Main Themes 1. That the technological, consumer-oriented society of the 1950s was remarkably affluent and unified despite the persistence of a less privileged underclass and the existence of a small corps of detractors. 2. How the Supreme Court's social desegregation decision of 1954 marked the beginning of a civil-rights revolution for American blacks. 3. How President Dwight Eisenhower presided over a business-oriented "dynamic conservatism" that resisted most new reforms without significantly rolling back the activist government programs born in the 1930s. 4. That while Eisenhower continued to allow containment by building alliances, supporting anticommunist regimes, maintaining the arms race, and conducting limited interventions, he also showed an awareness of American limitations and resisted temptations for greater commitments.
| Learning Objectives A thorough study of Chapter Thirty should enable the student to understand: |
|
|
|
The strengths and weaknesses of the economy in the 1950s and early 1960s. |
|
|
|
The changes in the American lifestyle in the 1950s. |
|
|
|
The significance of the Supreme Court's desegregation decision and the early civil rights movement. |
|
|
|
The characteristics of Dwight Eisenhower's middle-of-the-road domestic policy. |
|
|
|
The new elements of American foreign policy introduced by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. |
|
|
|
The causes and results of increasing United States involvement in the Middle East. |
|
|
|
The sources of United States difficulties in Latin America. |
|
|
|
The reasons for new tensions with the Soviet Union toward the end of the Eisenhower administration. |