What was ikes appeal

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. McCarthy of Wisconsin, who had made headlines since because of his charges that Communist spies or sympathizers held high positions in the federal government.

Republicans had gained from McCarthy's charges that the Truman administration was "soft on Communism. Republican leaders could not persuade McCarthy, a member of their own party, to halt his attacks on a Republican administration. The news media gave McCarthy significant attention, but his charges never led to a single indictment or conviction for espionage or treason. Eisenhower also worried about Communist spies or agents, but he disliked McCarthy's outrageous methods, including a tendency to consider someone guilty until proven innocent.

Eisenhower, however, did not want to criticize McCarthy publicly, as he was fearful that such a direct confrontation would demean his office or work to the senator's advantage: "I just won't get into a pissing contest with that skunk," the President declared.

In , Americans got a good look at McCarthy in action when he held televised hearings on Communist influence in the U. Eisenhower was outraged that McCarthy had made the Army—the institution in which the President had served for most of his adult life—a target.

Nevertheless, he decided to work quietly, behind the scenes, to frustrate McCarthy's investigations. What did more to diminish the senator's power was television's ability to bring McCarthy's surliness into American living rooms. By , 56 percent of American homes had television. Television could have a powerful political effect. Eisenhower used it to his advantage; he was the first President to allow television cameras in his news conferences and the first to have an advertising agency produce a television campaign commercial for his reelection.

Television could also diminish political power, and that is what it did to McCarthy. After watching McCarthy on television, millions of viewers agreed with the question that Joseph Welch, a lawyer working for the Army, put to the senator: "Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?

At the end of , the Senate voted to censure McCarthy. Never again was the senator a major force in national politics. During the four years that he had the spotlight, however, McCarthy ruined many reputations by making reckless and unsubstantiated charges.

Eisenhower played a significant, albeit limited, role in finally curbing McCarthy's power. Eisenhower did not like dealing with racial issues, but he could not avoid such matters after the Supreme Court ruled in in the case of Brown v.

Board of Education of Topeka that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional. Eisenhower never spoke out in favor of the Court's ruling. Although the President usually avoided comment on court decisions, his silence may have encouraged resistance to school desegregation.

In many parts of the South, white citizens' councils organized to prevent compliance with the Court's ruling. While some of these groups relied on political action, others used intimidation and violence.

After meeting with Eisenhower, Faubus promised to allow the students to enroll, but then he withdrew the National Guard, which allowed a violent mob to surround the school. Eisenhower dispatched federal troops and explained that he had a solemn obligation to enforce the law. In explaining his action, however, Eisenhower did not declare that desegregating public schools as the Supreme Court had ordered was the right thing to do.

Instead, in a nationally televised address, he asserted that the violence in Little Rock was harming U. But in September , Faubus closed public schools to prevent their integration. There was no violence this time, and Eisenhower believed that he had a constitutional obligation to preserve public order, not to speed school desegregation. When Eisenhower left the White House, only 6 percent of African American students attended integrated schools.

Eisenhower's record included some significant achievements in civil rights. In , he signed the first civil rights legislation since Reconstruction.

The law provided new federal protection for voting rights. In most southern states, the great majority of African Americans simply could not vote, despite their constitutional right to do so, because of literacy tests, poll taxes, or other obstacles. Yet the legislation Eisenhower signed was weaker than the bill that he had sent to Capitol Hill. Southern Democrats secured an amendment that required a jury trial to determine whether a citizen had been denied his or her right to vote.

In southern states, where African Americans could not serve on juries, such trials were not likely to ensure black access to the vote. In , Eisenhower signed a second civil rights law, but it provided only small advances over the earlier law. In addition, Eisenhower appointed judges to federal courts whose rulings helped to advance civil rights. Despite these actions, Eisenhower was only a limited supporter of civil rights.

He urged advocates of desegregation to go slowly. He said that integration required a change in people's hearts and minds. Eisenhower was sympathetic to white southerners who complained about alterations in what they said was their way of life.

He considered as extremists both those who tried to obstruct decisions of federal courts and those who demanded that they immediately enjoy the rights that the Constitution and the courts provided them. On only one occasion during his presidency—in June —did Eisenhower meet with African American leaders. The President became irritated during the meeting when he heard appeals for more aggressive federal action to advance civil rights.

He also failed to heed Martin Luther King, Jr. This issue, which divided the country in the s, became even more difficult in the s. Grant Rutherford B. Hayes James A. Discussion Questions. Dwight David Eisenhower enjoyed immense popularity when he was president between and Why was he so popular? The s witnessed the most prosperous economy in American history.

How did this prosperity transform the country? Discuss gender roles in the s. Why were these roles so rigid? How have these roles changed? How have they remained similar? Television became part of almost every American home in the s. What was the impact of television on s culture? Why was television so popular? How has the role of television in American society changed?

How has it remained the same? Rock-n-roll debuted in the s and caused consternation among some of the older generation. Why were traditionalists so concerned about the effects of rock-n-roll? 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?