Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower
Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower January 20, 1953 – January 20, 1961 | |
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World War II
34th President of the United States
First Term
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Dwight D. Eisenhower's tenure as the 34th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1953, and ended on January 20, 1961. Eisenhower, a Republican from Kansas, took office following his landslide victory over Democratic nominee Adlai Stevenson in the 1952 presidential election. Four years later, in the 1956 presidential election, he defeated Stevenson again, to win re-election in a larger landslide. Eisenhower was limited to two terms and was succeeded by Democrat John F. Kennedy, who won the 1960 presidential election.
Eisenhower held office during the Cold War, a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. Eisenhower's New Look policy stressed the importance of nuclear weapons as a deterrent to military threats, and the United States built up a stockpile of nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons delivery systems during Eisenhower's presidency. Soon after taking office, Eisenhower negotiated an end to the Korean War, resulting in the partition of Korea. Following the Suez Crisis, Eisenhower promulgated the Eisenhower Doctrine, strengthening U.S. commitments in the Middle East. In response to the Cuban Revolution, the Eisenhower administration broke ties with Cuba and began preparations for an invasion of Cuba by Cuban exiles, eventually resulting in the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion. Eisenhower also allowed the Central Intelligence Agency to engage in covert actions, such as the 1953 Iranian coup d'état and the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état and was the first president to order the assassination of a foreign leader - Patrice Lumumba, the first Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[1]
In domestic affairs, Eisenhower supported a policy of "modern Republicanism" that occupied a middle ground between
Eisenhower maintained positive approval ratings throughout his tenure, but the launch of Sputnik 1 and a poor economy contributed to Republican losses in the 1958 elections. His preferred successor, Vice President Richard Nixon, won the Republican nomination but was narrowly defeated by Kennedy in the 1960 presidential election. Eisenhower left office popular with the public but viewed by many commentators as a "do-nothing" president. His reputation improved after the release of his private papers in the 1970s. Polls of historians and political scientists rank Eisenhower in the top quartile of presidents.
1952 election
Republican nomination
Going into the
Dewey, the party's presidential nominee in 1944 and 1948, led the moderate wing of the party, centered in the Eastern states. These moderates supported most of the New Deal and tended to be interventionists in the Cold War. Dewey himself declined to run for president a third time, but he and other moderates sought to use his influence to ensure that 1952 Republican ticket hewed closer to their wing of the party.[3] To this end, they assembled a Draft Eisenhower movement in September 1951. Two weeks later, at the National Governors' Conference meeting, seven Republican governors endorsed his candidacy.[4] Eisenhower, then serving as the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO, had long been mentioned as a possible presidential contender, but he was reluctant to become involved in partisan politics.[5] Nonetheless, he was troubled by Taft's non-interventionist views, especially his opposition to NATO, which Eisenhower considered to be an important deterrence against Soviet aggression.[6] He was also motivated by the corruption that he believed had crept into the federal government during the later years of the Truman administration.[7]
Eisenhower suggested in late 1951 that he would not oppose any effort to nominate him for president, although he still refused to seek the nomination actively.
When the 1952 Republican National Convention opened in Chicago, Eisenhower's managers accused Taft of "stealing" delegate votes in Southern states, claiming that Taft's allies had unfairly denied delegate spots to Eisenhower supporters and put Taft delegates in their place. Lodge and Dewey proposed to evict the pro-Taft delegates in these states and replace them with pro-Eisenhower delegates; they called this proposal "Fair Play." Although Taft and his supporters angrily denied this charge, the convention voted to support Fair Play 658 to 548, and Taft lost many Southern delegates. Eisenhower also received two more boosts: first when several uncommitted state delegations, such as Michigan and Pennsylvania, decided to support him; and second, when Stassen released his delegates and asked them to support Eisenhower. The removal of many pro-Taft Southern delegates and the support of the uncommitted states decided the nomination in Eisenhower's favor, which he won on the first ballot. Afterward, Senator Richard Nixon of California was nominated by acclamation as his vice-presidential running mate.[11] Nixon, whose name came to the forefront early and often in preconvention conversations among Eisenhower's campaign managers, was selected because of his youth (39 years old) and solid anti-communist record.[12]
General election
Incumbent President Harry S. Truman fared poorly in the polls and decided to not run in 1952. There was no clear frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination.[13] Delegates to the 1952 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, nominated Illinois governor Adlai E. Stevenson for president on the third ballot. Senator John Sparkman of Alabama was selected as his running mate. The convention ended with widespread confidence that the party had selected a powerful presidential contender who would field a competitive campaign.[14] Stevenson concentrated on giving a series of thoughtful speeches around the nation. Although his style thrilled intellectuals and academics, some political experts wondered if he were speaking "over the heads" of most of his listeners, and they dubbed him an "egghead," based on his baldness and intellectual demeanor. His biggest liability however, was Truman's unpopularity. Even though Stevenson had not been a part of the Truman administration, voters largely ignored his record and burdened him with Truman's. 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. Neither Stevenson nor anyone else could have dissuaded the electorate from its desire to repudiate 'Trumanism.'[15]
Republican strategy during the fall campaign focused on Eisenhower's unrivaled popularity.
A potentially devastating allegation hit when Nixon was accused by several newspapers of receiving $18,000 in undeclared "gifts" from wealthy California donors. Eisenhower and his aides considered dropping Nixon from the ticket and picking another running mate. Nixon responded to the allegations in a nationally televised speech, the "Checkers speech," on September 23. In this speech, Nixon denied the charges against him, gave a detailed account of his modest financial assets, and offered a glowing assessment of Eisenhower's candidacy. The highlight of the speech came when Nixon stated that a supporter had given his daughters a gift—a dog named "Checkers"—and that he would not return it, because his daughters loved it. The public responded to the speech with an outpouring of support, and Eisenhower retained him on the ticket.[20][21]
Ultimately, the burden of the ongoing
Administration
Eisenhower entered the White House with a strong background in organizing complex operations (such as the invasion of Europe in 1944). More than any previous president he paid attention to improving staff performance and defining duties. He paid special attention to having a powerful Chief of Staff in Sherman Adams, a former governor.[24][25]
Cabinet
Eisenhower delegated the selection of his cabinet to two close associates,
Eisenhower sought out leaders of big business for many of his other cabinet appointments.
Other Eisenhower cabinet selections provided patronage to political bases.
Eisenhower suffered a major political defeat when his nomination of
Vice presidency
Eisenhower, who disliked partisan politics and politicians, left much of the building and sustaining of the Republican Party to Vice President Nixon.[34] Eisenhower knew how ill-prepared Vice President Truman had been on major issues such as the atomic bomb when he suddenly became president in 1945, and therefore made sure to keep Nixon fully involved in the administration. He gave Nixon multiple diplomatic, domestic, and political assignments so that he "evolved into one of Ike's most valuable subordinates." The office of vice president was thereby fundamentally upgraded from a minor ceremonial post to a major role in the presidential team.[35] Nixon went well beyond the assignment, "[throwing] himself into state and local politics, making hundreds of speeches across the land. With Eisenhower uninvolved in party building, Nixon became the de facto national GOP leader."[36]
Press corps
In his two terms he delivered about 750 speeches and conducted 193 news conferences.
His press secretary, James Hagerty, was known for providing much more detail on the lifestyle of the president than previous press secretaries; for example, he covered in great detail Eisenhower's medical condition. Most of the time, he handled routine affairs such as daily reports on presidential activities, defending presidential policies, and assisting diplomatic visitors. He handled embarrassing episodes, such as those related to the Soviet downing of an American spy plane, the U-2 in 1960. He handled press relations on Eisenhower's international trips, sometimes taking the blame from a hostile foreign press. Eisenhower often relied upon him for advice about public opinion, and how to phrase complex issues. Hagerty had a reputation for supporting civil rights initiatives.[40] Historian Robert Hugh Ferrell considered him to be the best press secretary in presidential history, because he "organized the presidency for the single innovation in press relations that has itself almost changed the nature of the nation's highest office in recent decades."[41][42]
Continuity of government
A group of three federal government officials and six private U.S. citizens was secretly tasked by the president in 1958 to serve as federal administrators in the event of a national emergency, such as a nuclear attack. Eisenhower discussed the issues with each appointee and then personally sent letters of confirmation. The selection and appointment of these administrator-designates was classified Top Secret.[43][44] In an emergency, each administrator was to take charge of a specifically activated agency to maintain the continuity of government. Named to the group were:[45]
- Theodore F. Koop, Vice President of CBS – Emergency Censorship Agency
- Frank Stanton, President of CBS – Emergency Communications Agency
- John Ed Warren, Senior Vice President of First National City Bank– Emergency Energy and Minerals Agency
- Ezra Taft Benson, Secretary of Agriculture – Emergency Food Agency
- Aksel Nielsen, President of Title Guaranty Company – Emergency Housing Agency
- James P. Mitchell, Secretary of Labor – Emergency Manpower Agency
- Harold Boeschenstein, President of Owens-CorningFiberglass – Emergency Production Agency
- William McChesney Martin, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors – Emergency Stabilization Agency
- Frank Pace, Executive Vice President of General Dynamics – Emergency Transport Agency (resigned January 8, 1959)
- George P. Baker, Dean of Harvard Business School – Emergency Transport Agency (after January 8, 1959)
Judicial appointments
Eisenhower appointed five justices of the Supreme Court of the United States.[47] In 1953, Eisenhower nominated Governor Earl Warren to succeed Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson. Many conservative Republicans opposed Warren's nomination, but they were unable to block the appointment, and Warren's nomination was approved by the Senate in January 1954. Warren presided over a court that generated numerous liberal rulings on various topics, beginning in 1954 with the desegregation case of Brown v. Board of Education.[48] Eisenhower approved of the Brown decision.[49] Robert H. Jackson's death in late 1954 generated another vacancy on the Supreme Court, and Eisenhower successfully nominated federal appellate judge John Marshall Harlan II to succeed Jackson. Harlan joined the conservative bloc on the bench, often supporting the position of Associate Justice Felix Frankfurter.[50]
After
Eisenhower paid attention to Supreme Court appointments. Other judicial nominees were selected by the Attorney General, Herbert Brownell, usually in consultation with the state's senators.
Foreign affairs
Cold War
The Cold War dominated international politics in the 1950s. As both the United States and the Soviet Union possessed
Eisenhower's overall Cold War policy was codified in NSC 174, which held that the rollback of Soviet influence was a long-term goal, but that NATO would not provoke war with the Soviet Union. Peace would be maintained by being so much stronger in terms of atomic weapons than the USSR that it would never risk using its much larger land-based army to attack Western Europe. [55] He planned for to mobilize psychological insights, CIA intelligence and American scientific technological superiority counter conventional Soviet forces.[56]
After Joseph Stalin died in March 1953, Georgy Malenkov took leadership of the Soviet Union. Malenkov proposed a "peaceful coexistence" with the West, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill proposed a summit of the world leaders. Fearing that the summit would delay the rearmament of West Germany, and skeptical of Malenkov's intentions, Eisenhower rejected the summit idea. In April, Eisenhower delivered his "Chance for Peace speech," in which he called for an armistice in Korea, free elections to re-unify Germany, the "full independence" of Eastern European nations, and United Nations control of atomic energy. Though well received in the West, the Soviet leadership viewed Eisenhower's speech as little more than propaganda. In 1954, a more confrontational leader, Nikita Khrushchev, took charge in the Soviet Union. Eisenhower became increasingly skeptical of the possibility of cooperation with the Soviet Union after it refused to support his Atoms for Peace proposal, which called for the creation of the International Atomic Energy Agency and the creation of peaceful nuclear power plants.[57]
National security policy
Eisenhower unveiled the New Look, his first national security policy, on October 30, 1953. It reflected his concern for balancing the Cold War military commitments of the United States with the risk of overwhelming the nation's financial resources. The new policy emphasized reliance on strategic nuclear weapons, rather than conventional military power, to deter both conventional and nuclear military threats.[58] The U.S. military developed a strategy of nuclear deterrence based upon the triad of land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), strategic bombers, and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs).[59] Throughout his presidency, Eisenhower insisted on having plans to retaliate, fight, and win a nuclear war against the Soviets, although he hoped he would never feel forced to use such weapons.[60]
As the fighting in Korea ended, Eisenhower sharply reduced the reliance on expensive Army divisions. Historian Saki Dockrill argues that his long-term strategy was to promote the collective security of NATO and other American allies, strengthen the Third World against Soviet pressures, avoid another Korean stalemate, and produce a momentum that would steadily weaken Soviet power and influence. Dockrill points to Eisenhower's use of multiple assets against the Soviet Union:
Eisenhower knew that the United States had many other assets that could be translated into influence over the Soviet bloc—its democratic values and institutions, its rich and competitive capitalist economy, its intelligence technology and skills in obtaining information as to the enemy's capabilities and intentions, its psychological warfare and covert operations capabilities, its negotiating skills, and its economic and military assistance to the Third World.[61]
In 1953, the Eisenhower administration's National Security Council wrote three policy papers on opposing the People's Republic of China.[62]: 88 NSC 146 proposed backing Republic of China maritime raids and raids against the Chinese mainland.[62]: 88 NSC 148 proposed to foster and support anti-communist Chinese elements both inside and outside of the country.[62]: 88 NSC 166 proposed strategies to deny the PRC full status in the international community, pursuant to the view that making any concessions would strengthen the PRC.[62]: 88
Ballistic missiles and arms control
Eisenhower held office during a period in which both the United States and the Soviet Union developed nuclear stockpiles theoretically capable of destroying not just each other, but all life on Earth. The United States had tested the first
In January 1956 the United States Air Force began developing the Thor, a 1,500 miles (2,400 km) Intermediate-range ballistic missile. The program proceeded quickly, and beginning in 1958 the first of 20 Royal Air Force Thor squadrons became operational in the United Kingdom. This was the first experiment at sharing strategic nuclear weapons in NATO and led to other placements abroad of American nuclear weapons.[65] 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. Historians now discount those allegations, although they agree that Eisenhower did not effectively respond to his critics.[66] In fact, the Soviet Union did not deploy ICBMs until after Eisenhower left office, and the U.S. retained an overall advantage in nuclear weaponry. Eisenhower was aware of the American advantage in ICBM development because of intelligence gathered by U-2 planes, which had begun flying over the Soviet Union in 1956.[67]
The administration decided the best way to minimize the
End of the Korean War
During his campaign, Eisenhower said he would go to Korea to end the
Truman had begun peace talks in mid-1951, but the issue of North Korean and Chinese prisoners remained a sticking point. Over 40,000 prisoners from the two countries refused repatriation, but North Korea and China nonetheless demanded their return.[73] Upon taking office, Eisenhower demanded a solution, warning China that he would use nuclear weapons if the war continued. Whether China was informed of the potential for nuclear force is unknown.[74] South Korean leader Syngman Rhee attempted to derail peace negotiations by releasing North Korean prisoners who refused repatriation, but Rhee agreed to accept an armistice after Eisenhower threatened to withdraw all U.S. forces from Korea.[75] On July 27, 1953, the United States, North Korea, and China agreed to the Korean Armistice Agreement, ending the Korean War.[76] 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."[77] 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.[78]
The armistice led to decades of uneasy peace between North Korea and South Korea. The United States and South Korea signed a
Covert actions
Eisenhower, while accepting the doctrine of containment, sought to counter the Soviet Union through more active means as detailed in the State-Defense report
The CIA also instigated the
In the election of Patrice Lumumba as Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and his acceptance of Soviet support during the Congo Crisis, the CIA saw "another possible Cuba." This view swayed the White House. President Eisenhower discussed plans at a National Security Council meeting on August 18, 1960, to assassinate Lumumba.[91] However, the plot to poison him was abandoned.[92] 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.[93]
Defeating the Bricker Amendment
In January 1953, Senator John W. Bricker of Ohio re-introduced the Bricker Amendment, which would limit the president's treaty making power and ability to enter into executive agreements with foreign nations. 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.[94][95] 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,[96] Eisenhower worked with Senate Minority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson to defeat Bricker's proposal.[97] Although the amendment started out with 56 co-sponsors, it went down to defeat in the U.S. Senate in 1954 on 42–50 vote. Later in 1954, a watered-down version of the amendment missed the required two-thirds majority in the Senate by one vote.[98] This episode proved to be the last hurrah for the isolationist Republicans, as younger conservatives increasingly turned to an internationalism based on aggressive anti-communism, typified by Senator Barry Goldwater.[99]
Europe
Eisenhower sought troop reductions in Europe by sharing of defense responsibilities with NATO allies. Europeans, however, never quite trusted the idea of nuclear deterrence and were reluctant to shift away from NATO into a proposed
The Eisenhower administration placed a high priority on undermining Soviet influence on Eastern Europe, and escalated a propaganda war under the leadership of
In 1953, Eisenhower opened relations with Spain under dictator Francisco Franco. Despite its undemocratic nature, Spain's strategic position in light of the Cold War and anti-communist position led Eisenhower to build a trade and military alliance with the Spanish through the Pact of Madrid. These relations brought an end to Spain's isolation after World War II, which in turn led to a Spanish economic boom known as the Spanish miracle.[106]
East Asia and Southeast Asia
After the end of World War II, the
Eisenhower's commitment in South Vietnam was part of a broader program to contain China and the Soviet Union in East Asia. In 1954, the United States and seven other countries created the
In
Middle East
The Middle East became increasingly important to U.S. foreign policy during the 1950s. After the 1953 Iranian coup, the U.S. supplanted Britain as the most influential ally of Iran. Eisenhower encouraged the creation of the
Suez crisis
In 1952, a revolution led by
The British strongly protested the nationalization, and formed a plan with France and Israel to capture the canal.[119] Eisenhower opposed military intervention, and he repeatedly told British Prime Minister Anthony Eden that the U.S. would not tolerate an invasion.[120] Though opposed to the nationalization of the canal, Eisenhower feared that a military intervention would disrupt global trade and alienate Middle Eastern countries from the West.[121] Israel attacked Egypt in October 1956, quickly seizing control of the Sinai Peninsula. France and Britain launched air and naval attacks after Nasser refused to renounce Egypt's nationalization of the canal. Nasser responded by sinking dozens of ships, preventing operation of the canal. 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.[122] The incident marked the end of British and French dominance in the Middle East and opened the way for greater American involvement in the region.[123] In early 1958, Eisenhower used the threat of economic sanctions to coerce Israel into withdrawing from the Sinai Peninsula, and the Suez Canal resumed operations under the control of Egypt.[124]
Eisenhower Doctrine
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. Given the collapse of British prestige and the rise of Soviet interest in the region, the president informed Congress on January 5, 1957, that it was essential for the U.S. to accept new responsibilities for the security of the Middle East. Under the policy, known as the Eisenhower Doctrine, any Middle Eastern country could request American economic assistance or aid from U.S. military forces if it was being threatened by armed aggression. Eisenhower found it difficult to convince leading Arab states or Israel to endorse the doctrine, but he applied the new doctrine by dispensing economic aid to shore up the Kingdom of Jordan, encouraging Syria's neighbors to consider military operations against it, and sending U.S. troops into Lebanon to prevent a radical revolution from sweeping over that country.[125] The troops sent to Lebanon never saw any fighting, but the deployment marked the only time during Eisenhower's presidency when U.S. troops were sent abroad into a potential combat situation.[126]
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.[127] To keep the pro-American King Hussein of Jordan in power, the CIA sent millions of dollars a year of subsidies. In the mid-1950s the U.S. supported allies in Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey and Saudi Arabia and sent fleets to be near Syria.[128] 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.[129] It was quite "commonly believed that [Nasser] ... stirred up the unrest in Lebanon and, perhaps, had helped to plan the Iraqi revolution."[130]
Though U.S. aid helped Lebanon and Jordan avoid revolution, the Eisenhower doctrine enhanced Nasser's prestige as the preeminent
South Asia
The 1947 partition of British India created two new independent states, India and Pakistan. Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru pursued a non-aligned policy in the Cold War, and frequently criticized U.S. policies. Largely out of a desire to build up military strength against the more populous India, Pakistan sought close relations with the United States, joining both the Baghdad Pact and SEATO. This U.S.–Pakistan alliance alienated India from the United States, causing India to move towards the Soviet Union. In the late 1950s, the Eisenhower administration sought closer relations with India, sending aid to stem the 1957 Indian economic crisis. The United States also participated in the World Agriculture Fair held in New Delhi in 1959, setting up one of the biggest pavilions at the fair, showcasing agricultural machinery and various packaged foods from the country.[133] Eisenhower inaugurated the U.S. Pavilion along with Indian President Rajendra Prasad.[134] By the end of his administration, relations between the United States and India had moderately improved, but Pakistan remained the main U.S. ally in South Asia.[135]
Latin America
For much of his administration, Eisenhower largely continued the policy of his predecessors in Latin America, supporting U.S.-friendly governments regardless of whether they held power through authoritarian means. The Eisenhower administration expanded military aid to Latin America, and used Pan-Americanism as a tool to prevent the spread of Soviet influence. In the late 1950s, several Latin American governments fell, partly due to a recession in the United States.[136]
Cuba was particularly close to the United States, and 300,000 American tourists visited Cuba each year in the late 1950s. Cuban president Fulgencio Batista sought close ties with both the U.S. government and major U.S. companies, and American organized crime also had a strong presence in Cuba.[137] In January 1959, the Cuban Revolution ousted Batista. The new regime, led by Fidel Castro, quickly legalized the Communist Party of Cuba, sparking U.S. fears that Castro would align with the Soviet Union. When Castro visited the United States in April 1959, Eisenhower refused to meet with him, delegating the task to Nixon.[138] In the aftermath of the Cuban Revolution, the Eisenhower administration began to encourage democratic government in Latin America and increased economic aid to the region. As Castro drew closer to the Soviet Union, the U.S. broke diplomatic relations, launched a near-total embargo, and began preparations for an invasion of Cuba by Cuban exiles.[139]
U-2 Crisis
U.S. and Soviet leaders met at the 1955
The Eisenhower administration, initially thinking the pilot had died in the crash, authorized the release of a cover story claiming that the plane was a "weather research aircraft" which had unintentionally strayed into Soviet airspace after the pilot had radioed "difficulties with his oxygen equipment" while flying over Turkey.
List of international trips
Dates | Country | Locations | Details | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | December 2–5, 1952 | South Korea | Seoul | Visit to Korean combat zone. (Visit made as president-elect.) |
2 | October 19, 1953 | Mexico | Nueva Ciudad Guerrero | Dedication of Falcon Dam, with President Adolfo Ruiz Cortines.[150] |
3 | November 13–15, 1953 | Canada | Ottawa | State visit. Met with Governor General Vincent Massey and Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent. Addressed Parliament. |
4 | December 4–8, 1953 | Bermuda | Hamilton | Attended the Bermuda Conference with Prime Minister Winston Churchill and French Prime Minister Joseph Laniel. |
5 | July 16–23, 1955 | Switzerland | Geneva | Attended the Geneva Summit with British Prime Minister Anthony Eden, French Premier Edgar Faure and Soviet Premier Nikolai Bulganin. |
6 | July 21–23, 1956 | Panama | Panama City | Attended the meeting of the presidents of the American republics. |
7 | March 20–24, 1957 | Bermuda | Hamilton | Met with Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. |
8 | December 14–19, 1957 | France | Paris | Attended the First NATO summit. |
9 | July 8–11, 1958 | Canada | Ottawa | Informal visit. Met with Governor General Vincent Massey and Prime Minister John Diefenbaker. Addressed Parliament. |
10 | February 19–20, 1959 | Mexico | Acapulco | Informal meeting with President Adolfo López Mateos. |
11 | June 26, 1959 | Canada | Montreal | Joined Queen Elizabeth II in ceremony opening the St. Lawrence Seaway. |
12 | August 26–27, 1959 | West Germany | Bonn | Informal meeting with Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and President Theodor Heuss. |
August 27 – September 2, 1959 |
United Kingdom | London, Balmoral, Chequers |
Informal visit. Met Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and Queen Elizabeth II. | |
September 2–4, 1959 | France | Paris | Informal meeting with President Charles de Gaulle and Italian Prime Minister Antonio Segni. Addressed North Atlantic Council. | |
September 4–7, 1959 | United Kingdom | Culzean Castle | Rested before returning to the United States. | |
13 | December 4–6, 1959 | Italy | Rome | Informal visit. Met with President Giovanni Gronchi. |
December 6, 1959 | Vatican City | Apostolic Palace | Audience with Pope John XXIII. | |
December 6–7, 1959 | Turkey | Ankara | Informal visit. Met with President Celâl Bayar. | |
December 7–9, 1959 | Pakistan | Karachi | Informal visit. Met with President Ayub Khan .
| |
December 9, 1959 | Afghanistan | Kabul | Informal visit. Met with King Mohammed Zahir Shah .
| |
December 9–14, 1959 | India | New Delhi, Agra |
Met with President Rajendra Prasad and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Addressed Parliament. | |
December 14, 1959 | Iran | Tehran | Met with Shah Parliament .
| |
December 14–15, 1959 | Greece | Athens | Official visit. Met with King Paul and Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis. Addressed Parliament. | |
December 17, 1959 | Tunisia | Tunis | Met with President Habib Bourguiba. | |
December 18–21, 1959 | France | Toulon, Paris |
Conference with President Charles de Gaulle, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. | |
December 21–22, 1959 | Spain | Madrid | Met with Generalissimo Francisco Franco. | |
December 22, 1959 | Morocco | Casablanca | Met with King Mohammed V. | |
14 | February 23–26, 1960 | Brazil | Brasília, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo |
Met with President Juscelino Kubitschek. Addressed Brazilian Congress. |
February 26–29, 1960 | Argentina | San Carlos de Bariloche
|
Met with President Arturo Frondizi. | |
February 29 – March 2, 1960 |
Chile | Santiago | Met with President Jorge Alessandri. | |
March 2–3, 1960 | Uruguay | Montevideo | Met with President Benito Nardone. Returned to the U.S. via Buenos Aires and Suriname. | |
15 | May 15–19, 1960 | France | Paris | Conference with President Charles de Gaulle, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. |
May 19–20, 1960 | Portugal | Lisbon | Official visit. Met with President Américo Tomás. | |
16 | June 14–16, 1960 | Philippines | Manila | State visit. Met with President Carlos P. Garcia. |
June 18–19, 1960 | Formosa/Taiwan )
|
Taipei | State visit. Met with President Chiang Kai-shek. | |
June 19–20, 1960 | South Korea | Seoul | Met with Prime Minister National Assembly .
| |
17 | October 24, 1960 | Mexico | Ciudad Acuña | Informal visit. Met with President Adolfo López Mateos. |
Domestic affairs
Modern Republicanism
Eisenhower's approach to politics was described by contemporaries as "modern Republicanism," which occupied a middle ground between the liberalism of the New Deal and the conservatism of the Old Guard of the Republican Party.[151] A strong performance in the 1952 elections gave Republicans narrow majorities in both chambers of the 83rd United States Congress. Led by Taft, the conservative faction introduced numerous bills to reduce the federal government's role in American life.[152] Although Eisenhower favored some reduction of the federal government's functions and had strongly opposed President Truman's Fair Deal, he supported the continuation of Social Security and other New Deal programs that he saw as beneficial for the common good.[153] Eisenhower presided over a reduction in domestic spending and reduced the government's role in subsidizing agriculture through passage of the Agricultural Act of 1954,[154] but he did not advocate for the abolition of major New Deal programs such as Social Security or the Tennessee Valley Authority, and these programs remained in place throughout his tenure as president.[155]
Republicans lost control of Congress in the 1954 mid-term elections, and they would not
Ike, LBJ, and "Mr. Sam" did not trust one another completely and they did not see eye to eye on every issue, but they understood one another and had no difficulty working together. Eisenhower continued to meet regularly with the Republican leadership. But his weekly sessions with Rayburn and Johnson, usually in the evening, over drinks, were far more productive. For Johnson and Rayburn, it was shrewd politics to cooperate with Ike. Eisenhower was wildly popular in the country....By supporting a Republican president against the Old Guard of his own party, the Democrats hoped to share Ike's popularity.[157]
Fiscal policy and the economy
Fiscal Year |
Receipts | Outlays | Surplus/ Deficit |
GDP | Debt as a % of GDP[161] |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1953 | 69.6 | 76.1 | −6.5 | 382.1 | 57.2 |
1954 | 69.7 | 70.9 | −1.2 | 387.2 | 58.0 |
1955 | 65.5 | 68.4 | −3.0 | 406.3 | 55.8 |
1956 | 74.6 | 70.6 | 3.9 | 438.3 | 50.7 |
1957 | 80.0 | 76.6 | 3.4 | 463.4 | 47.3 |
1958 | 79.6 | 82.4 | −2.8 | 473.5 | 47.8 |
1959 | 79.2 | 92.1 | −12.8 | 504.6 | 46.5 |
1960 | 92.5 | 92.2 | 0.3 | 534.3 | 44.3 |
1961 | 94.4 | 97.7 | −3.3 | 546.6 | 43.6 |
Ref. | [162] | [163] | [164] |
Eisenhower was a fiscal conservative whose policy views were close to those of Taft— they agreed that a free enterprise economy should run itself.[165] Nonetheless, throughout Eisenhower's presidency, the top marginal tax rate was 91 percent—among the highest in American history.[166] When Republicans gained control of both houses of the Congress following the 1952 election, conservatives pressed the president to support tax cuts. Eisenhower however, gave a higher priority to balancing the budget, refusing to cut taxes "until we have in sight a program of expenditure that shows that the factors of income and outgo will be balanced." Eisenhower kept the national debt low and inflation near zero;[167] three of his eight budgets had a surplus.[168]
Eisenhower built on the New Deal in a manner that embodied his thoughts on efficiency and cost-effectiveness. He sanctioned a major expansion of Social Security by a self-financed program.[169] He supported such New Deal programs as the minimum wage and public housing—he greatly expanded federal aid to education and built the Interstate Highway system primarily as defense programs (rather than a jobs program).[170] In a private letter, Eisenhower wrote:
Should any party attempt to abolish social security and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group of course, that believes you can do these things [...] Their number is negligible and they are stupid.[171]
The 1950s were a period of economic expansion in the United States, and the
Immigration
During the early 1950s, ethnic groups in the United States mobilized to liberalize the admission of refugees from Europe who had been displaced by war and the Iron Curtain.
Responding to public outcry, primarily from California, about the perceived costs of services for
McCarthyism
With the onset of the Cold War, the House of Representatives established the House Un-American Activities Committee to investigate alleged disloyal activities, and a new Senate committee made Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin a national leader and namesake of the anti-Communist movement.[182] Though McCarthy remained a popular figure when Eisenhower took office, his constant attacks on the State Department and the army, and his reckless disregard for due process, offended many Americans.[183] Privately, Eisenhower held McCarthy and his tactics in contempt, writing, "I despise [McCarthy's tactics], and even during the political campaign of '52 I not only stated publicly (and privately to him) that I disapproved of those methods, but I did so in his own State."[184] Eisenhower's reluctance to publicly oppose McCarthy drew criticism even from many of Eisenhower's own advisers, but the president worked incognito to weaken the popular senator from Wisconsin.[185] In early 1954, after McCarthy escalated his investigation into the army, Eisenhower moved against McCarthy by releasing a report indicating that McCarthy had pressured the army to grant special privileges to an associate, G. David Schine.[186] Eisenhower also refused to allow members of the executive branch to testify in the Army–McCarthy hearings, contributing to the collapse of those hearings.[187] Following those hearings, Senator Ralph Flanders introduced a successful measure to censure McCarthy; Senate Democrats voted unanimously for the censure, while half of the Senate Republicans voted for it. The censure ended McCarthy's status as a major player in national politics, and he died of liver failure in 1957.[188]
Though he disagreed with McCarthy on tactics, Eisenhower considered Communist infiltration to be a serious threat, and he authorized department heads to dismiss employees if there was cause to believe those employees might be disloyal to the United States. Under the direction of Dulles, the State Department purged over 500 employees.[189] With Eisenhower's approval, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) stepped up domestic surveillance efforts, establishing COINTELPRO in 1956.[190] 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.[191]
In 1953, Eisenhower refused to commute the death sentences of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, two U.S. citizens who were convicted in 1951 of providing nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union. This provoked a worldwide outburst of picketing and demonstrations in favor of the Rosenbergs, along with editorials in otherwise pro-American newspapers and a plea for clemency from the Pope. Eisenhower, supported by public opinion and the media at home, ignored the overseas demand.[192] The Rosenbergs were executed via electric chair in July 1953.
Among Eisenhower's objectives in not directly confronting McCarthy was to prevent McCarthy from dragging the
Civil rights
First term
In the 1950s, African Americans in the South faced mass disenfranchisement and
Upon taking office, Eisenhower moved quickly to end resistance to desegregation of the military by using government control of spending to compel compliance from military officials. "Wherever federal funds are expended," he told reporters in March, "I do not see how any American can justify a discrimination in the expenditure of those funds." Later, when Secretary of the Navy Robert B. Anderson stated in a report, "The Navy must recognize the customs and usages prevailing in certain geographic areas of our country which the Navy had no part in creating," Eisenhower responded, "We have not taken and we shall not take a single backward step. There must be no second class citizens in this country."[205] Eisenhower also sought to end discrimination in federal hiring and in Washington, D.C. facilities.[206] Despite these actions, Eisenhower continued to resist becoming involved in the expansion of voting rights, the desegregation of public education, or the eradication of employment discrimination.[201] E. Frederic Morrow, the lone black member of the White House staff, met only occasionally with Eisenhower, and was left with the impression that Eisenhower had little interest in understanding the lives of African Americans.[207]
On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court handed down its
The Death of Emmett Till in 1955 was another landmark moment in the Civil Rights Movement. Following Emmett's death, his mother, Mamie Till, wrote to Eisenhower asking for support on the matter but received no response.[212]
Second term
As Southern leaders continued to resist desegregation, Eisenhower sought to answer calls for stronger federal action by introducing a civil rights bill.
Eisenhower hoped that the passage of the Civil Rights Act would, at least temporarily, remove the issue of civil rights from the forefront of national politics, but events in Arkansas would force him into action.
Towards the end of his second term, Eisenhower proposed another civil rights bill designed to help protect voting rights, but Congress once again passed a bill with weaker provisions than Eisenhower had requested. Eisenhower signed the bill into law as the Civil Rights Act of 1960.[220] By 1960, 6.4% of Southern black students attended integrated schools and thousands of black voters had registered to vote, but millions of African Americans remained disenfranchised.[221]
Lavender Scare
Eisenhower's administration contributed to the McCarthyist Lavender Scare[222] with President Eisenhower issuing his Executive Order 10450 in 1953.[223] During Eisenhower's presidency, thousands of lesbian and gay applicants were barred from federal employment and over 5,000 federal employees were fired under suspicions of being homosexual.[224][225] From 1947 to 1961, the number of firings based on sexual orientation were far greater than those for membership in the Communist party,[224] and government officials intentionally campaigned to make "homosexual" synonymous with "Communist traitor" such that LGBT people were treated as a national security threat stemming from the belief they were susceptible to blackmail and exploitation.[226]
Interstate Highway System
One of Eisenhower's most enduring achievements was the
It was evident we needed better highways. We needed them for safety, to accommodate more automobiles. We needed them for defense purposes, if that should ever be necessary. And we needed them for the economy. Not just as a public works measure, but for future growth.[230][231]
Clay's committee proposed a 10-year, $100 billion program, which would build 40,000 miles of
In long-term perspective the Interstate Highway System was a remarkable success, that has done much to sustain Eisenhower's positive reputation. In larger cities poor rental neighborhoods were paved over—the land owners were compensated but not the black and poor white residents. Otherwise the system has been well received in retrospect. As the nation's rail system for passengers collapsed, the new highways created opportunities for city workers to commute from suburbia and delivery trucks to reach towns remote from the rail net.[234] Suburbs became even more attractive as thousands of new subdivisions provided better schools and larger, cheaper housing than was available in the overcrowded central cities. Shopping malls were invented around 1960, and flourished for a half century.[235] Tourism dramatically expanded as well, creating a demand for more service stations, motels, restaurants and visitor attractions. There was much more long-distance movement to the Sunbelt for winter vacations, or for permanent relocation. In rural areas, towns and small cities off the grid lost out as shoppers followed the interstate, and new factories were located where land was cheap, workers could drive instead of taking the city bus, and trucks were no longer slowed by clogged street traffic.[236][237]
Space program and education
In 1955, in separate announcements four days apart, both the United States and the Soviet Union publicly announced that they would launch artificial Earth satellites within the next few years. The July 29, announcement from the White House stated that the U.S. would launch "small Earth circling satellites" between July 1, 1957, and December 31, 1958, as part of the American contribution to the
To many, the success of the Soviet satellite program suggested that the Soviet Union had made a substantial leap forward in technology that posed a serious threat to U.S. national security. While Eisenhower initially downplayed the gravity of the Soviet launch, public fear and anxiety about the perceived technological gap grew. Americans rushed to build nuclear bomb shelters, while the Soviet Union boasted about its new superiority as a world power.[241] The president was, as British prime minister Harold Macmillan observed during a June 1958 visit to the U.S., "under severe attack for the first time" in his presidency.[242] 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 is Russia, not the United States, who has had the imagination to hitch its wagon to the stars and the skill to reach for the moon and all but grasp it. America is worried. It should be."[243]
The launch spurred a series of federal government initiatives ranging from defense to education. Renewed emphasis was placed on the
In September 1958, the president signed into law the National Defense Education Act, a four-year program that poured billions of dollars into the U.S. education system. In 1953 the government spent $153 million, and colleges took $10 million of that funding; however, by 1960 the combined funding grew almost six-fold as a result.[249] Meanwhile, during the late 1950s and into the 1960s, NASA, the Department of Defense, and various private sector corporations developed multiple communications satellite research and development programs.[250]
Labor unions
Union membership peaked in the mid-1950s, when unions consisted of about one-quarter of the total work force. The
Environmental issues
The environmental movement was starting to grow—it gained national stature by 1970. Liberals (and the Democratic Party) wanted national control of natural resources—the level at which organized ideological pressures were effective. Conservatives (and the Republican Party) wanted state or local control, whereby the financial benefit of local businesses could be decisive. In a debate going back to the early 20th century, preservationists wanted to protect the inherent natural beauty of the national parks, whereas economic maximizers wanted to build dams and divert water flows. Eisenhower articulated the conservative position in December 1953, declaring that conservation was not about "locking up and putting resources beyond the possibility of wastage or usage," but instead involved "the intelligent use of all the resources we have, for the welfare and benefit of all the American people."[259][260] Liberals and environmentalists mobilized against Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay – a businessman with little knowledge of nature. They alleged he promoted "giveaways" to mining companies regardless of environmental damage. They forced his resignation in 1956.[261][262]
Eisenhower's personal activity on environmental issues came in foreign policy. He supported the Geneva Convention of 1958 that provided a strong foundation for international accords governing the use of the world's high seas, especially regarding fishing interests. Eisenhower also promoted the peaceful use of atomic energy for the production of electricity, with strong controls against diversion into nuclear weapons. However, there was little attention to nuclear waste.[263]
Mid-term elections of 1958
The economy began to decline in mid-1957 and reached its nadir in early 1958. The
Twenty-third Amendment
Under the original
States admitted to the Union
Eisenhower had called for the admission of Alaska and Hawaii as states during his 1952 campaign, but various issues delayed their statehood. 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.[271] In 1958, Eisenhower reached an agreement with Congress on a bill that provided for the admission of Alaska and set aside large portions of Alaska for military bases. Eisenhower signed the Alaska Statehood Act into law in July 1958, and Alaska became the 49th state on January 3, 1959. Months later on March 18, 1959, Eisenhower signed the Hawaii Admission Act, and Hawaii became the 50th state on August 21, 1959.[272]
Health issues
Eisenhower was the first president to release information about his health and medical records while in office. However, people around him covered up medical information that might hurt him politically by raising doubts about his good health. On September 24, 1955, while vacationing in Colorado, he had a serious heart attack.[273] Howard Snyder, his personal physician, misdiagnosed the symptoms as indigestion, and failed to call in the help that was urgently needed. Snyder later falsified his own records to cover his blunder and to protect Eisenhower's need to project that he was healthy enough to do his job.[274][275][276] The heart attack required six weeks' hospitalization, and Eisenhower did not resume his normal work schedule until early 1956. During Eisenhower's period of recuperation, Nixon, Dulles, and Sherman Adams assumed administrative duties and provided communication with the president.[277] Eisenhower suffered a stroke in November 1957, but he quickly recovered.[278] His health was generally good for the remainder of his second term.[279]
Elections during the Eisenhower presidency
Congress | Senate | House |
---|---|---|
83rd[a] | 48 | 221 |
84th | 47 | 203 |
85th | 47 | 201 |
86th | 34 | 153 |
87th[a] | 36 | 175 |
1954 mid-term elections
In the 1954 mid-term elections, Democrats took control of both houses of Congress.
1956 re-election campaign
In July 1955,
Eisenhower did not trust Nixon as able to lead the country if he acceded to the presidency, and he attempted to remove Nixon from the 1956 ticket by offering him the position of Secretary of Defense. Nixon declined the offer, and refused to take his name out of consideration for re-nomination unless Eisenhower demanded it. Unwilling to split the party, and unable to find the perfect replacement for Nixon, Eisenhower decided not to oppose Nixon's re-nomination.[284] Though Harold Stassen and some other Republicans worked to coax someone to challenge Nixon, the vice president remained highly popular among the Republican leadership and rank-and-file voters. He was unanimously re-nominated at the 1956 Republican National Convention.[285][286] Eisenhower, meanwhile, was renominated with no opposition.
At the 1956 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Illinois, Adlai Stevenson was renominated on the first ballot, despite a strong challenge from New York governor W. Averell Harriman, who was backed by former president Truman. Stevenson announced that he would leave the choice of the candidate for vice president to the convention; he gave no indication of who he would prefer to have for a running mate. Delegates chose Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee on the second ballot.[287]
Eisenhower campaigned on his record of economic prosperity and his Cold War foreign policy.[288] He also attacked Democrats for allegedly blocking his legislative programs and derided Stevenson's proposal to ban the testing of nuclear weapons.[289] Stevenson called for an acceleration of disarmament talks with the Soviet Union and increased government spending on social programs.[citation needed] Democrats introduced the tactic of negative television ads, generally attacking Nixon rather than Eisenhower.[290] The Suez Crisis and the Hungarian Revolution became the focus of Eisenhower's attention in the final weeks of the campaign, and his actions in the former crises boosted his popularity.[291]
On election day, Eisenhower won by an even greater margin than he had four years earlier, taking 457 electoral votes to Stevenson's 73. He won over 57 percent of the popular vote, taking over 35 million votes.[292] Eisenhower maintained his 1952 gains among Democrats, especially white urban Southerners and Northern Catholics, while the growing suburbs added to his Republican base. Compared to the 1952 election, Eisenhower gained Kentucky, Louisiana, and West Virginia, while losing Missouri.[293] In interviews with pollsters, his voters were less likely to bring up his leadership record. Instead what stood out this time, "was the response to personal qualities— to his sincerity, his integrity and sense of duty, his virtue as a family man, his religious devotion, and his sheer likeableness."[294] Eisenhower's victory did not provide a strong coattail effect for other Republican candidates, and Democrats retained control of Congress.[295]
1958 mid-term elections
In the 1958 mid-term elections, Democrats retained control of both houses of Congress.
1960 election and transition
The 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1951, established a two-term limit for the presidency. As the amendment had not applied to President Truman, Eisenhower became the first president constitutionally limited to two terms. Eisenhower nonetheless closely watched the 1960 presidential election, which he viewed as a referendum on his presidency. He attempted to convince Secretary of the Treasury Robert Anderson to seek the Republican nomination, but Anderson declined to enter the race.[296] Eisenhower offered Nixon lukewarm support in the 1960 Republican primaries. When asked by reporters to list one of Nixon's policy ideas he had adopted, Eisenhower joked, "If you give me a week, I might think of one. I don't remember."[297] Eisenhower and Nixon in fact had become unequal friends, but learned from and respected each other.[298] 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.[299]
The 1960 campaign was dominated by the Cold War and the economy. John F. Kennedy become the Democratic nominee; to keep Southern Democrats he chose Johnson as his running mate. Kennedy alleged a serious "missile gap" and endorsed federal aid for education, an increased minimum wage, and the establishment of a federal health insurance program for the elderly.[300] Nixon, meanwhile, wanted to win on his own, and did not take up Eisenhower's offers for help.[301] To Eisenhower's great disappointment, Kennedy defeated Nixon in an extremely close election.[302]
Farewell address
During the campaign, Eisenhower had privately lambasted Kennedy's inexperience and connections to political machines, but after the election he worked with Kennedy to ensure a smooth transition. He personally met twice with Kennedy, emphasizing especially the danger posed by Cuba.[303] On January 17, 1961, Eisenhower gave his final televised Address to the Nation from the Oval Office.[304] In his farewell address, Eisenhower raised the issue of the Cold War and role of the U.S. armed forces. He described the Cold War: "We face a hostile ideology global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose and insidious in method ..." and warned about what he saw as unjustified government spending proposals and continued with a warning that "we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military–industrial complex."[304] 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.[305]
Historical reputation
Eisenhower was popular among the general public when he left office, but for a decade or two commentators viewed Eisenhower as a "do-nothing" president who left many of the major decisions to his subordinates. Paul Holbo and Robert W. Sellen state that critics portrayed Eisenhower "typically with a golf club in his hand and a broad but vapid grin on his face. [...] [L]iberal intellectuals compared him unfavorably with their standard for president, Franklin D. Roosevelt. They gave 'Ike' especially low marks for his seeming aloofness from politics, his refusal to battle publicly with Senator Joseph McCarthy, and his reluctance to assume active party leadership."[306]
Historians writing in the 1960s were negative on Eisenhower's foreign policy, seeing "the popular general as an amiable but bumbling leader who presided over the 'great postponement' of critical national and international issues during the 1950s.
Eisenhower's reputation peaked in the early 1980s; by 1985 a postrevisionist reaction had set in, and a more complex assessment of the Eisenhower administration was being presented.[309] The new factor was the availability of previously closed records and papers showed that Eisenhower shrewdly maneuvered behind the scenes, avoiding controversial issues while retaining control of his administration. 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.[310] Recent polls of historians and political scientists have generally ranked Eisenhower in the top quartile of presidents. A 2018 poll of the American Political Science Association's Presidents and Executive Politics section ranked Eisenhower as the seventh best president.[311] A 2017 C-SPAN poll of historians ranked Eisenhower as the fifth best president.[312]
Historian John Lewis Gaddis has summarized the turnaround in evaluations:
Historians long ago abandoned the view that Eisenhower's was a failed presidency. He did, after all, end the Korean War without getting into any others. He stabilized, and did not escalate, the Soviet-American rivalry. He strengthened European alliances while withdrawing support from European colonialism. He rescued the Republican Party from isolationism and McCarthyism. 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. Not until Reagan would another president leave office with so strong a sense of having accomplished what he set out to do.[313]
Notes
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- ^ Herring 2008, pp. 688–689.
- ^ Herring 2008, p. 670.
- ^ Patterson, pp. 303–304.
- ^ a b Herring 2008, pp. 696–698.
- ^ Pach & Richardson, pp. 214–215.
- ^ Fontaine, André; translator R. Bruce (1968). History of the Cold War: From the Korean War to the present. History of the Cold War. Vol. 2. Pantheon Books. p. 338.
{{cite book}}
:|author2=
has generic name (help) - ISBN 978-0-465-04195-4.
- ^ Walsh, Kenneth T. (June 6, 2008). "Presidential Lies and Deceptions". U.S. News & World Report.
- ^ a b Bogle, Lori Lynn, ed. (2001), The Cold War, Routledge, p. 104. 978-0815337218
- ^ "1960 Year In Review: The Paris Summit Falls Apart". UPI. 1960. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
- ^ "Travels of President Dwight D. Eisenhower". U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian.
- ^ International Boundary and Water Commission; Falcon Dam Archived 2010-04-08 at the Wayback Machine
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- ^ Pach & Richardson, pp. 50–51.
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- ^ Pach & Richardson, pp. 53–55.
- ^ Pach & Richardson, pp. 56–57.
- ^ Pach & Richardson, p. 168.
- ^ a b Smith, p. 648.
- ^ Patterson, pp. 400–401.
- ^ Kabaservice, pp. 17–18.
- ^ All figures, except for debt percentage, are presented in billions of dollars. The receipt, outlay, deficit, GDP, and debt figures are calculated for the fiscal year, which ended on June 30 prior to 1976.
- ^ Represents the national debt held by the public as a percentage of GDP
- ^ "Historical Tables". White House. Office of Management and Budget. Table 1.1. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
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- ^ a b c d "Dwight D. Eisenhower: Domestic Affairs". Miller Center of Public Affairs University of Virginia. October 4, 2016. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
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- ^ Patterson, pp. 311–312.
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- ^ Patterson, p. 289.
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- ^ Reston, Maeve (January 19, 2016). "How Trump's deportation plan failed 62 years ago". CNN. Retrieved May 13, 2017.
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- ^ "Letter to Paul Roy Helms". The Presidential Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower. Archived from the original on February 20, 2019. Retrieved May 11, 2011.
I despise [McCarthy's tactics], and even during the political campaign of '52 I not only stated publicly (and privately to him) that I disapproved of those methods, but I did so in his own State.
- ^ Pach & Richardson, pp. 62–63.
- ^ Pach & Richardson, pp. 69–70.
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- ^ Patterson, p. 270.
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- ^ a b Pach & Richardson, pp. 137–138.
- ^ Herring 2008, pp. 681–682.
- ^ Pach & Richardson, pp. 138–139.
- ^ Ronald D. Sylvia, "Presidential Decision Making and Leadership in the Civil Rights Era." Presidential Studies Quarterly 25#3 (1995), pp. 391–411. online
- ^ Smith, p. 710–711.
- ^ Pach & Richardson, p. 140.
- ^ Pach & Richardson, pp. 144–145.
- ^ Patterson, pp. 389–394.
- ^ Serwer, Adam (May 17, 2014). "Why don't we remember Ike as a civil rights hero?". MSNBC. Retrieved May 21, 2017.
- ^ Patterson, pp. 396–398.
- ^ Dudziak, Mary L. (May 15, 2017), "Brown as a Cold War Case", Race, Law and Society, Routledge, pp. 37–47, retrieved January 18, 2024
- ^ "A Tale of Two Mamies". National Park Service. Retrieved February 5, 2024.
- ^ James D. King and James W. Riddlesperger Jr., "Presidential leadership of congressional civil rights voting: the cases of Eisenhower and Johnson." Policy Studies Journal 21.3 (1993): 544–555 .
- ^ Pach & Richardson, pp. 145–146.
- ^ Pach & Richardson, pp. 147–148.
- ^ Patterson, p. 413.
- ^ Pach & Richardson, pp. 148–150.
- ^ "Our Documents – Executive Order 10730: Desegregation of Central High School (1957)". www.ourdocuments.gov. April 9, 2021.
- ^ Pach & Richardson, pp. 150–155.
- ^ Pach & Richardson, pp. 156–157.
- ^ Pach & Richardson, p. 157.
- ^ "An interview with David K. Johnson author of The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government". press.uchicago.edu. The University of Chicago. 2004. Archived from the original on December 20, 2017. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
- ^ Adkins, Judith (August 15, 2016). "'These People Are Frightened to Death' Congressional Investigations and the Lavender Scare". archives.gov. The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Archived from the original on January 16, 2018. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
Most significantly, the 1950 congressional investigations and the Hoey committee's final report helped institutionalize discrimination by laying the groundwork for President Dwight D. Eisenhower's 1953 Executive Order #10450, 'Security Requirements for Government Employment.' That order explicitly added sexuality to the criteria used to determine suitability for federal employment.
- ^ a b Sears, Brad; Hunter, Nan D.; Mallory, Christy (September 2009). Documenting Discrimination on the Basis of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in State Employment (PDF). Los Angeles: The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy at the University of California Los Angeles School of Law. pp. 5–3. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 6, 2017. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
From 1947 to 1961, more than 5,000 allegedly homosexual federal civil servants lost their jobs in the purges for no reason other than sexual orientation, and thousands of applicants were also rejected for federal employment for the same reason. During this period, more than 1,000 men and women were fired for suspected homosexuality from the State Department alone—a far greater number than were dismissed for their membership in the Communist party.
- ^ Adkins, Judith (August 15, 2016). "'These People Are Frightened to Death' Congressional Investigations and the Lavender Scare". archives.gov. The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Archived from the original on January 16, 2018. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
Historians estimate that somewhere between 5,000 and tens of thousands of gay workers lost their jobs during the Lavender Scare.
- ^ Sears, Brad; Hunter, Nan D.; Mallory, Christy (September 2009). Documenting Discrimination on the Basis of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in State Employment (PDF). Los Angeles: The Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy at the University of California Los Angeles School of Law. pp. 5–3. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 6, 2017. Retrieved January 15, 2018.
Johnson has demonstrated that during this era government officials intentionally engaged in campaigns to associate homosexuality with Communism: 'homosexual' and 'pervert' became synonyms for 'Communist' and 'traitor.'
- ^ Patterson, p. 274.
- ^ Smith, p. 652.
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- ^ Ambrose, volume 2, pp. 301, 326.
- ^ Smith, pp. 652–653.
- ^ Smith, pp. 651–654.
- ^ Smith, p. 650.
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- ^ Schefter, pp. 3–5.
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- ^ Patterson, p. 418.
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u2 intelligence supremacy.
- ^ Lyon, p. 805.
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- ^ Schefter, pp. 25–26.
- ^ Hitchcock 2018, pp. 394–395.
- ^ Roger D. Launius, "Eisenhower, Sputnik, and the Creation of NASA." Prologue-Quarterly of the National Archives 28.2 (1996): 127–143.
- ISBN 978-0-486-47464-9.
- ^ "May 22, 2014 Looking Back: The Mercury 7". Washington, D.C.: NASA. February 20, 2015. Retrieved May 24, 2017.
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- JSTOR 2109251.
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- ^ Byron W. Daynes and Glen Sussman, White House Politics and the Environment: Franklin D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush (2010 pp 123–38.
- ^ Elmo Richardson, "The Interior Secretary as Conservation Villain: The Notorious Case of Douglas 'Giveaway' McKay." Pacific Historical Review 41.3 (1972): 333–345. online
- ^ Elmo Richardson, Dams, Parks and Politics: Resource Development and Preservation the Truman-Eisenhower Era (1973).
- ^ Carolyn Long et al. "The Chief Environmental Diplomat," in Dennis L. Soden, ed. The Environmental Presidency (1999) p 199.
- ^ Pach & Richardson, pp. 175–176.
- ^ Pach & Richardson, pp. 180–182.
- ^ Pach & Richardson, pp. 183–184.
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- ^ Rimensnyder, Nelson F. (December 11, 2005). "A Champion of D.C. Voting Rights". The Washington Post. Washington, DC. Retrieved May 31, 2017.
- ^ Breneman, Lory (2000). Tamara Tamara (ed.). Senate Manual Containing the Standing Rules, Orders, Laws and Resolutions Affecting the Business of the United States Senate (Senate Document 106-1 ed.). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 959. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
- ISBN 978-1851094332. Retrieved June 15, 2017.
- ^ Pach & Richardson, p. 58.
- ^ Pach & Richardson, p. 180.
- ^ Newton, Eisenhower pp. 196–99.
- LCCN 92018527 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Lasby, Clarence G. (1997). Eisenhower's Heart Attack: How Ike Beat Heart Disease and Held on to the Presidency. pp. 57–113.
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- ^ Pach & Richardson, pp. 113–114.
- ^ Pach & Richardson, pp. 174–175.
- ^ Newton, Eisenhower pp. 296, 309.
- ISBN 978-1480768215. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
- Gallup. March 12, 2008. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
- ^ "1956 Presidential Campaign". Abilene, Kansas: Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum & Boyhood Home; National Archives and Records Administration. Archived from the original on November 29, 2016. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
- ^ Pach & Richardson, pp. 114–116.
- ^ Pach & Richardson, pp. 119–121.
- ^ Burd, Laurence (March 15, 1956). "Happy To Get Nixon Again For '56: Ike". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
- ^ Lawrence, W. H. (August 23, 1956). "Eisenhower and Nixon Are Renominated; G.O.P. Convention Is Unanimous on Both; Stassen Gives Up, Seconds Vice President". The New York Times. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
- ^ Cavendish, Richard (August 8, 2006). "Adlai Stevenson's Second Run". History Today. Vol. 56, no. 8. London: History Today. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
- ^ Pach & Richardson, pp. 122–123.
- ^ Pach & Richardson, pp. 124–125.
- ^ Patterson, p. 305.
- ^ Pach & Richardson, pp. 135–136.
- ^ Patterson, p. 309.
- ^ Alford, Robert R. (1963). "The role of social class in American voting behavior". Western Political Quarterly. Vol. 16, no. 1. pp. 180–194.
- ISBN 9780226092546.
- ^ Pach & Richardson, p. 136.
- ^ Pach & Richardson, pp. 226–227.
- ISBN 9781451606263.
- ^ John Kitch, "Eisenhower and Nixon: A Friendship of Unequals." Perspectives on Political Science 46#2 (2017): 101–107.
- ^ Wicker, pp. 116–117.
- ^ Patterson, pp. 434–439.
- ^ John A. Farrell, Richard Nixon: the life (2017) pp. 89–90
- ^ Patterson, pp. 436–437.
- ^ Pach & Richardson, pp. 229.
- ^ a b "Dwight D. Eisenhower Farewell Address". USA Presidents. Archived from the original on May 13, 2008. Retrieved May 23, 2008.
- ^ Pach & Richardson, p. 230.
- ^ Paul S. Holbo, and Robert W. Sellen, eds. The Eisenhower era: the age of consensus (1974), pp. 1–2.
- ^ Robert J. McMahon, "Eisenhower and Third World Nationalism: A Critique of the Revisionists," Political Science Quarterly 101#3 (1986), pp. 453–473, quoting p. 453. online
- ^ a b McMahon, "Eisenhower and Third World Nationalism," p. 455.
- ^ Peter G. Boyle, "Eisenhower" Historian (1994), Issue 43, pp. 9–11
- ^ Pach, Chester J. Jr. (October 4, 2016). "DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER: IMPACT AND LEGACY". Miller Center. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
- ^ Rottinghaus, Brandon; Vaughn, Justin S. (February 19, 2018). "How Does Trump Stack Up Against the Best — and Worst — Presidents?". New York Times. Retrieved May 14, 2018.
- ^ "Presidential Historians Survey 2017". C-SPAN. Retrieved May 14, 2018.
- ^ John Lewis Gaddis, "He Made It Look Easy: 'Eisenhower in War and Peace', by Jean Edward Smith", New York Times Book Review, April 20, 2012.
Works cited
- Ambrose, Stephen E. (1983). Eisenhower. Vol. I: Soldier, General of the Army, President–Elect, 1890–1952. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0671440695.
- Ambrose, Stephen E. (1984). Eisenhower. Vol. II: President and Elder Statesman, 1952–1969. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-0671605650.
- Bohri, László. "Rollback, Liberation, Containment, or Inaction? US Policy and Eastern Europe in the 1950s." Journal of Cold War Studies 1.3 (1999): 67–110. online
- Bundy, McGeorge (1988). Danger and Survival: Choices About the Bomb in the First Fifty Years. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-394-52278-8.
- Dockrill, Saki (1994). "Cooperation and suspicion: The United States' alliance diplomacy for the security of Western Europe, 1953–54". Diplomacy & Statecraft. 5#1: 138–182 online
- Dockrill, Saki. (1996) Eisenhower's New-Look National Security Policy, 1953–61 excerpt
- Herring, George C. (2008). From Colony to Superpower; U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-507822-0.
- Hitchcock, William I. (2018). The Age of Eisenhower: America and the World in the 1950. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1439175668. The major scholarly synthesis; 645pp; online review symposium
- Kabaservice, Geoffrey (2012). Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, from Eisenhower to the Tea Party. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199768400.
- Lyon, Peter (1974). Eisenhower: Portrait of the Hero. Little Brown and Company.
- McMahon, Robert J. "Eisenhower and Third World Nationalism: A Critique of the Revisionists," Political Science Quarterly 101#3 (1986), pp. 453–473, online
- Pach, Chester J.; Richardson, Elmo (1991). The Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower (Revised ed.). University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-0437-1.
- ISBN 978-0195117974.
- Pusey, Merlo J. (1956). Eisenhower The President. Macmillan. LCCN 56-8365.
- Schefter, James (1999). The Race: The uncensored story of how America beat Russia to the Moon. New York: ISBN 978-0-385-49253-9.
isbn:0385492537.
- ISBN 978-1400066933.
- Wicker, Tom (2002). Dwight D. Eisenhower. Times Books. ISBN 978-0-8050-6907-5.
- Young, Ken; Schilling, Warner R. (2019). Super Bomb: Organizational Conflict and the Development of the Hydrogen Bomb. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. ISBN 978-1-5017-4516-4.
Further reading
References
- Congressional Quarterly. Congress and the Nation 1945–1964 (1965), Highly detailed and factual coverage of Congress and presidential politics; 1784 pages
- Damms, Richard V. The Eisenhower Presidency, 1953–1961 (2002)
- Kaufman, Burton I. The A to Z of the Eisenhower era (2009) online
- Kaufman, Burton I. and Diane Kaufman. Historical Dictionary of the Eisenhower Era (2009), 320pp
- Mayer, Michael S. The Eisenhower Years (Facts on File, 2009), 1024pp; short biographies by experts of 500 prominent figures, with some primary sources. ISBN 0-8160-5387-1
- Olson, James S. Historical Dictionary of the 1950s (2000)
- Pach, Chester J. ed. A Companion to Dwight D. Eisenhower (2017), new essays by experts; stress on historiography.
- Schoenebaum, Eleanora, ed. Political Profiles the Eisenhower Years (1977); 757pp; short political biographies of 501 major players in politics in the 1950s.
Biographical
- Ambrose, Stephen E. Eisenhower: Soldier and President (2003). A revision and condensation of his earlier two-volume Eisenhower biography.
- Galambos, Louis. Eisenhower: Becoming the Leader of the Free World (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020).
- Gellman, Irwin F. The President and the Apprentice: Eisenhower and Nixon, 1952–1961 (2015).
- Graff, Henry F., ed. The Presidents: A Reference History (3rd ed. 2002)
- Hoopes Townsend, Devil and John Foster Dulles (1973) ISBN 0-316-37235-8. a scholarly biography
- Krieg, Joann P. ed. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Soldier, President, Statesman (1987). 24 essays by scholars.
- Mason, Robert. "War Hero in the White House: Dwight Eisenhower and the Politics of Peace, Prosperity, and Party." in Profiles in Power (Brill, 2020) pp. 112–128.
- Newton, Jim, Eisenhower: The White House Years (Random House, 2011) online; popular history
- Nichols, David A. Eisenhower 1956: The President's Year of Crisis—Suez and the Brink of War (2012).
- Stebenne, David L. Modern republican: Arthur Larson and the Eisenhower years (Indiana UP, 2006).
Scholarly studies
- Alexander, Charles C. Holding the line: the Eisenhower era, 1952–1961 (1979) online
- Allen, Craig. Eisenhower and the mass media: peace, prosperity, & prime-time TV (U of North Carolina Press) (1993)
- Anderson J. W. Eisenhower, Brownell, and the Congress: The Tangled Origins of the Civil Rights Bill of 1956–1957. (U of Alabama Press, 1964).
- Blas, Elisheva. "The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways: The Road to Success?." History Teacher 44.1 (2010): 127–142. online
- Burrows, William E. This New Ocean: The Story of the First Space Age. New York: Random House, 1998. 282pp
- Divine, Robert A. Eisenhower and the Cold War (Oxford UP, 1981)
- Eulau Heinz, Class and Party in the Eisenhower Years. Free Press, 1962. voting behavior
- Greene, John Robert. I Like Ike: The Presidential Election of 1952 (2017) excerpt
- Greenstein, Fred I. The Hidden-Hand Presidency: Eisenhower as Leader (1991). online
- Harris, Douglas B. "Dwight Eisenhower and the New Deal: The Politics of Preemption" Presidential Studies Quarterly, 27#2 (1997) pp. 333–41 in JSTOR.
- Harris, Seymour E. The Economics of the Political Parties, with Special Attention to Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy (1962)
- Heller, Francis H. "The Eisenhower White House." Presidential Studies Quarterly 23.3 (1993): 509–517 online.
- Hitchcock, William I. The Age of Eisenhower: America and the World in the 1950s (2018). The major scholarly synthesis; 645pp; online review symposium
- Holbo, Paul S. and Robert W. Sellen, eds. The Eisenhower era: the age of consensus (1974), 196pp; 20 short excerpts from primary and secondary sources online
- Kabaservice, Geoffrey. Rule and ruin: The downfall of moderation and the destruction of the Republican Party, from Eisenhower to the Tea Party (Oxford UP, 2012).
- Kahn, Michael A. "Shattering the myth about President Eisenhower's Supreme Court appointments." Presidential Studies Quarterly 22.1 (1992): 47–56 online.
- King, James D., and James W. Riddlesperger Jr., "Presidential leadership of congressional civil rights voting: the cases of Eisenhower and Johnson." Policy Studies Journal 21.3 (1993): 544–555.
- Kingseed, Cole Christian. Eisenhower and the Suez Crisis of 1956 (1995)
- Krieg, Joanne P. ed. Dwight D. Eisenhower: Soldier, President, Statesman (1987), 283–296.
- Medhurst; Martin J. Dwight D. Eisenhower: Strategic Communicator (Greenwood Press, 1993).
- Nichols, David A. A matter of justice: Eisenhower and the beginning of the civil rights revolution (Simon and Schuster, 2007).
- OCLC 31206927.
- OCLC 43953970.
- Sylvia, Ronald D. "Presidential Decision Making and Leadership in the Civil Rights Era." Presidential Studies Quarterly 25#3 (1995), pp. 391–411. online
Foreign and military policy
- Andrew, Christopher. For the President's Eyes Only: Secret Intelligence and the American Presidency from Washington to Bush (1995), pp. 199–256.
- Bose, Meenekshi. Shaping and signaling presidential policy: The national security decision making of Eisenhower and Kennedy (Texas A&M UP, 1998).
- Bowie, Robert R. and Richard H. Immerman, eds. Waging peace: how Eisenhower shaped an enduring cold war strategy (1998) online
- Brands, Henry W. Cold Warriors: Eisenhower's Generation and American Foreign Policy (Columbia UP, 1988).
- Broadwater; Jeff. Eisenhower & the Anti-Communist Crusade (U of North Carolina Press, 1992)
- Bury, Helen. Eisenhower and the Cold War arms race:'Open Skies' and the military-industrial complex (2014).
- Chernus, Ira. Apocalypse Management: Eisenhower and the Discourse of National Insecurity. (Stanford UP, 2008).
- Divine, Robert A. Eisenhower and the Cold War (1981)
- Divine, Robert A. Foreign Policy and U.S. Presidential Elections, 1952–1960 (1974).
- Dockrill, Saki. Eisenhower's New-Look National Security Policy, 1953–61 (1996) excerpt
- Falk, Stanley L. "The National Security Council under Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy." Political Science Quarterly 79.3 (1964): 403–434. online
- Jackson, Michael Gordon (2005). "Beyond Brinkmanship: Eisenhower, Nuclear War Fighting, and Korea, 1953‐1968". Presidential Studies Quarterly. 35 (1): 52–75. .
- Kaufman, Burton Ira. Trade and aid: Eisenhower's foreign economic policy, 1953–1961 (1982).
- Little, Douglas. "His finest hour? Eisenhower, Lebanon, and the 1958 Middle East crisis." Diplomatic History 20.1 (1996): 27–54. online
- Melanson, Richard A. and David A. Mayers, eds. Reevaluating Eisenhower: American foreign policy in the 1950s (1989) online
- Rabe, Stephen G. Eisenhower and Latin America: The foreign policy of anticommunism (1988)
- Rosenberg, Victor. Soviet-American relations, 1953–1960: diplomacy and cultural exchange during the Eisenhower presidency (2005).
- Taubman, William. Khrushchev: The Man and His Era (2012), Pulitzer Prize
Historiography
- Broadwater, Jeff. "President Eisenhower and the Historians: Is the General in Retreat?." Canadian Review of American Studies 22.1 (1991): 47–60.
- Burk, Robert. "Eisenhower Revisionism Revisited: Reflections on Eisenhower Scholarship", Historian, Spring 1988, Vol. 50, Issue 2, pp. 196–209
- Catsam, Derek. "The civil rights movement and the Presidency in the hot years of the Cold War: A historical and historiographical assessment." History Compass 6.1 (2008): 314–344. online[dead link]
- De Santis, Vincent P. "Eisenhower Revisionism," Review of Politics 38#2 (1976): 190–208.
- Hoxie, R. Gordon. "Dwight David Eisenhower: Bicentennial Considerations," Presidential Studies Quarterly 20 (1990), 263.
- Joes, Anthony James. "Eisenhower Revisionism and American Politics," in Joanne P. Krieg, ed., Dwight D. Eisenhower: Soldier, President, Statesman (1987), 283–296;
- Lee, R. Alton. Dwight D. Eisenhower: A Bibliography (1991) 3,660 citations to books and articles with short annotation.
- McAuliffe, Mary S. "Eisenhower, the President", Journal of American History 68 (1981), pp. 625–32 JSTOR 1901942
- McMahon, Robert J. "Eisenhower and Third World Nationalism: A Critique of the Revisionists," Political Science Quarterly (1986) 101#3 pp. 453–73 JSTOR 2151625
- Matray, James I (2011). "Korea's war at 60: A survey of the literature". Cold War History. 11 (1): 99–129. S2CID 153921372.
- Melanson, Richard A. and David Mayers, eds. Reevaluating Eisenhower: American Foreign Policy in the 1950s (1987)
- Polsky, Andrew J. "Shifting Currents: Dwight Eisenhower and the Dynamic of Presidential Opportunity Structure," Presidential Studies Quarterly, March 2015.
- Rabe, Stephen G. "Eisenhower Revisionism: A Decade of Scholarship," Diplomatic History (1993) 17#1 pp 97–115.
- Reichard, Gary W. "Eisenhower as President: The Changing View," South Atlantic Quarterly 77 (1978): 265–82
- Schlesinger Jr., Arthur. "The Ike Age Revisited," Reviews in American History (1983) 11#1 pp. 1–11 JSTOR 2701865
- Streeter, Stephen M. "Interpreting the 1954 U.S. Intervention In Guatemala: Realist, Revisionist, and Postrevisionist Perspectives," History Teacher (2000) 34#1 pp 61–74.
Primary sources
- Adams, Sherman. Firsthand Report: The Story of the Eisenhower Administration. 1961. by Ike's chief of staff
- Benson, Ezra Taft. Cross Fire: The Eight Years with Eisenhower (1962) Secretary of Agriculture * Brownell, Herbert and John P. Burke. Advising Ike: The Memoirs of Attorney General Herbert Brownell (1993).
- Eisenhower, Dwight D. Mandate for Change, 1953–1956, Doubleday and Co., 1963; his memoir
- Eisenhower, Dwight D. The White House Years: Waging Peace 1956–1961, Doubleday and Co., 1965; his memoir
- Papers of Dwight D. Eisenhower The 21 volume Johns Hopkins print edition of Eisenhower's papers includes: The Presidency: The Middle Way (vols. 14–17) and The Presidency: Keeping the Peace (vols. 18–21), his private letters and papers online at subscribing libraries
- Eisenhower, Dwight D. Public Papers, covers 1953 through end of term in 1961. based on White House press releases online
- James Campbell Hagerty (1983). ISBN 9780253116253.
- Hughes, Emmet John. The Ordeal of Power: A Political Memoir of the Eisenhower Years. 1963. Ike's speechwriter
- Nixon, Richard M. The Memoirs of Richard Nixon 1978.
- Documentary History of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidency (13 vol. University Publications of America, 1996) online table of contents
External links
- Miller Center on the Presidency at U of Virginia, brief articles on Eisenhower and his presidency
- Papers and Records of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library