Download Goal 11 Part 5

Presidential Politics:
Eisenhower - Nixon
Dwight D. Eisenhower
1890 – 1969
 34th President (1953-61)
 Republican
 Went by “Ike”
 Hero of WWII, Supreme
Commander of Allied
Forces in Europe,
Organized the D-Day
Invasion
 Had never held an
elected office before
becoming president

“Dynamic Conservatism”
Eisenhower attempted to
be conservative with
government spending
while still supporting
dynamic programs
designed to help the poor
 Ike curtailed military
spending by building
more nuclear weapons
(He called them “more
bang for the buck”)
 Extended many of FDR’s
New Deal programs to
help the disadvantaged

Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956
Authorized the spending
of $25 billion in federal
funds to build 41,000
miles of highways over a
period of 20 years
 Interstate highways
were built in order to
allow the speedy
movement of troops and
supplies around the
country in case of
invasion or other
national emergency

National Defense Education Act of 1958
Law which provided for
dramatically increased
spending on education,
especially in science, math,
and foreign languages
 Passed in response to the
belief that the US was
falling behind the Soviets in
scientific and technological
fields
 Increased the number of
high-school graduates who
went on to college from less
than 15% in 1950 to over
40% by 1970

The Warren Court
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Eisenhower appointed
Earl Warren as Chief
Justice of the Supreme
Court in 1953
Warren would remain the
head of the Court until
his retirement in 1969
The Warren Court would
hand down some of the
most important decisions
of the 20th Century (See
“The Warren Court”
Handout)
Alaska & Hawaii
 In
1959,
Eisenhower
oversaw the
admission of
Alaska and
Hawaii as the
49th and 50th
states in the
Union
CIA Interventions
Iran: Ike allowed CIA
to stage a coup to
remove a Prime
Minister who was
willing to sell Iranian
oil to the Soviets
 Guatemala: Ike
allowed CIA to train
opposition rebels to
overthrow a procommunist regime

Eisenhower Doctrine
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In 1957, Eisenhower
pledged US assistance to
any nation in the Middle
East which found itself
threatened by
communism
Almost immediately, US
forces were sent to
Lebanon to help that
government combat
communist rebels
Suez Crisis
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The US withdrew financial support
from an Egyptian dam project over
Egyptian weapons purchases that
threatened Israel
Egypt confiscated the Suez Canal
from French and British investors in
order to raise funds for the dam
Britain and France invaded Egypt to
retake the canal, leading the Soviets
(who saw an opportunity to win
Egypt as an ally) to threaten war
Eisenhower forced Britain and
France to withdraw, but the damage
was already done - many Arab
states now saw the West as an
aggressor and aligned themselves
with the Soviets
The Military-Industrial Complex
In Eisenhower’s Farewell
Address, he warned against
unchecked military spending,
stating “we must guard
against the acquisition of
unwarranted influence,
whether sought or unsought,
by the military-industrial
complex”
 Essentially, Eisenhower was
warning that defense
contractors were becoming
too friendly with the military
high command, creating a
conflict of interest where
their profits were more
important than what was in
the best interests of the
nation

Election of 1960
Republicans nominated
Eisenhower’s VicePresident, Richard Nixon
 Democrats nominated
Massachusetts Senator John
F. Kennedy
 Election featured the first

televised presidential
debates and it was the
first time television was
used as a serious campaign
tool
 Kennedy won in a tight
election, in some ways due
to his better manipulation of
television
John F. Kennedy
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1917 – 1963
35th President (1961 –
63)
WWII veteran who had
held his own command in
the US Navy
First Catholic president
In his inaugural address,
he famously stated “Ask
not what your country
can do for you; ask what
you can do for your
country”
The Peace Corps
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Created in 1961
Purpose is “To promote world
peace and friendship … which
shall make available to
interested countries … men
and women of the United
States qualified for service
abroad and willing to serve,
under conditions of hardship if
necessary, to help the peoples
of such countries and areas in
meeting their needs for trained
manpower.”
Since 1961, over 200,000
college-educated American
volunteers have served 2-year
commitments in foreign
nations
The New Frontier
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JFK proposed ambitious
policies intended to
boost education, health
insurance for the
elderly, create a Dept.
of Urban Affairs, & help
migrants
Congress decided that
Kennedy’s programs
were too expensive and
voted against them
The Bay of Pigs Invasion
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Under the approval of thenPresident Eisenhower, the CIA
(Central Intelligence Agency)
began training Cuban exiles for
an invasion of Cuba with the
purpose of overthrowing
Castro’s communist gov’t.
In April 1961, the exiles landed
at The Bay of Pigs in Cuba, but
were quickly defeated by
Cuban military forces when the
US failed to provide any
further invention on their
behalf
Major international
embarrassment for the US
The Cuban Missile Crisis
Soviets placed nuclear missiles in
Cuba in Fall 1962
 US demanded their removal and
enacted a naval blockade of Cuba
to stop Soviet ships from bringing
more missiles
 Many thought that WWIII would
result as the US and USSR faced
off over a tense 13-day period,
each threatening the other with
nuclear force
 Soviets eventually backed down
and removed the missiles, thanks
to the US publicly promising not to
invade Cuba and secretly agreeing
to remove American missiles from
Turkey

JFK Assassination
Nov. 22, 1963
 While riding in a
motorcade in Dallas, TX,
Kennedy was shot and
killed
 Lee Harvey Oswald
was charged with the
killing, but was himself
shot and killed 2 days
later by Jack Ruby while
being transported from
jail to appear in court

Lyndon B. Johnson
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1908 – 1973
36th President (1963-69)
Served in Congress for
the state of Texas for 24
years before becoming
JFK’s Vice-President
Assumed the presidency
upon Kennedy’s death
Dedicated himself to
seeing Kennedy’s
programs reach fruition
LBJ’s “Great Society”
Johnson’s programs
aimed at eliminating
poverty and racial
injustice – a rebirth of
JFK’s “New Frontier”
 Proposed major
reforms in civil rights,
welfare, education,
health, arts & culture,
and transportation

Civil Rights
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Civil Rights Act of 1964:
Banned segregation of public
facilities, racial discrimination
in hiring
Voting Rights Act of 1965:
banned literacy tests
Immigration and
Nationality Services Act of
1965: abolished nationalorigin immigration quotas
Civil Rights Act of 1968:
banned housing discrimination,
provided constitutional
protections to Native
Americans
“War on Poverty”
Johnson believed that
the best way to deal
with poverty was not
simply to raise the
incomes of the poor but
to help them better
themselves through
education, job training,
and community
development.
 Between 1964 and 1966,
LBJ spent $3 billion on
antipoverty programs

Economic Opportunity Act of 1964
Office of Economic
Opportunity (OEO): oversaw
community-based antipoverty
programs
 Neighborhood Youth Corp:
provided job experience to
poor urban teens while
encouraging them to
graduate high school
 Job Corps: helped
disadvantaged youth gain
marketable job skills
 Volunteers In Service To
America (VISTA): domestic
version of the Peace Corps
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Education
Head Start: offered pre-
school for children of the poor
 Upward Bound: program
which helps poor teens go to
college
 Elementary & Secondary
Education Act of 1965:
provided federal money for
schools to the states (current
form of program is called “No
Child Left Behind”)
 Higher Education Act of 1965:
increased federal money to
universities, provided money
for scholarships for poor
students
 Bilingual Education Act of
1968: provided federal money
for establishment of ESL
programs
Health
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Food Stamps:
provided assistance to
low-income families by
subsidizing food
expenses
Medicare: provides
no-cost health
insurance to senior
citizens
Medicaid: subsidized
health care program for
poor or disabled
Arts & Culture
National Endowment for the
Arts: provided federal funds
for arts education
 National Endowment for the
Humanities: provided federal
funds for humanities
(English, History) education
 Public Broadcasting Service
(PBS): provides
noncommercial educational
television programming
 National Public Radio (NPR):
provides noncommercial
educational radio
programming

Transportation
National Traffic and Motor
Vehicle Safety Act of 1966
 Highway Safety Act of 1966
 Both set new federal
guidelines for safety in
automobile design and road
design and construction
 Largely the result of
increased public awareness
of traffic safety due to
Ralph Nader’s Unsafe at
Any Speed which exposed
car makers’ reluctance to
improve safety due to
increased costs

LBJ Declines to Run Again
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Due to the unpopular
war in Vietnam, the
Democratic Party was badly
divided, with no one (including
LBJ) appearing to be the front
runner for the 1968 presidential
nomination
The expense of the war was
keeping LBJ from being able to
fund his Great Society programs
sufficiently enough to make
them successful
Johnson surprised everyone
when he announced in March
1968, "I shall not seek, and I will
not accept, the nomination of my
party for another term as your
President.“
Robert Kennedy Assassination
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The top candidate to win
the Democratic
nomination, JFK’s
younger brother Robert,
was shot and killed on
June 6, 1968 by a
Palestinian who was
angry over Kennedy’s
support of Israel
“Some men see things as
they are and say why. I
dream things that never
were and say why not.”
Election of 1968
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After a tumultuous Democratic
National Convention in
Chicago, which saw
widespread protests and
violent clashes with police by
antiwar protestors, the
Democratic Party nominated
LBJ’s Vice-President Hubert
Humphrey
The Republicans nominated
Richard Nixon
George Wallace ran as an
independent, pro-segregation
candidate
Nixon won by a wide margin
Richard Nixon
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1913 – 1994
37th President (1969 – 74)
Had been Eisenhower’s VicePresident and had lost the
1960 presidential election
Nixon also lost the 1962
election for Governor of
California, after which he
temporarily withdrew from
politics, pledging "You won't
have Nixon to kick around
anymore”
Entered the 1968 presidential
election at the urging of his
many Republican supporters
Nixon’s “New Federalism”
Nixon supported turning over
many federal programs to
local and state governments
who could run them more
efficiently; these
governments would then be
provided with federal funds
to run the programs
 Over time, however, this
system made the federal
government more powerful,
since it could threaten to
withhold funding unless local
and state governments met
certain conditions
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New York Times v US
1971
 After the leak of the
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Pentagon Papers, Nixon
attempted to prevent the
Times from publishing the
information, claiming that it
was a violation of the
Espionage Act to publish
classified government
papers
 The Supreme Court ruled
that 1st Amendment
Freedom of Press rights
held, since the government
could offer no justification
for prior restraint
Détente & Nixon Visits China
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Nixon looked to improve
relations with both
communist China and the
Soviet Union
In 1972, Nixon became
the first US president to
visit China, hoping to
exploit a rift between the
Chinese and Russians and
gain influence
The Soviets responded by
welcoming Nixon to
Moscow just 3 months
later
Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty
SALT I (1972)
 US and Soviets
agreed to limit the
number and type of
intercontinental
ballistic missiles
(ICBMs) held by each
nation
 Led to dramatically
improved relations
with the Soviet Union
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Watergate
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June 17, 1972: 5 men were
caught breaking into the
Democratic Party’s national
headquarters in the Watergate
complex of Washington DC
All 5 were tied to the
Republican Party’s Committee
to Re-Elect the President
(CReeP)
Investigative journalists
uncovered evidence tying
several key Nixon aides
directly to the plot, forcing
Nixon to dismiss them
The Cover-Up
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Nixon appointed Archibald Cox
as special prosecutor to
oversee the Watergate
investigation
When it was discovered that
Nixon had an audio-recording
system that taped all
conversations within the Oval
Office, Cox subpoenaed the
tapes
The tapes proved that Nixon
had attempted to cover-up his
aides’ involvement in the
break-in, so he ordered Cox to
drop the subpoena
The Saturday Night Massacre
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When Cox refused to drop the
subpoena, Nixon demanded
that Cox’s boss, the Attorney
General, fire him
Both the Attorney General and
his top assistant resigned
rather than fire Cox, but the
third-ranking officer in the
Department of Justice gave in
to the president’s demand
A new special prosecutor was
appointed, but by this time the
Senate was conducting its own
investigation and demanded
the tapes
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US v Nixon
1974
Supreme Court ruled
unanimously that the
president can not
invoke executive
privilege to withhold
evidence that is
“demonstrably
relevant in a criminal
trial”

Nixon was ordered to turn
over tape recordings of
conversations within the Oval
Office relevant to the
Watergate cover-up
Nixon Resigns
Nixon resigned on August 9,
1974 under threat of
impeachment for his role in
the cover-up of the
Watergate break-in
 His resignation left his VicePresident Gerald Ford (who
had not been elected, but
rather appointed after
Nixon’s elected VicePresident, Spiro Agnew, had
been forced to resign the
year before in a bribery
scandal) as President
 Ford quickly pardoned
Nixon
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