Skip to content Skip to navigation. The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute. Search form Search. To Dwight D. King, Martin Luther, Jr. Discuss the impact of Elvis Presley on American culture and American music. Discuss the impact of the Baby Boom. How did this boom fuel rock-n-roll and the youth culture of the s? What is an icon? Discuss the impact of some of the icons of the s.
African-Americans chose the s as the decade to change the system of segregation. How did Martin Luther King, Jr. Discuss the events that happened at Central High School in Arkansas. What was the impact for the rest of the nation? You are commenting as Anonymous. Skip to Main Content. District Home. Sign In. Millions of families got their first television and their second car and enjoyed new pastimes like hula hoops or transistor radios. Young people went to drive-in movies or malt shops, often wearing the latest fashions—pegged pants for men, poodle skirts for women.
Yet the Eisenhower years were not so simple or carefree, and the President faced important and, at times, controversial issues in domestic affairs. Managing the economy involved important choices about how to maintain prosperity or how much to spend on what we today call "infrastructure. Dealing with the effects of the Cold War at home required complicated action because of the sensational charges of Senator Joseph R.
McCarthy about Communist infiltration of government agencies. In the eyes of a majority of the public, Eisenhower usually made the right choices, as he often enjoyed approval ratings of more than 70 percent in the polls.
Yet Eisenhower also had critics, who believed that he had not used his powers as President vigorously or effectively to protect individual freedom and ensure justice. During the campaign of , Eisenhower criticized the statist or big government programs of Truman's Fair Deal, yet he did not share the extreme views of some Republican conservatives. These "Old Guard" Republicans talked about eliminating not just Fair Deal but also New Deal programs and rolling back government regulation of the economy.
Eisenhower favored a more moderate course, one that he called Modern Republicanism, which preserved individual freedom and the market economy yet insured that government would provide necessary assistance to workers who had lost their jobs or to the ill or aged, who through no fault of their own, could not provide for themselves.
He intended to lead the country "down the middle of the road between the unfettered power of concentrated wealth. As President, Eisenhower thought that government should provide some additional benefits to the American people. He signed legislation that expanded Social Security, increased the minimum wage, and created the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
He also supported government construction of low-income housing but favored more limited spending than had Truman. Eisenhower secured congressional approval of some important new programs that improved the nation's infrastructure. In partnership with Canada, the United States built the St. Lawrence Seaway. His most ambitious domestic project, the Interstate Highway program, established in , created a 41,mile road system. This highway project, which, as the President said, involved enough concrete to build "six sidewalks to the moon," stimulated the economy and made driving long distances faster and safer.
Yet despite their many benefits, the new super highways also had adverse effects, as they encouraged the deterioration of central cities, with residents and businesses moving to outlying locations. Eisenhower often got his way with Congress, especially during his first term. But in his last years as President, with Democrats in control of both the House and the Senate, Congress spent more for domestic programs than Eisenhower would have preferred.
Although the President used his veto to block expensive programs, domestic spending still rose substantially, increasing from 31 percent of the budget in to 49 percent in Still, during the Eisenhower years, federal spending as a percentage of gross domestic product GDP —a measure of the overall size of the U.
Although mild recessions slowed growth in , , and again in , the economy expanded robustly during most of the s. Unemployment was generally low, and inflation usually was 2 percent or less.
Although Old Guard conservatives pressed Eisenhower to cut taxes, the President gave a higher priority to balancing the budget. Eisenhower had moderate success—three of his eight budgets were in the black. Wage earners enjoyed a prosperous decade: During the Eisenhower presidency, personal income increased by 45 percent.
Many families used their purchasing power to buy new houses, frequently in suburban developments. Consumers also used their income to acquire many new household items, including television sets and high-fidelity equipment. A few families even made their purchases by using the first charge cards from Diners Club and American Express. Still, many Americans did not share in the prosperity of the s. About one in every five Americans lived in poverty by the end of the decade.
The poverty rate declined during Eisenhower's presidency, but 40 million Americans were poor when Eisenhower left office.
The South had almost half of the country's poor families. Yet during the s, poverty increased in northern cities, partly because of the migration of African Americans who left the South for cities like Detroit, Chicago, and Cleveland because new farm machines had taken away job opportunities. Often these new African American urban residents had to settle for low-paying employment because of job discrimination.
Children and the elderly were much more likely to experience poverty than adults from ages 18 through Even though poverty was widespread, poor people got little attention during the s. It was easier to celebrate the abundance of a booming consumer economy. People who had lived through the Great Depression of the s emphasized the economic security of the s. It was not until the s that affluent Americans rediscovered the poverty amid the prosperity. One of Eisenhower's most difficult political problems involved Senator Joseph R.
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