Dwight Eisenhower was President of the United States from 1953 until 1961. During Eisenhower's presidency, the Cold War continued in the international sphere, whilst fears of communism and the Civil Rights Movement intensified in the US. What was President Eisenhower's tenure like, and what did he accomplish?

President Eisenhower Biography

Eisenhower was born in 1890 in Texas and raised in Kansas by his religious parents, along with his six brothers.

In 1911, he joined the US Military Academy, which began a long military career. During World War One, Eisenhower commanded a tank training centre and became a captain.

Fig. 1 - Portrait of President Eisenhower

When the US entered the war in December 1941, Eisenhower was appointed to the Army War Plans Division. In June 1942, he was promoted to Commanding General of the US troops in Europe. Eisenhower led British and American troops in North Africa, negotiated Italy's surrender, and in 1944 was Supreme Commander of Operation Overlord - the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. Eisenhower's service during World War Two made him immensely popular.

After the end of the war, Eisenhower served as Army Chief of Staff. In 1950, he became Supreme Commander of the newly founded North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and worked to create an efficient military organisation to defend against communist aggression.

Eisenhower then ran in and won the presidential election of 1952 with Richard Nixon as his Vice President. He served as president until 1961, before retiring. He died in 1969.

President Eisenhower Facts

Here are 5 facts about President Eisenhower:

1. Eisenhower was nicknamed "Ike", and "I Like Ike" was used as his campaign slogan in both 1952 and 1956. It is only of the most memorable presidential campaign slogans and also appeared in the Disney-produced television advert of Eisenhower's campaign.
2. During his presidency, Eisenhower balanced three out of eight budgets. His economic policies contributed to the prosperity many saw in the 1950s.
3. Eisenhower ended the Korean War, which he considered his most important accomplishment as president.
4. He signed the first piece of civil rights legislation since the 19th century.
5. The Cold War strategy of massive retaliation emerged under the Eisenhower administration.

Eisenhower Presidency Summary

In this section, we'll look at the broad policies of the Eisenhower administration in both domestic and foreign policy, before going into more details about his specific accomplishments.

Eisenhower Presidency Domestic Policy

Eisenhower favoured modern Republicanism. This was a "middle of the road" approach that intended to preserve freedom and the workings of the free market but would provide government assistance to those who needed it.

Eisenhower's main domestic focus was on reducing the federal budget. During his presidency, spending declined by 2% of the US Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Domestic spending did however increase substantially from 1953 to 1961 when the Democrats gained control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in the latter years of Eisenhower's presidency.

Under Eisenhower's policies, middle-class Americans saw economic prosperity with a 45% increase in personal income. This was often used to buy consumer products such as televisions, as well as houses outside of cities. The growth of suburbia was caused by an expanding population, as well as white flight - white Americans moving out of cities as African Americans moved in.

On the other hand, there was still huge poverty during Eisenhower's presidency. The rate declined, but around 35 million Americans remained in poverty by 1960. Poverty increased in northern cities, partly due to the migration of African Americans - job discrimination meant they had to accept low wages.

President Eisenhower also increased the minimum wage, broadened Social Security, and created the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

After World War Two, anticommunist hysteria grew in the United States which was furthered by the actions of Senator McCarthy. President Eisenhower did not publicly criticise McCarthy, although he privately disliked him.

Hundreds of government employees were fired under Eisenhower's loyalty program, although he worked indirectly to reduce McCarthy's influence.

Eisenhower Presidency Foreign Policy

Eisenhower's "New Look" foreign policy was comprised of four main elements:

1. Building strength to fight the Cold War without compromising the US economy.

2. Reliance on nuclear weapons.

3. Use of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to carry out covert missions to overthrow governments seen to be a threat.

4. Strengthening and gaining allies.

Eisenhower was determined not to increase defence spending at the detriment of the federal budget, shifting finances from expensive conventional forces to nuclear weapons. These provided "more bang for your buck".

President Eisenhower believed the best way to ease relations with the Soviet Union was through face to face meetings. This had some success, but ultimately failed when in 1960 a US spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union, heightening tensions once again.

President Eisenhower Accomplishments

Having looked at an overview of Eisenhower's presidency and policies, we will now look in detail at what he achieved as President.

President Eisenhower Domestic Accomplishments

In 1956, Eisenhower established his most ambitious domestic project - the Interstate Highway Program. This created a 41,000-mile road system, which improved the experience of driving long distances and effectively stimulated the economy. Another transport initiative, the St Lawrence Seaway was completed in 1959 in partnership with Canada to connect the waters of Canada and the US.

Fig. 2 - Sign for the Eisenhower Interstate System

In terms of civil rights, Eisenhower notably sent federal troops to Little Rock in Arkansas to allow African American students to enter Central High School in 1957. Although segregation in schools had been ruled unconstitutional in 1954, desegregation was not widely supported and violence broke out at Little Rock. Eisenhower sent troops out of obligation to uphold the law.

Eisenhower also signed the 1957 and 1960 Civil Rights Acts. The 1957 Act created a Commission of Civil Rights to investigate cases in which Black Americans were denied the right to vote, whilst the 1960 Act allowed federal judges to appoint officials to help African Americans register and vote. These Acts were limited in scope but were the first pieces of civil rights legislation passed since the late nineteenth century so marked a somewhat significant shift.

President Eisenhower also oversaw policies on immigration. In 1953, he signed the Refugee Relief Act which welcomed 200,000 more European immigrants. On the opposite end of the spectrum, however, he presided over the offensively-named "Operation Wetback" - the mass deportation of around 1.3 million Mexican immigrants.

The final key domestic policy of Eisenhower was his outlawing of the American Communist Party in 1954.

President Eisenhower Foreign Accomplishments

Considered his biggest accomplishment, in 1953 Eisenhower was able to end the Korean War. He achieved these through a combination of factors: he hinted that he may use nuclear weapons, increased conventional military pressure, and the death of Joseph Stalin brought new Soviet leaders to power who feared the US escalation of the war. A truce was signed in July 1953.

Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" program loaned American uranium to countries that had not previously possessed nuclear technology, for supposedly peaceful purposes.

In Southeast Asia, the US created the Southeast Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) in 1954 to unify the region against a potential Communist threat. Eisenhower also gave aid to the French, who were fighting to regain control over Indochina (modern-day Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos), though they were eventually unsuccessful. He did not authorise an airstrike to rescue French troops at the crucial battle of Dienbienphu, avoiding entering the war in Indochina. Under Eisenhower, the US also offered support to Ngo Dinh Diem to establish a non-Communist government in what became South Vietnam; Eisenhower considered this a success, but this was a precursor to US involvement in the Vietnam War.

A key conflict Einsehower faced was in Egypt. In 1952, Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal and put it back into Egyptian control. Britain, France and Israel launched military action against Egypt - this is referred to as the Suez Crisis.

Eisenhower was outraged and ordered the withdrawal of troops, increasing US reputation in the Middle East. From this crisis came the Eisenhower Doctrine, which detailed that the US would provide economic and military aid to Middle Eastern countries facing Communist aggression. This was implemented in 1958 when Eisenhower sent over 14,000 US marines into Lebanon to settle unrest at the request of its pro-Western government.

The CIA

President Eisenhower used the CIA to protect US interests and undermine communism, most notably in Iran, Guatemala, and Cuba.

Eisenhower was concerned about Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh's willingness to cooperate with communists. In 1953, the CIA engineered a coup to overthrow Mossadegh's government and return the anti-Communist Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi to power. US corporations gained an equal share with the British in Iran's oil industry as a result.

In Cuba, communist leader Fidel Castro came to power in 1959 and the US placed an embargo on sugar exports so Cuba turned to the Soviet Union for assistance. Eisenhower decided that Castro needed to be removed from power, and authorised the CIA to begin training anti-Castro Cuban exiles to overthrow him.

Relations with the Soviet Union

In July 1955, Eisenhower met with Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union in Geneva, seeing in an era of summit diplomacy. The new Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev rejected Eisenhower's "Open Skies" proposal, which would have permitted the US and the USSR to inspect each other's military capabilities via air. Despite this, the "Spirit of Geneva" eased tensions.

In November 1956, Soviet tanks suppressed a freedom movement in Hungary. Eisenhower decided not to take action to support the movement in order to avoid war with the Soviet Union.

In September 1959, Khrushchev journeyed to the US for the Camp David summit, which again improved relations. However, when they met again in Paris in May 1960, a US spy plane had been shot down over the Soviet Union two weeks prior. Eisenhower had authorised the CIA to begin intelligence flights in 1956 and had to admit this to Khrushchev at the summit. Cold War tensions increased once more.