Postwar Society & Liberalism

Chapters 19

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.

                                           

Eisenhower and theDomestic 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

conciliationEisenhower did not try to dismantle

New Deal programs. “Conservative when it comes to money and

liberal when it comes to human beings.”

Eisenhower and theDomestic 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.

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.

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

1950s- Age of television1946: 7,000 TV

sets1960: 50 million

9 out of 10 homesTV advertising

taught the public to consume more

Shopping became a major recreational activity 1945: 8 shopping

centers 1960: 4,000

A Boom in Babies

“Baby Boom”-population grew by 30%

Reinforced the idea that a woman’s place was in the home

Transition from Rosie the Riveter to the Ideal Homemaker

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

Conformity in the 1950sIn 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.

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

The Early CivilRights 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

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.

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.

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

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

                     

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 1960Eisenhower refused to repudiate U-2 flights

and said that he had personally authorized them for reasons of national security

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

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 begunKennedy steps up U.S. role in Vietnam

1962 Cuban Missile Crisis