Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower
Historian Herbert Parmet says that Stevenson: failed to dispel the widespread recognition that, for a divided America, torn by paranoia and unable to understand what had disrupted the anticipated tranquility of the postwar world, the time for change had really arrived.[17] In domestic policy, Eisenhower attacked the growing influence of the federal government in the economy, while in foreign affairs, he supported a strong American role in stemming the expansion of Communism.[25] The office of Secretary of State went to John Foster Dulles, a long-time Republican spokesman on foreign policy who had helped design the United Nations Charter and the Treaty of San Francisco.Stanley Reed's retirement in 1957 created another vacancy, and Eisenhower nominated federal appellate judge Charles Evans Whittaker, who would serve on the Supreme Court for just five years before resigning.[67] Critics at the time, led by Democratic Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts levied charges to the effect that there was a "missile gap", that is, the U.S. had fallen militarily behind the Soviets because of their lead in space.[78] Historian Edward C. Keefer says that in accepting the American demands that POWs could refuse to return to their home country, "China and North Korea still swallowed the bitter pill, probably forced down in part by the atomic ultimatum."[79] Historian William I. Hitchcock writes that the key factors in reaching the armistice were the exhaustion of North Korean forces and the desire of the Soviet leaders (who exerted pressure on China) to avoid nuclear war.[94] Declassified documents indicate that the Congolese leaders who overthrew Lumumba and transferred him to the Katangan authorities, including Mobutu Sese Seko and Joseph Kasa-Vubu, received money and weapons directly from the CIA.Fears that the steady stream of post-World War II-era international treaties and executive agreements entered into by the U.S. were undermining the nation's sovereignty united isolationists, conservative Democrats, most Republicans, and numerous professional groups and civic organizations behind the amendment.[96][97] Believing that the amendment would weaken the president to such a degree that it would be impossible for the U.S. to exercise leadership on the global stage,[98] Eisenhower worked with Senate Minority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson to defeat Bricker's proposal.The administration backed an arrangement, devised by Churchill and British Foreign Minister Anthony Eden, in which West Germany was rearmed and became a fully sovereign member of NATO in return for promises to not establish atomic, biological, or chemical weapons programs.[115] By the end of 1954, the National Security Council, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and State Department had urged Eisenhower, on at least five occasions, to drop atomic bombs on China, but each time he refused.Angered by the attacks, which risked sending Arab states into the arms of the Soviet Union, the Eisenhower administration proposed a cease fire and used economic pressure to force France and Britain to withdraw.[126] In response to the power vacuum in the Middle East following the Suez Crisis, the Eisenhower administration developed a new policy designed to stabilize the region against Soviet threats or internal turmoil.[128] Douglas Little argues that Washington's decision to use the military resulted from a determination to support a beleaguered, conservative pro-Western regime in Lebanon, repel Nasser's pan-Arabism, and limit Soviet influence in the oil-rich region.However, Little concludes that the unnecessary American action brought negative long-term consequences, notably the undermining of Lebanon's fragile, multi-ethnic political coalition and the alienation of Arab nationalism throughout the region.[130] However, 1958 was to become a difficult year in U.S. foreign policy; in 1958 Syria and Egypt were merged into the "United Arab Republic", anti-American and anti-government revolts started occurring in Lebanon, causing the Lebanese president Chamoun to ask America for help, and the very pro-American King Feisal the 2nd of Iraq was overthrown by a group of nationalistic military officers.[133] The U.S. also lost a sympathetic Middle Eastern government due to the 1958 Iraqi coup d'état, which saw King Faisal II replaced by General Abd al-Karim Qasim as the leader of Iraq.[192] In 1957, the Supreme Court handed down a series of decisions that bolstered constitutional protections and curbed the power of the Smith Act, resulting in a decline of prosecutions of suspected Communists during the late 1950s.[209] On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court handed down its landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, declaring state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional.[211] His silence left civil rights leaders with the impression that Eisenhower did not care much about the day-to-day plight of blacks in America, and it served as a source of encouragement for segregationists vowing to resist school desegregation.Fearing that desegregation would complicate his re-election efforts, Governor Orval Faubus mobilized the National Guard to prevent nine black students, known as the "Little Rock Nine," from entering Central High.[240][241] The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) was put together by Eisenhower and his Science Advisory Committee in early 1958 in response to the successful launch of the first orbital satellite from the Soviet Union Sputnik 1.[248] Economist Bernard Baruch wrote in an open letter to the New York Herald Tribune titled "The Lessons of Defeat": "While we devote our industrial and technological power to producing new model automobiles and more gadgets, the Soviet Union is conquering space.It represented a consensus that he forged among key interest groups, including scientists committed to basic research; the Pentagon which had to match the Soviet military achievement; corporate America looking for new business; and a strong new trend in public opinion looking up to space exploration.Hawaii faced opposition from Southern members of Congress who objected to the island chain's large non-white population, while concerns about military bases in Alaska convinced Eisenhower to oppose statehood for the territory early in his tenure.[304] Despite the lack of strong support from Eisenhower, Nixon's successful cultivation of party elites ensured that he faced only a weak challenge from Governor Nelson Rockefeller for the Republican nomination."[310] Eisenhower's address reflected his fear that military spending and the desire to ensure total security would be pursued to the detriment of other goals, including a sound economy, efficient social programs, and individual liberties.Historians have also noted the limits of some of Eisenhower's achievements; he avoided taking strong public stances on McCarthyism or civil rights, and Cold War tensions were high at the end of his presidency.He maintained prosperity, balanced the budget, promoted technological innovation, facilitated (if reluctantly) the civil rights movement and warned, in the most memorable farewell address since Washington's, of a "military–industrial complex" that could endanger the nation's liberties.
Timeline of the Dwight D. Eisenhower presidencyRepublicanWhite HouseHarry S. TrumanJohn F. KennedyDwight D. EisenhowerMilitary CareerSupreme Allied Commander in EuropeOperation OverlordSurrender of GermanyVE-DayCrusade in EuropeTimelineTransitionsecondAtoms for PeaceCold WarNew LookDomino theoryInterstate Highway SystemEisenhower DoctrineSputnik crisisMissile gapCivil Rights Act of 1957Little Rock NineAlaskaHawaiiU-2 incidentFarewell AddressKennedy transition1952 campaignDraft movementElection1956 campaignPresidential library and museumTributes and memorials34th president of the United Stateshis first inaugurationKansasDemocraticAdlai Stevenson1952 presidential election1956 presidential election1960 presidential electionUnited StatesSoviet UnionNew Look policynuclear weapons as a deterrentnuclear weaponsnuclear weapons deliveryKorean WarSuez CrisisMiddle EastCuban RevolutionBay of Pigs InvasionCentral Intelligence Agency1953 Iranian coup d'état1954 Guatemalan coup d'étatliberalconservativeNew DealSocial Securitydivided highwaysSputnik 1National Defense Education ActReconstructionSupreme CourtdesegregationBrown v. Board of Education1958 electionsRichard NixonRepublican nominationranked1952 United States presidential election1952 United States elections1952 Republican Party presidential primaries1952 Republican National Convention1952 Republican presidential primariesRobert A. TaftEarl WarrenCaliforniaHarold StassenMinnesotaconservative wingsocial welfarenoninterventionistmoderate RepublicansWendell WillkieThomas E. DeweyEastern statesinterventionistsDraft Eisenhower movementNational Governors' ConferenceSupreme Allied CommanderdeterrenceTruman administrationHenry Cabot Lodge Jr.New Hampshire primaryChicago1952 Democratic National ConventionAdlai E. StevensonJohn Sparkmanstatesspeak from the campaign train's rear platformCheckers speechPresidential transition of Dwight D. EisenhowerSherman AdamsPresidentVice PresidentSecretary of StateJohn Foster DullesChristian HerterSecretary of the TreasuryGeorge M. HumphreyRobert B. AndersonSecretary of DefenseCharles Erwin WilsonNeil H. McElroyThomas S. Gates Jr.Attorney GeneralHerbert Brownell Jr.William P. RogersPostmaster GeneralArthur SummerfieldSecretary of the InteriorDouglas McKay