Eisenhower
In the election of 1952, Eisenhower and Nixon ran against Adlai Stevenson and Sparkman. Eisenhower accused Truman of "bungling" the Korean War. He further accused the democrats of political corruption and promised to "clean up" Washington. Meanwhile, Stevenson defended the New Deal. Eisenhower won the election overwhelmingly.
Foreign Policy
Eisenhower's Secretary of State was named Dulles. Dulles announced a firmer American policy against the communists called "roll-back." The idea was the United States would "roll-back the Soviets in Eastern Europe.
Dulles also developed a policy of brinkmanship which had two prongs:
-
Communists only understood force.
-
The United States had to be ready for the brink of war without going to war.
Each side started building up armaments--a policy of massive retaliation.
 Stalin |
 Khrushchev |
On February, 1956, Khrushchev critiqued Stalin. The Poles elected a new president and encouraged free speech, press and religion. Poland staged protests and were granted freedoms. Hungary also rebelled on October 23, 1956. Soviet tanks, guns and armored cars were in the streets the next day. Stiffer controls were put in place. Rebels were imprisoned or deported to the U.S.S.R..--thousands fled to Austria.
Meanwhile, the president of Egypt, Nasser, wanted to modernize the canal. When no one stepped forward to finance it, Egypt stepped forward to control the canal and operate it. Israel moved forward to "prevent an attack on Israel" and was backed by Great Britain and France. U.S.S.R.. called Israel, France, and Great Britain aggressors--everyone backed off.
The Eisenhower Doctrine stated: Use of military force, if this were requested by any Middle Eastern nation to check Communist aggression. $200 million in aid set aside to help Middle Eastern countries that asked for it. Congress granted both requests. U.. S. checks Communist influence in the Middle East.
In November, 1958, Khrushchev issues an ultimatum on Berlin--Allies should get out. In 1959, he relents, Berlin to be demilitarized peacefully--biggest difficulty--disarmament.
Soviets spot a US. U-2 reconnaissance plan in May, 1960, cancel peace conference. The only way for it to continue would be to have the United States admit it and apologize for it. The United States would admit it was a spy plane, but they would not apologize.
Domestic Policy
His first order of business was to balance the budget. In 1956, for the first time in eight years, the government ended with a surplus. Eisenhower scaled down defense and foreign aid budgets. In 1953, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare was formed. The federal funding of Education was feared to take away from rights of communities. Eisenhower expanded social security. He provided loans for students. (In order to get ahead of the Soviets, the United States need scientists.
Farmers were plagued by the continual problem of overproduction. In addition they had a loss of foreign markets and growing competition from other countries. Farm supports included the encouragement of the growing of foliage.
Systems were also set up to encourage private business through the means of:
-
the development of atomic energy for peaceful uses;
-
decrease of competition between government and private business;
-
Government ceased to be involved in production of synthetic rubber, operation of railroads, ships and hotels and production of movies. and
-
They abandoned wage and price controls.
The election of 1956 put Eisenhower/Nixon against Stevenson/Kefauver. Eisenhower had suffered a heart attack in 1955 which caused worry of his health. The Democrats blamed the Republicans for the high cost of living. Eisenhower was reelected.
Labor
In the labor arena, the minimum wage was increased from seventy-five (75) cents to one dollar ($1.00). Unions set up a welfare fund to aid the unemployed, disabled and retired workers. In 1955 the AFL and CIG merged.
-
The Labor Act of 1959, included the following provisions:
-
Prohibited Communists or persons convicted of felonies in previous five years from serving as officials or employees of labor unions.
-
Prohibited secondary boycotts and picketing by others than those in the strike.
-
Required labor unions to file with the Secretary of Labor annual reports or financial matters or other matters.
-
Required employers to report any loans or payments made to unions and those made to labor consultants.
-
Required national labor organizations to hold elections every five years.
-
Provided a bill of rights guaranteeing members of labor unions the right to attend meetings, nominate candidates and vote by secret ballot.
The Standard of Living continued to grow.
Also, in 1959, Alaska and Hawaii joined the union.