Peace, Progress, Prosperity: How President Eisenhower embodied the 1950s
Amanda E. Suzzi
Northern Arizona University
As John J. Kennedy, an associate professor of political science at West Chester University of Pennsylvania and contributor to various news organizations, writes in his 2014 analysis of Pennsylvania Elections, “It’s not unusual for individuals or events to symbolize each passing decade. The 1960s were times when the twin forces of Civil Rights and Vietnam dominated the news. In the 1970s, it was Watergate. The 1980s were the decade of Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton embodied the 1990s. Arguably, however, no one individual or even has come to personify an era – not just in American politics but also in American life – as ‘Ike’ …show more content…
One of President Eisenhower’s biggest economic successes is the interstate highway system which created jobs in mild recessions and helped increase profits of the auto industry and oil companies, on which Eisenhower wrote in Mandate for Change, “more than any single action by the government since the end of the war, this one would change the face of America with straightaways, cloverleaf turns, bridges, and elongated parkways. Its impact on the American economy—the jobs it would produce in manufacturing and construction, the rural areas it would open up—was beyond calculation.” Futhermore, he established NASA and starts a space race with Russia, made headway in the civil rights movement when he upheld the Constitution in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, and advocates diplomacy in meeting Krushchev. This success and advancement due to Dwight D. Eisenhower is exemplary of the 1950s.
References
D'Este, C. (2002). Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life, 1890–1945. New York, NY: Henry Holt.
Eisenhower, D. D. (1963). Mandate for Change, 1953-1956: The White House Years, A Personal Account. New York, New York: Doubleday.
Kennedy, J. J. (2014). Pennsylvania Elections. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of
Amanda E. Suzzi
Northern Arizona University
As John J. Kennedy, an associate professor of political science at West Chester University of Pennsylvania and contributor to various news organizations, writes in his 2014 analysis of Pennsylvania Elections, “It’s not unusual for individuals or events to symbolize each passing decade. The 1960s were times when the twin forces of Civil Rights and Vietnam dominated the news. In the 1970s, it was Watergate. The 1980s were the decade of Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton embodied the 1990s. Arguably, however, no one individual or even has come to personify an era – not just in American politics but also in American life – as ‘Ike’ …show more content…
One of President Eisenhower’s biggest economic successes is the interstate highway system which created jobs in mild recessions and helped increase profits of the auto industry and oil companies, on which Eisenhower wrote in Mandate for Change, “more than any single action by the government since the end of the war, this one would change the face of America with straightaways, cloverleaf turns, bridges, and elongated parkways. Its impact on the American economy—the jobs it would produce in manufacturing and construction, the rural areas it would open up—was beyond calculation.” Futhermore, he established NASA and starts a space race with Russia, made headway in the civil rights movement when he upheld the Constitution in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, and advocates diplomacy in meeting Krushchev. This success and advancement due to Dwight D. Eisenhower is exemplary of the 1950s.
References
D'Este, C. (2002). Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life, 1890–1945. New York, NY: Henry Holt.
Eisenhower, D. D. (1963). Mandate for Change, 1953-1956: The White House Years, A Personal Account. New York, New York: Doubleday.
Kennedy, J. J. (2014). Pennsylvania Elections. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of