who in 1950 accused Secretary of State Dean Acheson of knowingly employing 205 Communist party members

                                                             ii.      Pressed to reveal the names, McCarthy later conceded that there were only 57 genuine communists.  He failed to get any fired

                                                            iii.      His colleagues realized that they could use this kind of attack on the Democratic administration.  McCarthy continued to spread accusations after Eisenhower’s victory in 1956

                                                           iv.      He even charged that former army chief of staff and ex-secretary of state George Marshall was a part of the communist conspiracy

                                                             v.      McCarthy was the most ruthless red-hunter, and he did the most damage to American traditions of fair play and free speech.  The careers of countless officials, writers, and actors were ruined after McCarthy had names them unfairly as communists or communist sympathizers

                                                           vi.      A poll showed that a majority of American people approved of McCarthy’s crusade

                                                          vii.      Eisenhower, by not wanted to stoop in McCarthy’s category, let him go.  This, in effect, allowed McCarthy to control personnel policy at the State Department

                                                        viii.      The result was less Asian specialists who might have counseled a wiser course in Vietnam in the next decade

b.      The Fall of Senator McCarthy

                                                               i.      In 1954, McCarthy charged that there were communists in the military (after the Army had made an accusation about McCarthy)

                                                             ii.      There were hearings on TV.  It was televised to 20 million people

                                                            iii.      TV revealed McCarthy’s meanness and irresponsibility, so he lost favor with the public

                                                           iv.      He was condemned for his behavior by the Senate

                                                             v.      Three years later he died of alcoholism

V.                 Desegregating American Society

a.       Jim Crow Laws

                                                               i.      Out of the 15 million blacks living in America by 1950, 2/3 lived in the South

                                                             ii.      They had to follow a set of laws that kept:

1.      Them from whites

2.      Economically inferior

3.      Politically powerless

                                                            iii.      The laws:

1.      Segregated schools, bathrooms, drinking fountains, restaurants, trains, and buses

2.      Only 20% of eligible southern blacks were registered to vote; fewer than 5% were registered in some Deep South States

b.      Lynching

                                                               i.      Where the law proved insufficient to enforce this system, violence did the job

                                                             ii.      6 black war veterans were murdered in 1946 for claiming the rights for which they had fought for overseas

                                                            iii.      In 1955, a Mississippi mob lynched a 14-year old boy, Emmett Till, for allegedly leering or whistling at a white woman; the men were acquitted

c.       Racial Progress in the 1940s

                                                               i.      More racial progress was made in the North after the war.  A growing number of States secured equal access for African Americans in public accommodations

                                                             ii.      National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) –

1.      Formed in 1910 by a group of whites and blacks, including William E.B. Dubois, to stop racial discrimination

2.      It is an interracial organization that worked to secure full legal equality for all Americans and to remove barriers that kept them from voting.  From the start, the NAACP focused on challenging the laws that prevented African Americans from exercising their full rights as citizens

3.      Supported sit-ins as a form of protest against segregation as well as other forms of non-violent protest

4.      They disapproved of the more radical groups such as SNCC and the Black Panthers

                                                            iii.      1943 – Wendell Wilkie – One World

1.      Was defeated for the Republican candidate for president in 1940

2.      Published this best seller, which advocated a new postwar era of racially blind universalism

                                                           iv.      1944 – The White Primary

1.      The Supreme Court ruled the “white primary” unconstitutional, thereby eliminating the status of the Democratic party in the South as a white person’s club

                                                             v.      1947 – Jackie Robinson

1.      The Major Leagues forced African Americans to play in their own league, called the Negro Leagues.  In the mid-1940s, Branch Rickey, the general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, decided to challenge the ban

2.      He picked Jackie Robinson, who had lettered in college in football, basketball, baseball, and track (played on the Kansas City Monarchs).  While he was in the army during WWII, he developed a record of standing up against racial prejudice.  The mental toughness that Robinson acquired from his experiences and his ability to rise above the injustices he encountered served him well during his baseball career

3.      In 1947, Robinson joined the Dodgers.  Despite many instances of prejudice, Robinson who the Rookie of the Year in 1947 and MVP in 1949

                                                           vi.      1950 – Sweatt v. Painter

1.      Declared that separate professional schools for blacks failed to meet the test of equality (argued by NAACP chief legal counsel Thurgood Marshall – later a Supreme Court justice)

d.      Rosa Parks

                                                               i.      1955 – Parks, a college-educated black seamstress, boarded a bus in Montgomery, AL, took a seat in the “whites only” section, and refused to give it up

                                                             ii.      She was arrested for violating the city’ Jim Crow statues

                                                            iii.      This sparked a year-long bus boycott

                                                           iv.      Most people also believe that her actions started the civil rights movement for African Americans, as it blacks would no longer submit meekly to segregation

e.       Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

                                                               i.      Was a pastor at Montgomery’s Dexter Avenue Baptist Church

                                                             ii.      Was raised in a prosperous family from Atlanta and educated partly in the North

                                                            iii.      His oratorical skill, passionate devotion to biblical and constitutional concepts of justice, and his devotion to the nonviolent principles of India’s Mohandas Gandhi thrust him to the forefront of the civil rights movement.  Gandhi preached a philosophy of nonviolence as the only way to achieve victory against much stronger foes

                                                           iv.      Although King was just 27 years old at the time, he was chosen to lead the year-long boycott of Montgomery’s buses.  For his role in the 1955 boycott, King gained national prominence

                                                             v.      For the next 11 years, would play a key role in almost every major civil rights event.  King would often go to jail for his beliefs

                                                           vi.      In 1964, King’s work earned him a Nobel Peace Prize

                                                          vii.      In April 1968, at the age of 1939, King was shot and killed by a white southerner named James Earl Ray.  Originally he admitted to killing King, but retracted his statement 3 days later.  He was sentenced to 99 years in prison and died in 1998

                                                        viii.      King’s family believes that someone other than Ray shot King.  They persuaded the Justice Department to reopen the case in 1999

VI.              Seeds of the Civil Rights Revolution

a.       Truman and Civil Rights

                                                               i.      After hearing about the lynching of black war veterans in 1946, Truman decided to do something about it

                                                             ii.      In July 1948, Truman banned discrimination in the hiring of federal employees and ordered an end to segregation and discrimination in the armed forces

b.      Eisenhower and Civil Rights

                                                               i.      Showed no real interest in civil rights

                                                             ii.      However, the Supreme Court made major rulings in favor of civil rights

c.       Brown v Board of Education of Topeka

                                                               i.      Chief Justice Earl Warren, former governor of CA, shocked traditionalists with his active judicial intervention in previously taboo social issues

                                                             ii.      For years, the NAACP tried to overturn the Plessy v. Ferguson decision.  The courts had ruled that segregation in public places was constitutional as long as facilities were “separate but equal.”  However, that was rarely the case

                                                            iii.      In 1951, Oliver Brown sued the Topeka Kansas Board of Education to allow his 8 year old daughter to attend a school that only white children were allowed to attend.  The white school was much closer where they lived.  The case went to the Supreme Court, where a lawyer named Thurgood Marshall argued on behalf of the Browns

                                                           iv.      In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that “separate facilities are inherently unequal”

d.      Reaction to the Decision In the Deep South

                                                               i.      The Border States generally made reasonable efforts to comply with this ruling, but in the Deep South they organized “massive resistance” against integration

                                                             ii.      More than a hundred southern congressional representatives and senators signed the “Declaration of Constitutional Principles” in 1956, pledging their unyielding resistance to desegregation

                                                            iii.      Some States diverted public funds to create private schools

                                                           iv.      The Court ruled that local school boards should move to desegregate “with all deliberate speed”

                                                             v.      However, fewer than 2% of the eligible blacks in the Deep South were sitting in classrooms with whites

e.       President Eisenhower’s Reaction to the Decision

                                                               i.      Was reluctant to promote integration; shied away from using his popularity and prestige of the presidency to educate white Americans about the need for racial justice

                                                             ii.      He had grown up in an all-white town, spent his career in a segregated army, and advised against integration of the armed forces in 1948

                                                            iii.      He believed that the Brown v. Board decision upset “the customs and convictions of at least two generations of Americans”

f.        Resistance In Little Rock

                                                               i.      The worst confrontation came at Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas.  Just before the start of the 1957 school year, Governor Orval Faubus declared that he could not keep order if he had to enforce integration, or the bringing together of different races

                                                             ii.      He posted Arkansas National Guard troops at the school who turned away 9 African American students.  Eisenhower decided to act since Faubus was challenging the authority of the President and the Constitution

                                                            iii.      Eisenhower placed the National Guard under federal command and ordered his soldiers to protect the 9 students

g.       Civil Rights Act of 1957

                                                               i.      First civil rights act since Reconstruction

                                                             ii.      Created the Civil Rights Commission to investigate violations of civil rights and authorized federal injunctions to protect voting rights

h.       Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)

                                                               i.      Organization created by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other African American clergymen

                                                             ii.      They advocated nonviolent protest as a peaceful way of protesting against policies.  Nonviolent protesters did not resist even when attacked by opponents.  The SCLC stated:

1.      “To understand that nonviolence is not a symbol of weakness or cowardice, but as Jesus demonstrated, nonviolent resistance transforms weakness into strength and breeds courage in the face of danger”

i.         Sit-Ins

                                                               i.      Started in 1960 by four black college freshmen in Greensboro, NC

                                                             ii.      They demanded service at a whites-only Woolworth’s lunch counter.  The black waitress refused to serve them

                                                            iii.      The next day, they returned with 19 classmates; the next day 85 students joined in; by the end of the week, a thousand

                                                           iv.      The sit-in became a popular form of protest for equal treatment in restaurants, transportation, employment, housing, and voter registration

j.        Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)

                                                               i.      Originally a part of the SCLC, it began in 1960 at a meeting for students active in the civil rights struggle.  They felt that the NAACP and SCLC were not keeping up with the demands of young African Americans

                                                             ii.      It gave young activists a chance to make decisions about priorities and tactics

                                                            iii.      The SNCC also sought more immediate change, while most of the older organizations were committed to gradual change

                                                           iv.      Robert Moses was one of their most influential leaders.  He contrasted to King in that that Moses’ speeches were soft spoken, while King’s were eloquent and passionate

VII.            Eisenhower Republicanism At Home

a.       Dynamic Conservatism

                                                               i.      Wanted to be liberal in all things which deal with people

                                                             ii.      Wanted to be conservative when it came to people’s money

b.      Balancing the Federal Budget and Guarding Against “Creeping Socialism”

                                                               i.      Wanted to stop Truman’s enormous military buildup, but 10% of the GNP still went to defense spending

                                                             ii.      Supported the transfer of control of offshore oil fields from the federal government to the States

                                                            iii.      Eisenhower’s secretary of health, education, and welfare condemned the free distribution of the antipolio vaccine as “socialized medicine”

                                                           iv.      Encouraged a private company to compete with the TVA

c.       Operation Wetback

                                                               i.      Mexico was worried that illegal Mexican immigration to the U.S. would undermine the bracero program of imported farmworkers

                                                             ii.      In response, Eisenhower rounded up 1 million illegal immigrants

d.      Eisenhower and Native Americans

                                                               i.      Proposed to terminate tribes as legal entities and to revert to assimilation under the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887

                                                             ii.      Most Indians resisted termination, and the policy was abandoned in 1961

e.       Backing the New Deal

                                                               i.      Accepted:

1.      Social Security

2.      Unemployment insurance

3.      Labor and farms programs

f.        Interstate Highway Act of 1956

                                                               i.      Plan to give $27 billion for 42,000 miles of highways from 1957-1969; eventually expanded to $114 billion over 35 years

                                                             ii.      This:

1.      Increased the suburbanization of America

2.      Increased the trucking, automobile, oil, and travel industries

3.      Decreased railroads

4.      Increased problems of air quality and oil consumption

5.      Led to the decline of cities

6.      Allowed for troop movement and evacuation routes

VIII.         New Foreign Policy

a.       Secretary of State John Foster Dulles

                                                               i.      Condemned just containment; wanted to roll back communism’s gains and liberate captive people

                                                             ii.      At the same time, the administration promised to balance the budget by cutting military spending

                                                            iii.      Advocated “massive retaliation” – included use of nuclear weapons

b.      Building the Air Force

                                                               i.      Eisenhower would make the build up of an airfleet of superbombers (called the Strategic Air Command, or SAC) his priority.  They could carry nuclear bombs

                                                             ii.      They would drop them on the Soviets or Chinese if they got out of hand

                                                            iii.      Advantages to this new policy:

1.      Nuclear impact

2.      Less lives lost compared to conventional attacks

                                                           iv.      After Stalin’s death in 1953, Eisenhower was hopeful for a thaw in the Cold War.  However, the new Soviet premier, Nikita Khrushchev, rejected Eisenhower’s call in 1955 for an “open skies” mutual inspection program over both the Soviet Union and the U.S.

c.       Hungarian Rebellion

                                                               i.      In 1956, the Hungarians rose up against their Soviet masters and felt badly betrayed when the U.S. turned a deaf eat to their desperate appeals for aid

                                                             ii.      The brutally crushed Hungarian uprising revealed the truth that America’s nuclear weapons were too much for a relatively minor crisis

                                                            iii.      In addition, Eisenhower found out that the aerial and atomic weapons needed for “massive retaliation” was expensive

IX.              Vietnam

a.       France and Vietnam

                                                               i.      In the 1800s, France established itself as a new colonial power in Vietnam.  After WWII, Ho Chi Minh, a nationalist who sympathized with Communist ideas, led the Vietnamese independence movement.  He aroused his people’s nationalism in order to repel the French

                                                             ii.      Policymakers in the U.S., however, saw Ho merely as a Communist, and therefore an enemy.  The U.S. were financing nearly 80% of the costs of the French colonial war there; it amounted to $1 billion a year

                                                            iii.      In May 1954, the French suffered a major defeat at Dienbienphu

b.      Geneva Accords

                                                               i.      Afterwards, several countries, including the U.S. and USSR, met at the Geneva Conference to try to settle the conflict

                                                             ii.      Vietnam was divided into two separate nations, with Ho Chi Minh controlling North Vietnam and Ngo Dinh Diem controlling South Vietnam.  They were separated at the 17th parallel

                                                            iii.      Ho Chi Minh agreed to this arrangement because the U.S. said Vietnam-wide elections would be held within two years to reunite the country

                                                           iv.      The elections never happened because the communists seemed certain to win

c.       Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO)

                                                               i.      Created in 1954 to oppose the spread of Communism in Southeast Asia after France’s withdrawal

                                                             ii.      Original members included the U.S., Britain, France, Pakistan, Thailand, and the Philippines

                                                            iii.      The organization was meant to justify an American presence in Vietnam, though some members did not support America in this effort

                                                           iv.      It was dismantled in 1977

d.      U.S. and Vietnam

                                                               i.      Communist guerillas continued their campaign against Diem and the South, while the U.S. continued to give aid

                                                             ii.      In 1960, Eisenhower had sent 675 U.S. military advisors to assist in the struggle against the North. By 1963, Kennedy had sent an additional 16,000 military advisors

X.                 Cold War Crises In Europe and the Middle East

a.       NATO and the Warsaw Pact

                                                               i.      The U.S. had initially backed the French in Indochina in part to win French approval of a plan to rearm West Germany and admit them to NATO, which occurred in 1955

                                                             ii.      The same year, the Soviets countered with the Warsaw Pact, an alliance between the Soviets and the Eastern European nations

b.      Optimism In the Cold War

                                                               i.      Also in 1955, the Soviets surprisingly decided to end their occupation of Austria

                                                             ii.      The following year, Khrushchev publicly denounced the bloody excesses of Stalin

                                                            iii.      However, late in 1956, Hungarian revolted for their freedom, which the Soviets put down brutally

c.       Iran Crisis

                                                               i.      The government of Iran, supposedly influenced by the Kremlin, began to resist the power of huge Western companies that controlled Iranian oil

                                                             ii.      In 1953, the CIA helped engineer a coup that installed a new shah of Iran

                                                            iii.      This was successful in the short run, but in the long run it left a legacy of resentment among many Iranians

d.      Suez Crisis

                                                               i.      President Nasser of Egypt, an Arab nationalist, was seeking funds to build an immense dam on the upper Nile for urgently needed irrigation and power

                                                             ii.      America and Britain offered financial help, but when Nasser began to negotiate with the Soviets, Secretary of State Dulles withdrew the offer

                                                            iii.      In response, Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal (took it from British and French stockholders).  This action cut into Western Europe’s oil supply

                                                           iv.      The French and British sent troops, along with Israel, to Egypt in October 1956.  The French and British expected the U.S. to supply them with oil like they had in WWII, but President Eisenhower refused to release emergency supplies because they had kept the U.S. in the dark on their actions

                                                             v.      The allies resentfully withdrew their troops, and a U.N. police force was sent to maintain order

                                                           vi.      1940 – U.S. produced 2/3 of the world’s oil, while 5% came from the Middle East; 1948 – the U.S. imported a majority of its oil

e.       Eisenhower Doctrine

                                                               i.      In 1957, the president pledged U.S. military and economic aid to Middle Eastern nations threatened by communist aggression

                                                             ii.      The real threat to the U.S. in the Middle East wasn’t communism, but nationalism.  The poor countries in that area decided to reap as much of the benefits of oil wealth as possible

                                                            iii.      In 1960, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, and Venezuela formed the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).  This organization’s stranglehold on Western economies would tighten to a degree that no one could’ve imagined

XI.              Election of 1956

a.       Results of the Election of 1956

                                                               i.      Pitted Adlai Stevenson and Dwight D. Eisenhower

                                                             ii.      The Democrats were hard-pressed to find issues with which to attack Eisenhower in such a good time of prosperity

                                                            iii.      Eisenhower won:

1.      35.6 million-26 million

2.      457-73

                                                           iv.      The Republicans didn’t win either house of Congress, unlike the last time he ran

b.      Labor Legislation

                                                               i.      Congressional investigations produced scandalous revelations of gangsterism, fraud, and brass-knuckles tactics in many American unions, especially the Teamsters

                                                             ii.      The AFL-CIO already expelled the Teamsters for choosing leaders like Jimmy Hoffa, who was later convicted for jury tampering, served part of his sentence, and disappeared

                                                            iii.      Landrum-Griffin Act of 1959

1.      Designed to bring labor leaders to book for financial misdoing and to prevent bullying tactics

2.      Also prohibited certain kinds of picketing

c.       Space Race

                                                               i.      Soviets sent up the first satellite on October 4, 1957, called Sputnik I (first unmanned spacecraft to escape Earth’s gravity)

                                                             ii.      A month later they sent up a bigger satellite, called Sputnik II

                                                            iii.      Cast doubt on America’s scientific superiority and raise the question of whether the Soviets could fire intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) to America

d.      Results of the Space Race

                                                               i.      National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was created for missile development; they put into orbit a small satellite in February 1958

                                                             ii.      By the end of the decade, several small satellites had been launched and successfully tested its own ICBMs

                                                            iii.      Led to a critical comparison of the American educational system to the Soviets.  Congress passed the National Defense and Education Act (NDEA) of 1958 which authorized $887 million in loans to needy college students and in grants for the improvement of teaching the sciences and languages

XII.            The Continuing Cold War

a.       Attempts At Nuclear Limitations

                                                               i.      Scientists urged that nuclear tests be stopped before the atmosphere became so polluted as to produce generations of deformed mutants

                                                             ii.      After the Soviets completed an intensive series of these tests in March 1958, they urged the Western world to follow

                                                            iii.      The U.S. did halt testing, but mutual distrust led to retesting soon after

b.      Problems In Lebanon

                                                               i.      In July 1958, both Egyptian and communist plotting threatened to endanger Western-oriented Lebanon

                                                             ii.      Under the Eisenhower Doctrine, the U.S. landed several thousands troops and helped to restore order without a single person dead

c.       Eisenhower and Khrushchev

                                                               i.      Summit Conference I

1.      Eisenhower and Khrushchev met at a “summit conference” in New York before the UN General Assembly in 1959.  He proposed complete disarmament

                                                             ii.      Camp David Meeting

1.      Also met at Camp David, Khrushchev extended his ultimatum for the evacuation of Berlin indefinitely

                                                            iii.      Summit Conference II

1.      The follow-up Paris “summit conference,” in 1960, proved to be a fiasco.  Both the Soviets and U.S. took a firm stand on the Berlin issue

2.      Furthermore, an American U-2 spy plane was shot down deep in the heart of Russia.  The plane flew more than 15 miles high.  At such altitudes, American officials had assumed that the spy planes were immune to attack.  The U-2 incident shattered this confidence and fanned resentment in the Soviets

3.      The pilot, Francis Gary Powers, survived and served 18 months in a Russian jail

XIII.         Cuba’s Castro

a.       Cuba and Communism

                                                               i.      In 1958, another crises began as revolutionary leader Fidel Castro overthrew the corrupt Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista

                                                             ii.      Batista had couraged huge investments of American capital since the 1930s.  However, he had connections to the American mafia

                                                            iii.      In early 1959, Fidel Castro began a revolution that ousted Batista, yet Eisenhower didn’t support Castro because he advocated communism

                                                           iv.      When Castro seized American property in Cuba and distributed it in a land-distribution program, Eisenhower responded by cutting diplomatic ties and halting exports to the island.  With the Helms-Burton Act of 1996, this strengthened the embargo and it has remained in place ever since

                                                             v.      Castro then got economic and military aid from the Soviet Union

                                                           vi.      Anti-Castro Cubans headed for the U.S., especially FL.  Nearly 1 million arrived between 1960 and 2000

                                                          vii.      Some Americans wanted to protect Cuba by invoking the Monroe Doctrine, but the Soviets responded by saying that they would shoot missiles at the U.S. if it attacked Cuba

XIV.         Kennedy Challenges Nixon For the Presidency

a.       Republican National Convention

                                                               i.      Nominated Nixon, who continued to gain fame

                                                             ii.      His running mate was Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. (grandson of Woodrow Wilson’s arch-foe)

b.      Democratic National Convention

                                                               i.      Nominated John F. Kennedy (a senator from Massachusetts) over Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, the Senate majority leader from Texas

                                                             ii.      Johnson ended up being put on the ticket as Kennedy’s vice-president to appease the South

                                                            iii.      Kennedy’s acceptance speech called upon the American people for sacrifices to achieve their potential greatness, which he hailed as the New Frontier

c.       Bigotry In the Election

                                                               i.      John F. Kennedy (D) and Richard Nixon (R) squared off in the first ever televised presidential debates.  Kennedy faced two problems:

1.      He would be the youngest President ever elected

2.      He would be the first Catholic President ever elected

                                                             ii.      Some revived charges that the Pope would control the White House.  In response, Kennedy:

1.      Pointed to his 14 years of service in Congress

2.      Denied that he would be swayed by Rome

3.      Asked if some 40 million Catholic Americans were to be condemned to second-class citizenship from birth

                                                            iii.      In the end, it probably didn’t hurt his votes

d.      Kennedy’s Campaign

                                                               i.      The years of the Eisenhower administration was marred by several recessions.  Kennedy remarked that it was time to “get America moving again”

                                                             ii.      He also charged that the Soviets, with their nuclear bombs and Sputniks, had gained on America in prestige and power.  Nixon countered that the nation’s prestige had not slipped, although Kennedy was causing it to do so by his unpatriotic talk

e.       Campaign On Television

                                                               i.      Nixon agreed to meet Kennedy in 4 debates; 75 million watched them

                                                             ii.      Nobody “won” the debates, but Kennedy at least held his own and did well by comparison to the more “experienced” Nixon

                                                            iii.      Under the lights of the television cameras, Nixon looked tired and hot.  On the other hand, Kennedy looked polished and relaxed.  The appearance of the candidates on TV had an enormous impact on the outcome of the election

f.        Results of the Election of 1960

                                                               i.      Kennedy slimly won:

1.      Difference was 118,574 out of 68 million votes cast

2.      303 to 219

                                                             ii.      Was youngest person to be elected president and the first Catholic

                                                            iii.      Kennedy ran well in large industrial centers, where he had widespread support from:

1.      Workers

2.      Catholics

3.      African Americans

                                                           iv.      The Democrats won both houses of Congress by wide margins

XV.           President Eisenhower Fades Away

a.       Summary of Eisenhower’s Second Term

                                                               i.      Eisenhower displayed more political leadership and energy in his second term, despite the passing of the 22nd Amendment, which limited a president’s number of terms to 2

                                                             ii.      He used the veto 169 times; he was only overridden 2 times

b.      Eisenhower In 1959

                                                               i.      St. Lawrence waterway project turned the cities of the Great Lakes into bustling seaports

                                                             ii.      Hawaii and Alaska attained statehood; admission helped the U.S. turn America toward the Pacific and East Asia

c.       Eisenhower’s Legacy

                                                               i.      America was prosperous, despite recessions, poverty, unemployment, and farm problems

                                                             ii.      He didn’t crusade for civil rights; however, he gave momentum to the desegregation movement by supporting Supreme Court decisions

                                                            iii.      Wove some New Deal and Fair Deal reforms permanently into American life

                                                           iv.      Exercised wise restraint in his use of military power; guided countless threats to peace

                                                             v.      Failed to end the arms race with the Soviet Union

XVI.         Literature In Postwar America

a.       Postwar Realists

                                                               i.      Ernest Hemingway – The Old Man and the Sea (1952); was a Nobel prize winner; committed suicide

                                                             ii.      John Steinbeck – East of Eden (1952) and Travels with Charley (1962); was a Nobel prize winner

b.      Writing About WWII

                                                               i.      Didn’t inspire the same literary outpouring that WWI had; early on, realism characterized soldier life:

1.      James Gould Cozzens – Guard of Honor (1948) – considered the finest American war novel.  Was about a colonel on a FL army base struggling with how to balance the claims of black officers for racial equality with his duty to keep the base operating smoothly in wartime

2.      As time passed, realistic writing fell from favor to writing about the war in fantastic and even psychedelic prose

a.       Joseph Heller – Catch-22 (1961) – dealt with the improbable antics and anguish of American airmen in the wartime Mediterranean; it was a satire

b.      Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

c.       Beat Generation

                                                               i.      Group of artists and writers who rejected traditional artistic and social forms

                                                             ii.      Influences included psychedelic drugs and Eastern beliefs, such as Zen Buddhism

                                                            iii.      Members rejected regular work and preferred communal living

                                                           iv.      Man members were located around San Francisco

                                                             v.      Writers of the generation included Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti

d.      Books On the Problems of the Increasing Affluence of the 1950s

                                                               i.      John Updike – Rabbit, Run (1960) and Couples (1968)

                                                             ii.      John Cheever – The Wapshot Chronicle (1957) and The Wapshot Scandal (1964)

e.       Poetry

                                                               i.      Poets were often highly critical and despairing about American life

                                                             ii.      Robert Lowell – For the Union Dead (1964) – sought to apply the wisdom of the Puritan past to the perplexing life in the present

                                                            iii.      Many poets ended their own life:

1.      John Berryman – jumped off a bridge

2.      Anne Sexton

3.      Sylvia Plath

f.        Playwrights

                                                               i.      Tennessee Williams wrote a series of dramas about psychological misfits struggling to hold themselves together amid the disintegrating forces of modern life:

1.      Streetcar Names Desire (1947)

2.      Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955)

                                                             ii.      Arthur Miller probed American values:

1.      Death of a Salesman (1949)

2.      The Crucible (1953)

                                                            iii.      Lorraine Hansberry – A Raisin in the Sun (1959) – offered a portrayal of African American life

g.       Black Authors

                                                               i.      Books by black authors made the best seller lists

                                                             ii.      Richard Wright – Native Son (1940) – was a chilling book about a Chicago killer; Uncle Tom’s Children (1938)

                                                            iii.      Ralph Ellison – Invisible Man (1952) – was about the African American’s quest for personal identity

h.       Southern Literary Renaissance

                                                               i.      William Faulkner – won the Nobel in 1950

                                                             ii.      Robert Penn Warren – All the King’s Men (1946)

i.         Jewish Novelists

                                                               i.      J.D. Salinger – The Catcher in the Rye (1951) – about a sensitive, upper-class, white boy

                                                             ii.      Other books by Jewish writers found their favorite subject matter in the experience of lower and middle class Jewish immigrants:

1.      Bernard Malamud – The Assistant (1957) – about a family of New York Jewish storekeepers; The Natural (1952) – about the mythical qualities of baseball